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| Arisa Thomas: Where Is The Traitors: New Blood Contestant Now? |
Arisa Thomas may have left The Traitors: New Blood earlier than she hoped, but the reality competition was hardly the end of her story. The Los Angeles-based dog groomer entered NBC’s first season as one of 22 civilian contestants, hoping to use her so-called “Golden Retriever Energy” to win people over while secretly admitting she would have enjoyed playing the mischievous Chihuahua as a Traitor. Instead, she became a Faithful — and eventually talked herself into trouble.
Thomas initially kept a relatively low profile inside the Scottish Highlands castle, relying on her ability to read body language while quietly building relationships with other contestants. That strategy worked for a while. Then came the second Round Table, when she held Victor Vollbrechthausen’s hands as part of what she described as a truth test. It was an unusual move in a game already designed to make everyone suspicious of everyone else, and it gave her fellow contestants something to talk about.
Her situation became even trickier during the third challenge. Thomas entered the first crypt alongside Morgan Cook and helped retrieve $5,000, which should have been a useful contribution to the group. Instead, the result raised another question: had she discovered a shield and simply decided not to tell anyone? In The Traitors, apparently even being useful can come with a suspicious-looking footnote.
Michael Foote became increasingly wary after entering the second crypt with another contestant and receiving a clue suggesting that two players had competed the previous night to become a new Traitor.
When the clue was discussed back at the castle, attention turned towards Thomas and her earlier truth test with Victor. To some contestants, the hand-holding looked less like an attempt to read someone and more like something that belonged in a recruitment ceremony.
At the next Round Table, Thomas tried to clear things up. She insisted that she had never received a shield and was not a Traitor, but the explanation did little to change the mood around the table. She ultimately received the most votes and was banished from the game. Before leaving, Thomas confirmed what she had maintained throughout: she was a Faithful.
So, where is Arisa Thomas now? Away from the castle, she has continued building the career that existed long before reality television came calling. Thomas works as a professional dog groomer in Los Angeles, where she is involved with Blue Pooch Inc., the family business founded by her mother, Yuri Thomas. Her sister, Aya, is also part of the operation, making it very much a family affair.
Blue Pooch Inc. specialises in Asian-fusion dog grooming, giving Thomas plenty of room to combine technical grooming skills with a creative approach. Her work has also expanded well beyond the grooming table. She has developed a sizeable online presence as a digital creator, using social media to share grooming knowledge, behind-the-scenes moments and plenty of dogs that seem considerably less complicated than a castle full of suspected Traitors.
Thomas has built a particularly strong following on social media, with more than 110,000 Instagram followers and over 294,000 followers on TikTok according to the figures provided. She also runs the YouTube channel Arisa The Groomer, where she shares grooming techniques, practical tips and advice for dog owners. The channel has attracted more than 1,300 subscribers, adding another strand to a career that increasingly looks like several jobs wearing the same very fluffy hat.
Her expertise has also brought attention from outside social media. Thomas was featured by POPSUGAR in 2021 and later spoke with The Dodo in 2023 about her career as a professional dog groomer.
In March 2026, she worked with CareCredit on a paid partnership and has also collaborated with brands including Wahl Professional and We Feed Raw. She regularly highlights grooming courses and seminars as well, giving aspiring groomers and pet owners an opportunity to learn more about caring for their animals.
There is also a deeply personal side to Thomas' connection with animals. She has described herself as a proud pet parent and has shared her life with dogs including Nola and a cat named Johnny. Nola sadly died in 2025, leaving Thomas to deal with the loss while continuing to spend much of her working life surrounded by animals. These days, Johnny and the dogs at her workplace remain an important part of her everyday life.
Family remains just as important. Thomas works alongside her mother and sister, meaning the family business is not simply a workplace but something they have built together. Her social media also shows her enjoying time with friends, relaxing by the pool and attending concerts. Her love of music took her to Coachella in April 2026, adding a rather more glamorous setting to a life otherwise dominated by clippers, grooming tables and four-legged clients.
Travel has become another recurring part of Thomas' life. In January 2026, she visited Amsterdam, followed by a trip to Berlin, and by June she was exploring Lisbon. She shared moments from the Portuguese capital, including its food, streets and historic sights. After spending time trying to work out who was lying inside a Scottish castle, travelling around Europe probably offered a welcome change of scenery.
From the outside, Thomas' post-Traitors life is an interesting contrast to her short-lived reality TV career. The show gave viewers a glimpse of someone who could analyse body language and form alliances, but her real-world career shows a much more established side of her personality. She has turned specialist knowledge into a business, content into an audience and a love of animals into a profession.
There is also something amusing about being eliminated from a game built around deception because your attempt to determine whether someone was telling the truth looked suspicious. Thomas went into the castle wanting to be a Chihuahua-style Traitor, ended up as a Faithful, and was banished because other Faithfuls thought she might be hiding something. That is almost impressively on-brand for The Traitors.
As of 2026, Arisa Thomas is still working as a dog groomer and digital creator in Los Angeles, while continuing her social media collaborations, grooming education work, family business and travels. Her The Traitors: New Blood chapter may have ended with a Round Table vote, but her career clearly did not. And perhaps that is the more interesting part of her story: reality TV was one stop rather than the destination. What do you make of Arisa's banishment — did the truth-test strategy simply backfire, or did the castle turn a perfectly innocent move into a conspiracy? Share your take.