We’re now into the second half of this year’s series of The Traitors – and the twists and turns are only getting bigger.
The latest episode (16 January) saw Traitors Rachel and Stephen successfully shine suspicion on Ellie, who received the most votes at the roundtable despite being a Faithful. She also revealed to her fellow players that she is in a relationship with long-departed Ross.
The episode also saw Jade discuss a family tragedy that she said is the root of her guarded personality, while the players were left shocked by the overnight murder of Jessie. Stephen later expressed his surprise over the fact that despite Jessie pointing the finger of suspicion at him mere hours before her murder, he remains under the radar.
Finally, Claudia announced the introduction of the Ceremonial Dagger, which will be given to a player and allow them to make two votes at the next roundtable. The twist? The Traitors get to decide which player will receive the dagger. Which player will Rachel and Stephen choose? Or will they choose one of themselves?
The Traitors continues on Wednesday (21 January) night at 8pm
The Traitors
- Claudia introduces the Ceremonial Dagger, which gives the Traitors unprecedented power
- Jade revealed a family tragedy at a post-roundtable dinner
- Ellie received the most votes at the roundtable, and revealed she is Ross's girlfriend
- Jessie has been murdered!
Good night!
21:06 , Adam WhiteWell that was exhausting and sad and ever so slightly camp, wasn’t it? We’ve reached the end of the week all knowing the players a bit better, don’t you think?
Thanks for reading. The Traitors is back next Wednesday.
ICYMI: Ellie's banishment!
21:06 , Adam WhiteAnd here’s the moment Ellie was voted out of the show, a product of Rachel’s genius maneuvering...
ICYMI: Jade's very sad revelation
21:05 , Adam WhiteJade revealed a horrible part of her recent history tonight, in a very surprising dinner party scene.
So we’re coming to a close tonight with Rachel and Stephen deciding who will receive the dagger and those two votes.
Who it will be? Find out next week!
Introducing... the dagger!
20:59 , Adam WhiteAnd here comes Claudia with a ceremonial dagger, which she proceeds to stab into the dinner party table. Camp!
The twist? Next episode one person will have the dagger, which gives them two votes at the roundtable. The second twist? The Traitors will decide who gets this power -- and it could be either a Faithful or one of the Traitors themselves.
So these stories have all got a bit heavy, haven’t they? And there I was yawning a few minutes ago.
Jade has obviously just expressed an incredibly tragic bit of her personal life, while Rachel uses her dinner party time to talk about her mother’s recent dementia diagnosis, and her eagerness to be able to give her a fantastic holiday using the prize money.
Stephen has discussed growing up gay in a deeply religious environment, Roxy has just discussed being adopted. Argh, it’s very melancholy!
Jade discusses her past
20:53 , Adam WhiteWas going to make a mean comment about how boring this treacly dinner party is until Jade said that her mother and half-sister were both “found dead” in 2018, which is obviously incredibly horrible!
She says that is the reason she’s quite guarded as a person, and why it takes longer for her to warm up to people.
Surrounded by cheese and wine, the players settle down for a lovely, non-dramatic dinner party where absolutely nothing nefarious will happen.
ONLY JOKING.
Claudia has teased a twist, because of course.
“I am amazed I am still here,” Jade says.
Same, Jade, same!
No murder tonight, folks
20:47 , Adam WhiteAnd in another twist, Claudia announces there will be no murder tonight, and instead the players will have a dinner party.
That said, nothing says “secret terrifying in-person task” than a Traitors dinner party.
Stephen, meanwhile, echoes the nation by confessing he can’t believe not a single person voted for him despite his arch nemesis Jessie being murdered overnight. He’s very good at this too!
Ellie makes her (slightly flop) confession that she was Ross’s girlfriend this whole time, a revelation slightly undermined by the fact that barely any of us remember Ross at this point.
Bye bye Ellie!
