Everyone loves to hate, and we hate how much we love it.
When The Traitors India dropped on Prime Video this June, the cast list felt less like a random reality show lineup and more like a curated selection of people we already had pretty strong opinions about. There’s businessman Raj Kundra, who was arrested in 2021 in connection with an alleged pornography racket and has since become a tabloid fixture. Uorfi Javed, the internet’s chaotic, foul-mouthed fashion disruptor. Sufi Motiwala, a 21-year-old creator known for his Gen Z brand of online provocation. These weren’t just contestants. They were reputations. And the game, which centers around deception and manipulation, went from being a hunt for traitors to a masterclass in how public figures manage perception. Every night, someone gets voted out. But the real question isn’t about who lied, but about who controlled the narrative online. The Traitors may technically be about trust, but it functions more like a social experiment in cancellation immunity. Who survives when they are already controversial? Who thrives when the internet expects them to fail?
Accountability: optional?
Raj Kundra is in a palace. Vijay Mallya is on a podcast. What even is accountability anymore? Let’s start with Raj Shamani’s now-infamous podcast episode from June 2025, where he interviewed Vijay Mallya, the billionaire fugitive accused of fleeing India with over ₹9,000 crore ($1.08 billion) in unpaid debts. Mallya appeared calm, reflective, almost rebranded. In the four-hour interview, he explained that he had repaid more than what he owed. The internet didn’t know what to do with that. Some people were enraged. Others were fascinated. Memes rolled in. Think pieces dropped. The podcast racked up over 25 million views in less than a fortnight. Shamani trended across Instagram, YouTube, and even LinkedIn. Vijay Mallya, who hadn’t publicly spoken to Indian media in years, was suddenly repackaged as a man with a story. The crime didn’t go away, but the redemption narrative entered the chat.
The algorithm doesn’t care if you are a good person
In 2025, being the villain isn’t a reputation killer. It’s a content strategy. The most obvious proof is how controversial clips trend faster, travel further, and spark more conversation than anything else. It is not about facts. It is about friction. When content creator Ranveer Allahbadia, also known as BeerBiceps, asked an inappropriate question about parents during a comedy panel on Samay Raina’s India’s Got Latent YouTube show, he was instantly dragged online. He issued a public apology. But the clip had already become a punchline across Instagram reels, Reddit, and YouTube Shorts. Reaction videos exploded. Creators built content on his misstep, dissecting it, debating it, and satirising it. In less than 24 hours, the question stopped being about taste and became about virality. The audience never stopped engaging. Which, in platform terms, means the moment was a hit.
A 2023 study by Columbia University’s Knight Institute helps explain why. In a randomized experiment comparing Twitter’s algorithmic feed with a neutral, chronological timeline, researchers found that 62 percent of promoted political tweets expressed anger, compared to just 52 percent in the unfiltered feed. In other words, the algorithm actively boosted emotionally charged, hostile content. The more a post stirred something up—rage, disgust, confrontation—the more likely it was to be seen, shared, and stitched into someone else’s video.
Fake feuds, real clicks, and reputation as a strategy
Inside The Traitors, the chaos continued. Uorfi Javed and content creator Apoorva Mukhija, two of the show’s most online-savvy players, seemed to erupt into conflict. Uorfi accused Apoorva of being rude and manipulative. Apoorva clapped back with “delusional ki devi.” It became the internet’s favourite insult for a week. Then came the twist. The feud, it turned out, was staged. Uorfi leaked their WhatsApp chat, revealing that the argument was premeditated for screen time. Still, no one cared. The drama had already done its job. The show trended. The clips circulated. And Uorfi got to both deny the villain label and wear it with pride. This is the new double bind. Be outrageous, then deny intent. You were just “acting,” or it was “taken out of context,” or “everyone else is being dramatic.” Either way, your name stays in the feed.
Bait the rage, boost the reach
This isn’t the first time the internet has made villains go viral. In the early 2020s, Indian YouTube was built on the back of creators peddling outrage for views. Creators like Hindustani Bhau and CarryMinati turned rage into a business model. Bhau, known for filming aggressive rants from the front seat of his car, hurled expletive-laden threats at anyone he deemed anti-national. His catchphrases became memes, his videos racked up millions of views, and his fanbase treated his anger like a public service. CarryMinati’s rise was just as explosive. His infamous “YouTube vs TikTok” roast in 2020, packed with insults and online bravado, became the most-liked non-music video in India before YouTube removed it for violating policy. The deletion only amplified his reach. Fans launched campaigns in his defence, his subscriber count soared, and the video became legend.
This wasn’t just a cultural moment—it was a pattern. A 2021 study by researchers at the University of Central Florida found that controversial posts on Reddit traveled nearly twice as fast and reached significantly more people than non-controversial ones. These posts also generated more than twice the number of comments. The researchers concluded that disagreement itself was a powerful engine for visibility. It’s not just that the outrageous content is louder. It’s that it moves.
Are we clicking for chaos or to decode it?
Outrage still travels fast, but the viewer is more aware of the mechanics behind it. When controversial influencers go viral today, the reactions are often split. Some still meme them, troll them, or turn them into digital punching bags. But others are beginning to view them as caught in something bigger. The system, not just the personality, becomes the focus.
Take someone like Sufi Motiwala. Known for his fashion takedowns and chaotic commentary, he draws intense criticism and just as much curiosity. His content teeters on the line of offence, with his reels often triggering backlash. But instead of being flattened into a villain or a hero, he becomes something more volatile. Viewers argue about whether he is genuinely unfiltered or just very good at playing the part. Either way, the engagement never slows. The internet hasn’t stopped rewarding outrage, but the audience is beginning to ask why it keeps clicking. And sometimes, that’s the most interesting part.
We’re not outraged, we’re obsessed
Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old man from New York, became an unexpected TikTok fixation in early 2025—not for his content, but for the violent crime he’s accused of committing. Mangione was arrested in December 2024 and is currently on trial for the alleged murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Prosecutors have charged him with first-degree murder and terrorism, and they are reportedly pursuing the death penalty. The case is one of the most high-profile criminal proceedings in recent months. But on the internet, the response veered into surreal territory. Clips from court, mugshots, and old personal photos were edited into thirst traps and dramatic fan edits. Hashtags like #FreeLuigi circulated alongside memes comparing him to movie villains and misunderstood antiheroes. The reaction was split—some found it disturbing, others couldn’t look away. The line between irony and adoration blurred.
What do Mangione, Raj Kundra, Vijay Mallya, and Uorfi Javed have in common? They’re not operating from squeaky-clean public images. They are operating from visibility. Whether through scandal, controversy, backlash, or chaos, each of them has turned the worst parts of their public perception into active engagement, whether intentionally or not. The audience may not admire them. But they can’t look away.
Welcome to the villain era
We like to believe we still care about values, ethics, and second chances. But the truth is murkier. Online, we reward whoever entertains us most. Even if that means forgetting what they did. Or worse, remembering—and still clicking anyway. The Traitors was never just a show about betrayal. It was a test of how much we’re willing to forgive, overlook, or even celebrate if the performance is good enough. And every podcast clip, every viral misstep, every dramatic comeback proves that we are no longer watching for truth. We’re watching for character development. The villain era is being monetised, manufactured, and streamed. Every click is a vote, and every vote tells the system to make more of this.
Source:https://rollingstoneindia.com/viral-the-traitors-prime-video-raj-shamani-vijay-mallya-villain-redemption-arc/