The Traitors is tiptoeing cautiously through a minefield in the lead-up to its series finale this Friday.
Ever since Claudia Winkleman’s fourth swing around the roundtable to pick her turncoats this series, it’s been clear the BBC production is trying to shake up the pieces on its gameboard, from the secret Traitor twist to the latest roundtable dagger, with the chapel confessional in between.
If you were brought to the Scottish castle by Alan Carr’s beggars-belief run to the prize pot, you might not understand why they’d need to. But the civilian series before The Celebrity special was far from a vintage year, and it’s that iteration of the series that comes to mind now.
If you can recall this time last year, the dwindling Faithfuls were a pretty unlikable, witless bunch and long before the credits rolled, the Seer twist did it in for the one Traitor left.
The final banishments felt like a Squid Game-style exercise in whittling down numbers for a greater share at the prize pot, rather than tactically strategic game-play.
It was hard finding one person to root for by the end.
Jump forward to present day and tonight’s episode – which has teased a second instance of Traitor-on-Traitor violence this run – has left me fearful we could witness a repeat in Ardross castle.
That double-vote dagger, which was the latest twist in this season’s hit-and-miss parade of them, was awarded to chief hapless Faithful James, who lodged it into the front and back of the most capable member of his own side, Matthew.
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The 35-year-old creative director has thus been ejected from the game in its closing stages and the Faithful have once again played straight into Stephen and Rachel’s cunning hands.
But that dagger might not quite be out of commission yet. Because our Traitors are about to turn on each other like rats in a cage – I am chomping at the bit to see it.
In this series Rachel has been omnipotent, rarely putting a foot wrong. Even when she did, the Faithful were, frustratingly, too busy looking the other way to notice. So I think it’s a foolish decision she has made, tipping off Stephen to her impending treachery, even if they are called the Traitors.
‘Please remember nobody can stick up for one another at this point,’ she told Stephen in their apparent safe space. ‘If you hear anybody repeat that I’m talking about you, it’s because I have to protect our alliance.’
What a careless move. Stephen has voted for every other Traitor to go, and ended the episode by implying he will be more than prepared to do the same to Rachel.
I don’t think this would be such a consequential misstep on Rachel’s part, were it not for Faithful Faraaz finally taking stock of the huge cache of evidence that she is one of the turret-schemers.
Took him long enough.
I have to award myself a personal lap of victory here, because I had an inkling this was coming last week, after Rachel randomly – and some might say naively – levelled the accusation at him.
Rachel could very well be dead on arrival by the finale, and it’s actually not looking good for Stephen either, the contestant who has a role in the show that requires him to lie, but who appears not to understand the concept of deception.
Both of their names cropped up this episode as contestants that are being looked at, so their time is potentially running out.
If Rachel does go down in a blaze of glory, pointing the finger back at her Traitor-in-arms, Stephen will swiftly follow her out the door, leaving the undeserving Faithful to glide to victory.
Herein lies my bugbear with The Traitors: gone are Jessie, Harriet and even Matthew. Instead, we’re left with the Faithful who are either gullible enough not to warrant murder or so suspicious that a death warrant has already been self-signed.
All reality TV eventually becomes ropey and repetitive. Look no further than ITV’s comparatively dismal ratings for Love Island: All Stars, which isn’t even close going head-to-head with the BBC’s juggernaut murder mystery.
But one flicker of hope is that the team behind The Traitors has shown a knack for reinvention, even when we thought we had seen every iteration of the show. Just look at the blazing showdown when they let celebrities walk into the castle.
Perhaps they can rustle up another Seer-style twist in the final stretch – although perhaps not that exact one, since it got out ahead of itself. Francesca and Charlotte’s confrontation was the highlight of last season’s finale for me, but everything that came after I have chosen to forget.
Another point in the finale’s favour is the Faithful’s ability for lunkheaded thinking.
Who do you think will win The Traitors?
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The Faithful
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The Traitors
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At times during this series, I thought Rachel or Stephen might be able to announce themselves as the Traitors and still somehow avoid banishment, simply because The Faithful are so oblivious.
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Faraaz might return tomorrow (if he isn’t murdered, and that’s a significant if) with all thoughts of Rachel having evaporated.
Then there’s the possibility that the delicious tension that has been sparked between Rachel and Stephen continues to flame until the bitter end. A cat-and-mouse game – one that comes down to the crunch to see who falls first – sounds like great television to me.
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If not, I fear that when we gather at that final firepit, with its ceremonial pouches and whittled down contestants, I’ll be watching on and hoping nobody wins.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jessica.aureli@metro.co.uk.
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