20:45 , Adam WhiteRachel up next, and she votes Ellie. Gosh she’s brilliant at this!
And Jade votes Ellie, meaning Ellie is tonight’s banished contestant.
Oops!
Ellie is next, and votes to eliminate Jade.
Jack votes for Matthew.
And, unsurprisingly, James matches Jack’s vote by voting Matthew.
And Matthew has voted for Jade.
That means two for Ellie, two for Jade, two for Matthew, and one for James.
Who will go?
20:42 , Adam WhiteSo here we are, with Ellie and Jade both looking vulnerable.
First up is Faraaz, who votes to eliminate Ellie.
Roxy votes James. “If I’m wrong, I’ll give my head a big shake after this,” she says.
Stephen votes for Ellie!
And now Jade's crying!
20:41 , Adam WhiteMatthew now is saying that he found Jade quite guarded at the start of the series, meaning she’s a bit dodgy, I guess?
“That’s just who I am,” she says, while holding back tears.
God, everyone’s crying tonight!
“No one has put up with as much as I have at these roundtables,” Jade says. “I’m sick of it!”
Rachel has very successfully cast suspicion on Ellie at the roundtable now.
And now Ellie is crying.
This may work in her favour or not at all.
Oops, Roxy has said she doesn’t think Stephen is a Traitor, proving her to be quite amusingly useless here.
And now Rachel’s up, admitting to telling “a white lie” this morning. Remember at the breakfast table when she said she had a strong suspicion about who the Traitor is? She admits that that was bogus, and a deliberate ruse to spot any “changes” she perceived during the remainder of the day.
And who did change? (Allegedly): Ellie!
Ooh, Rachel is good at this.
James is now under fire, for stealing that shield the other day. Which, admittedly, is sneaky-sneaky.
And Matthew thinks that James and Jack keep voting the same way because they’re a traitorous team! Ooh! Juicy!
Self-appointed leader Roxy then embarks on a monologue about the players all needing to work together, before shifting her attention to Stephen...
Jade's turn
20:35 , Adam WhiteEllie has voiced suspicion about Jade, which is about as snoozy as it sounds. She finds her defensive around the roundtable, but admits that’s not much proof. She also points out the coincidence that everyone who votes Jade at the roundtable seems to get killed soon after.
“I’ve said from the start that I’m being framed!” Jade says. Why do the people with the least screentime always assume they’re the main character on this show?
Anyway, she turns the tables on both Ellie and Matthew, suggesting actually they’re the ones who are the most suspicious.
Phew, roundtable time! I’m a bit stumped about who’s gonna go tonight. Could it be Matthew? Are we entering Ellie’s “prime suspect” arc?
Roxy's worries
20:30 , Adam WhiteOoh, we’ve hit the inevitable “incredibly boring player thinks they’re being kept in the show for a reason” moment! And it’s Roxy’s time to shine!
She asks Stephen whether she’s being kept on the show because he’s a Traitor and they’re such good friends that he doesn’t want to kill her.
Zzzz. “I’m 100 per cent a Faithful,” Stephen says, because of course he does.
So I’m not really sure if this mission did much to increase or decrease suspicion anywhere. In the cars back home, Matthew seems to be getting heat, and is seen by a few of the players as, theoretically, a likely Traitor.
Ellie is also a little suspicious of Stephen, but not enough that it feels dangerous to him. Potentially because Ellie just isn’t that forceful a player?
They also bagged £3,200 by the way!
“Ellie’s not really contributed much,” says Stephen, speaking for everyone at home, frankly.
So Rachel and Stephen have popped out of their boxes to secretly conspire about the first question: who is the most underestimated player?
They then dip back into their boxes.
They’ve picked James, which matches four players’ answers.
This is very convoluted. Again, I apologise. Just imagine there being boxes, people, whispers, chalkboards, nonsense, camp.
Mission time!
20:18 , Adam WhiteSo tonight’s mission sees the cast being placed in big individual boxes, where they will be forced to answer questions about their traitors.
