Joe Vanella’s net worth is unpublished, but the money riding on him is not. As one of three Traitors on NBC’s The Traitors: New Blood, the 44-year-old funeral director from Wantagh, New York, takes the entire pot, which can reach $250,000, if any Traitor outlasts the Faithful. Nobody has reported what he earns outside the castle, which makes the winner-take-all rule the most concrete money fact we have.
Joe Vanella’s Net Worth: The Missing Number
There’s no filing, interview or profile we could find that puts a dollar figure on Vanella’s wealth. NBC hasn’t said what contestants are paid, and his personal finances haven’t been reported anywhere reliable.
His job gives a few clues but no answers. The Cinemaholic describes him as a fourth-generation funeral director, which hints at a family trade. Whether that means he owns a funeral home, manages one or works for one isn’t stated in anything we found. That distinction matters a lot for pay, as the next section shows.
What Funeral Directors Typically Earn
Here is the official U.S. benchmark for his line of work. Use it as a ruler for the profession, not as a window into his paycheck.
| Role | Median annual wage, May 2024 | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Morticians, undertakers and funeral arrangers | $49,800 | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics |
| Funeral home managers | $76,830 | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics |
The roughly $27,000 gap between those two lines is the whole story of why ownership and management status would change any estimate. Without knowing which line fits him, the table can’t narrow anything down.
The Traitor’s Payoff: Winner Takes All
A Traitor’s reward works very differently from a Faithful’s. Here are the rules in plain terms:
- The pot started Episode 4 at $65,000 and can climb to $250,000.
- If the Faithful banish every Traitor, they split the money.
- If even one Traitor survives to the end, the surviving Traitor or Traitors take everything.
Because Vanella is a Traitor, he only gets paid if he is still standing at the finish. The table below shows simple division, before taxes, assuming surviving Traitors split evenly. The show’s rules for sharing between several winning Traitors aren’t spelled out in what we read, so the even split is our assumption. This is an illustration, not a forecast.
| Pot size | 1 Traitor left | 2 Traitors left | 3 Traitors left |
|---|---|---|---|
| $65,000 | $65,000 | $32,500 | about $21,700 each |
| $150,000 | $150,000 | $75,000 | $50,000 each |
| $250,000 | $250,000 | $125,000 | about $83,300 each |
There’s an odd twist hiding in the rules. Every Traitor the Faithful banish adds $15,000 to the pot, but it also thins the Traitors’ ranks, so the pot can grow while the Traitors’ chances shrink.
Who Is Joe Vanella?
NBC lists Vanella as a 44-year-old funeral director from Wantagh, on Long Island. Marie Claire gives his Instagram as @thejoevanella. The Cinemaholic reports that the trip to Scotland was the farthest he had ever traveled from New York.
He keeps his private life low-profile, and none of it is needed to understand his game.
For another competitor who played a social strategy game on TV, see our Rylie Jeffries net worth profile on the Big Brother 27 bull rider.
His Pre-Season Pitch: Friendly Until the Game Says Otherwise
Before filming, Vanella described a simple plan: be warm with everyone and stay on a person’s side until the game demands otherwise. He added that he doesn’t dislike the people he’ll cross, but winning comes first. He also said he’s frustrated when other contestants on shows don’t play to win.
His wish list matched the outcome. Asked whether he’d rather be a Traitor or a Faithful, he chose Traitor. In the premiere, Alan Cumming made it so.
For another contestant in a competition built on strategy, see our Rian Robertson net worth page on the four-time Jeopardy! winner.
Inside the Turret: Joe’s Moves So Far
Vanella was chosen as a Traitor in the premiere, alongside pilot Tomica Adams. Host Alan Cumming then told them to pick two accomplices to test, and they chose Xavier Scruggs and Katie Fites.
The first murder target was Kim Daily. According to MEAWW’s recap, the pair reasoned that she looked like a capable player who might take control of the group.
When both accomplices passed their test, Vanella and Adams had to promote only one. They read Xavier’s play as the kind that could eventually turn on another Traitor, so they chose Katie and murdered Xavier. The next victim was Logan Smith, who was sharp and had flagged Katie as suspicious.
Episode 5 put the Traitors in a tougher spot. During the murder-in-plain-sight challenge, recaps noted that suspicion fell on Vanella and Adams over how they handled the apples. Later, one body-language analyst quoted by Cheat Sheet said Vanella looked uneasy while hearing the group’s tributes from inside a coffin, though that’s one commentator’s read.
As of Episode 5 on October 8, he was still in the game, and the Traitors still numbered three: Vanella, Adams and Fites. For a different kind of competitor in a long social game, see our Brady Booker net worth profile on the Survivor 51 contestant.
What Happens Next
Episode 6, “A Murder of Necessity,” airs tonight, Thursday, October 15, at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. Episode 7 follows on October 22. If his status changes, we’ll update this page.
We found no announced project for Vanella outside the show. We’ll cover any news on his business or media plans here.
Joe Vanella Quick Facts
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Joe Vanella |
| Age | 44 |
| Hometown | Wantagh, New York |
| Occupation | Funeral director (fourth generation, per The Cinemaholic) |
| Show | The Traitors: New Blood (NBC, Peacock next day) |
| Role | Traitor (original Traitor, with Tomica Adams) |
| Status | Still in the game as of Episode 5 |
| @thejoevanella |
Joe Vanella Net Worth FAQs
What is Joe Vanella’s net worth? There’s no verified figure. Any exact number online lacks a named source.
How much does Joe Vanella make? His income hasn’t been reported. The BLS medians above describe the profession, not him.
How much can Joe Vanella win on The Traitors? If he survives to the end as a Traitor, he and any other surviving Traitors take the entire pot, up to $250,000. Nothing has been paid out yet.
Is Joe Vanella a Traitor or a Faithful? A Traitor. The other Traitors are Tomica Adams and Katie Fites.
Is Joe Vanella still on The Traitors? He was still in the game after Episode 5 on October 8. Episode 6 airs tonight.
How old is Joe Vanella? He is 44.
What does Joe Vanella do for a living? He is a funeral director from Wantagh, New York.
Where is Joe Vanella from? Wantagh, on Long Island, New York.
How We Put This Together
We built this article from the following sources:
- NBC Insider and Marie Claire: cast bios (age, hometown, occupation, Instagram, pre-season comments)
- The Cinemaholic: Joe Vanella profile (fourth-generation funeral director, selection as a Traitor)
- TVLine, The A.V. Club and DK Network: Episode 3 and 4 recaps (accomplice test, Xavier and Logan murders)
- MEAWW: Episode 2 and Episode 5 recaps (Kim as first target, murder-in-plain-sight, list of players at risk)
- Tell-Tale TV: Episode 5 review (apple suspicion)
- Cheat Sheet: body-language commentary (attributed to a Casino.ca analyst)
- Wikipedia: The Traitors (U.S.) season page (prize rules, Traitors)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: median pay for funeral service workers (May 2024)
We couldn’t find a published figure for his net worth or show pay, so this article doesn’t offer one. The payoff table is our own arithmetic under an even-split assumption, not a reported number.