Andie Thurmond

**Andie Thurmond (Vanacore)** are a Faithful and the Runner-ups of *The Traitors (US)/Season 1* along with Quentin Jiles.

An emotional player who wore their heart on their sleeve, Andie had an impressive social game, as evidenced by them making the endgame with zero Banishment votes against them. A clear Faithful player who was never in danger of Banishment and maintained just the right amount of visibility to avoid Murder, their vote was often called upon as a majority-making one, influencing decisions for the rest of the group and dictating outcomes at several crucial Round Tables.

However, their role in the game was often to choose between different contestant factions rather than dictate the gameplay themselves, leading to a more passive gameplay approach vulnerable to influence. This was advantageous to their close ally Cirie Fields, who was in fact a Traitor. Andie's strong personal relationship with Cirie blinded them to the possibility of Cirie being a Traitor all the way to the endgame, leading to their eventual loss.

## Profile

*Retrieved from BBC:*

From Racine, Wisconsin, Andie Vanacore is trans non-binary and lives on a ranch in Reno as a Director of Music Services with their wife Jess. They have a 4 month old baby girl named Milo and they have a degree in history. As a previous college athlete with the competitive nature to win, Andie’s biggest passions are music, farming, and fashion

## Gameplay

Andie was beloved by the other contestants, who encouraged them as they worked through a range of phobias within the game - such as acrophobia and entomophobia. They presented themselves as someone incapable of deception, and other contestants came to rely on them as a solid Faithful. Their strong social connections meant they possessed a lot of influence, and others often came to them during close votes - Andie's decisions were shown to subsequently dictate the actions of many other players.

This influence was first illustrated when Kyle Cooke came to them and pitched his case of Cody Calafiore being a possible Traitor: however, Andie did not trust Kyle's overly aggressive pitch, swinging the momentum of the subsequent Banishment vote against him. Andie's growing distrust of Cody, Shelbe Rodriguez, Rachel Reilly and Christian de la Torre subsequently played crucial roles in their eventual Banishments as well - most importantly the last vote, which basically helped Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Cirie Fields prevail against their fellow Traitor.

Despite Andie's social game, their reactionary approach towards the game meant they were not a prime candidate for Murder. They were also protected by their close bond with Cirie, whom they trusted completely and never suspected to be a Traitor. This meant that at the endgame, Cirie was able to utilise her connection with them and Quentin Jiles to vote as a bloc and take control. As a group, they decided to Banish Kate Chastain. While Andie believed there were no more Traitors left at the final four, and voted to end the game at the Fire of Truth, they had a pact with Cirie and Quentin to Banish Arie should someone decide to banish again - which Cirie did.

Arie Walked from the game rather than face certain Banishment, but tried to drop subtle hints to Andie and Quentin that Cirie was in fact a Traitor. Physically and mentally exhausted at this point, as well as believing that Cirie in fact made a move against Quentin to give all of them more prize money, Andie did not process Arie's hints and once again voted to end the game. With Cirie making it to the end as a Traitor, this meant they walked away with nothing.

## Post-Game

* Andie revealed that after losing the game, they sat on the ground and cried for over ten minutes.
* Andie's daughter with their partner Jessica, Milo Hendrix, was born in August 2022.

## Trivia

* Andie is the first nonbinary contestant to participate in any version of the franchise.
* Andie was (together with Quentin) the joint highest-placing civilian in their season.
* Amongst all the contestants from their season, Andie voted with the majority the most number of times - 10 out of 11 (only voting in the minority against Michael at the first Banishment).
* Andie works for their father-in-law David Vanacore, who is well-known for composing a lot of iconic reality TV music - including for Survivor and Big Brother. However, they were only familiar with Arie and Brandi Glanville when the game first began.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/the-traitors-us-celebrities-civilians-contestants.
2. ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/17e58025-faac-4bd8-83a9-abe5b126f258
3. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cg9ll1\_FpcM/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY
https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/the-traitors-andie-vanacore-trans-representation-says-fans-misgendering-detrimental.html/