Here’s a confession from me: these rules are always very very confusing.
But basically, everyone gets into boxes, are asked a question, the traitors then have to jump out of the boxes, answer the question themselves, and then everybody’s answers have to match theirs.
Or something. This is very labyrinthian, forgive me.
So this is interesting: Rachel has made a big to-do about having suspicions about the identity of the Traitors at the breakfast table, which makes her look pretty Faithful.
The Faithfuls meanwhile are grappling with whether Jessie’s murder was Stephen’s doing, or a double-bluff.
Stephen may have gotten away with killing Jessie, it seems. “I’m just hoping this looks way too obvious that people will say, ‘oh, it can’t be Stephen!’” he says.
Aspirational flop Matthew, meanwhile, is convinced he’s still going to be recruited by the Traitors. Matthew, please stop.
“That’s absolutely gutting,” Roxy says.
Well this is a shock.
Flashback time
“Jessie doesn’t serve the longer game,” Rachel says.
Stephen tells Rachel he wants to kill Jessie as she eyed him as a potential traitor, and knows that killing her will put a target on his back.
“Who have I become?” he jokes.
That said, Jessie believes her being killed off means Stephen wasn’t a Traitor. So perhaps this long game will work in Stephen’s favour?
And murdered last night was...
JESSIE!!
“We made a really difficult decision last night, and I think there will be a lot of drama to come,” Rachel says.
OMG who was it?! Come on, BBC
Stephen fit check. YES.
Where is he getting this stuff?
And as a mysterious woman wails through a Stevie Nicks cover, we’re taken to breakfast. “I’m so surprised it wasn’t me that was murdered,” Jack says.
But who was??
Here we are!
20:02 , Adam WhiteAnd we’re off! For Friday’s episode of the Rachel, Stephen and Then the Increasingly Boring Faithfuls Solving Murders Variety Hour. Are you hyped? I am hyped!
Who are we thinking for the next murder? Faraaz maybe?
We're getting close...
19:29 , Adam WhiteThere’s just half an hour to go before tonight’s episode, which will presumably see one of Jessie, Faraaz or Matt meeting their demise at the hands of Rachel and Stephen.
Before then, why not have a look at everyone who’s left the series so far? Remember Ben? Of course you don’t!
Who's looking likely to win?
18:59 , Adam WhiteWe’re obviously at the point in the series where the winner feels as if they’re coming into view. But what do the bookies think?
The latest odds by Freebets suggests that Stephen is currently the one to beat, with odds of 10/11. That’s higher than the second most likely to win, Rachel, at 6/4.
This makes sense, considering Rachel has had a decent amount of heat on her versus Stephen’s practically seamless ability to skirt under the radar.
Trailing them are Faraaz and Ellie, both at 6/1, and you imagine that’s only because they’re... both contestants on the show who are... there.
Ever notice?
18:30 , Adam WhiteBeyond Claudia’s outrageous knits and the presence of that wise-slash-evil owl, the most commonplace trope in each series of The Traitors is, of course, the gratuitous where-on-earth-did-this-come-from? shower scene, a moment always slipped in during those darkly lit montages of people who may or may not soon be killed.
Today Matthew, the latest soapy Traitors contestant, posted a video to his Instagram poking fun at the various men who’ve been filmed showering on the show so far. First Freddie from series three, then Olympian Tom Daley in last year’s Celebrity Traitors and now him.
“Proof the standards are slipping,” he captioned the post.
Hilariously, Daley himself commented on the post, writing: “Literally the most awkward thing to film.”
Sam has a theory as to why he's no longer on the show
17:55 , Adam WhiteThere’s a long-standing theory that the way to survive on The Traitors is to keep your head down. Evidence for: all of the snoozy Faithfuls still in the game. Evidence against: [footage not found.]
And fresh eliminee Sam is the latest to back this idea, telling the BBC that he attempted to keep his head down during the show, but ultimately couldn’t do it. And that’s why, he thinks, he got booted by the rest of the Faithfuls.
"My strategy was to firstly be a Traitor and if not, it was to stay military medium,” he explained. “But that is not what I did, I went out the gates very hot.
“I was devastated, but I felt like the writing was on the wall for a little while. I fought my corner as best I could, but I could feel them closing in on me.”
Harriet's oopsie
17:21 , Adam WhiteOne of the big stories this week was Harriet’s gutsy if maybe short-sighted transformation into Godzilla at the morning breakfast table.
It’s no real surprise that she’s since come out and apologised for getting a bit too caught up in the drama and shouting at everyone.
“I did lose my temper and I really wish I hadn’t,” the barrister-turned-crime writer has said.
The Traitors star says she’s ‘not proud’ of ‘awful’ outburst on BBC series
Is Stephen winning The Traitors through FASHION?
16:37 , Adam WhiteProper gas leak theorising here, but... also maybe true?
The good folks over at Good Housekeeping have suggested that pocket-sized wonder Traitor Stephen is only so good at slipping under the radar because of his Mad Power Fashioning Via The Shien App styling!
“He’s even taking on Claudia when it comes to showstopping looks,” writes Ella Duggan, “diverting the attention of viewers and players alike with bright colours, endearing accessories and impeccable styling – and it’s working.”
Sure, why not!
More accurate takes from The Independent
15:51 , Adam WhiteAnd Ellie Harrison wrote this other entirely correct opinion piece this week too, about Harriet’s disappointing crash-out and subsequent exit, and how it’s left this series filled with fewer characters and just loads and loads of slightly boring dead wood!
As we gear up for the final episode of the week, it’s important to let you know that this is a safe space to talk and yes, we too have had the same thought as you: all of these men look exactly the same???
Katie Rosseinsky, a writer who we promise does not suffer from face blindness and is in fact entirely correct here, wrote about the strange dude-merging phenomenon on the show this series...
Why this Traitors season is tougher to watch when the men blend together
The wild Traitors theory that would change series as we know it
14:33 , Adam WhiteIs there anything more appropriate for this time in a series of The Traitors than a bit of mad speculation? Enter my colleague Jacob Stolworthy, who has posited that there may be yet another twist on the horizon for our traitors and faithfuls.
And it all has to do with a mysterious second envelope...
The wild Traitors twist that could change series as we know it
Rachel: Admired by all, even those she's killed
14:06 , Adam WhiteFreshly murdered Adam and Sam were on Lorraine this morning to talk all about being metaphorical corpses, and the pair were effusive in their praise for Traitor Queen Rachel.
“She’s brilliant at what she does,” Adam told regular Lorraine guest host Christine Lampard. “She’s got a really big following in there. People follow her around, and I can see her going to the final.”
“I think she’s playing a phenomenal game,” Sam added. “You saw my reaction when I left and I found out it was Rachel, I was honestly blown away. It’s really difficult watching it back and thinking ‘how did I miss that?’”
Good afternoon!
13:40 , Adam WhiteHello! Adam here taking over from Jacob for today’s Traitors blog! As previously mentioned, tonight will see one of Jessie, Faraaz or Matthew meeting their maker, which is a bit like choosing which slice of unbuttered toast you’ll eat first.
My money’s on Faraaz, for some reason.
Recap of last night's episode
13:00 , Jacob Stolworthy- Traitors Rachel and Stephen successfully murdered Adam despite being unsure whether he had a shield.
- Sam was banished after a tense rountable, which also saw Jessie reignite her suspicions of Stephen
- Rachel and Sam faced what they branded their most “pivotal” decision yet: should they murder Jessie, Faraaz or Matt?
The twist that might be hiding in plain sight
12:30 , Jacob StolworthyOur chief film & TV correspondent breaks down what could be a final week revelation:
