The Traitors

Leg End Reject · 23-01-2026 11:40PM

I don't think if would be the same without seeing traitors tower.

SlickRic · 23-01-2026 11:44PM

The reaction from Jack when Stephen put down Faraaz's name said it all. He put the pieces together in that split second. Stephen had done him.

That move from Stephen to not put Rachel's name down at the very end deserves every bit of credit going. Not one person could have blamed him if he took an extra 47k. His alliances and social gameplay got him into that position. But he chose to be true to himself and share the money, rather than greedy. He didn't have to, but he did.

Hats off to him.

appledrop · 23-01-2026 11:52PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124174727#Comment_124174727

Have to agree, Stephen & Rachel deserved it, faithfuls useless.

I know it's only a game but I think there would have been serious hate against him if he voted her out that would have just been pure greed.

Harry tricked poor Molly years ago but in that case he wouldn't have got a penny.

hynesie08 · 23-01-2026 11:55PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124174759#Comment_124174759

They went 7? Days without recruiting, on back to back nights a traitor and a faithful called out Rachel and no one followed the breadcrumbs, then when it finally clicks and they start pushing it, she basically gets through on a coin flip. They then dump Jade because she's never had a single opinion that isn't "it's not me" and STILL they don't figure it out.

Idiots, the lot of them.

FortuneChip · 23-01-2026 11:57PM

Traitors absolutely deserved it. They rode their luck when they had to, but absolutely deserved from a long way out.

Im stunned Rachel survived over Jade, how she could be so close to banishment, win at the expense of a declared faithful, in such a small group, and for that group to wholesale shift towards Jade, it's just nuts.

Rachel getting most of the plaudits, but Stephen was a very strong player as game went onand integrity to the hilt.

Hippodrome Song Owl · 23-01-2026 11:59PM

The Traitors' strategy of remaining loyal to each other worked to get them to the end game. They were smart. Definitely a deserving win but I'd have loved to see Stephen take it all in the end. If the heat was the other way I'm certain she would have done it to him, only she couldn't as Jack was only voting one way (for her).

I couldn't warm to her as she seemed to be quite fake throughout the show including in her own personal interviews and commentary, and there was an air of arrogance I didn't like. She grew on me a bit in the last few shows this week, but then reminded me of the arrogance with her nasty comment tonight of how Stephen better realise that she would be the harder woman to have to face than faithful friend Jade if he voted against her. Stephen just seemed authentic throughout and a lovely guy while playing a strong calculated game. But I suppose that's why he kept his word at the end.

SlickRic · 24-01-2026 12:01AM

Rachel realised fully at the final 5 that she had no allies outside of Stephen, and Stephen had 2, meaning she'd no chance outside of him, so she had to go all-in on him. She knew he could discard her quite easily and take all the money from that point because he'd 2 faithful in his pocket.

Rachel was able to control so many narratives, but Stephen was in charge of the social politics.

loyatemu · 24-01-2026 12:05AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124174804#Comment_124174804

But it's the same every series. So either the producers are really good at picking smart traitors, or is just really difficult to be a faithful. The traitors can work together, the faithful have loads of disparate voices all shouting different ideas.

Kolido · 24-01-2026 12:05AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124174690#Comment_124174690

The super sleuths here might not be as super

archfi · 24-01-2026 12:10AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124174784#Comment_124174784

Yeah, he even said it to Claudia at the interview before the endgame that 47k was great but 95k was way better for him.

It was rivetting the last reveal, hats off again to the production team for that. I didn't know at all whether it would be Rachel on that slate or not.

Delighted for the traitors, great win despite loads of breadcrumbs left but it is such a difficult game to figure out as a faithful including even poor aul Roxy.

It's made up for series 3 which I think was the poorest of the UK shows.

Stephen's a lovely bloke and Rachel's not bad for a grandma ;)

Red Silurian · 24-01-2026 12:10AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124174690#Comment_124174690

No it hasn't been done but I think there's an argument for it...

There's a lot of filler they can get rid of, I'd say every episode could easily be half as long. Once you do that you can cut it to 6 days and then 6 days for the actual program

tea and coffee · 24-01-2026 12:13AM

Yeah but the point of the show is not to get to the end as fast as possible. The opposite in fact

FortuneChip · 24-01-2026 12:22AM

Handful of game mechanic suggestions.

Get rid of family/connections. Doesnt add anything overly interesting.

Incentivise traitors to "sabotage",outside of just shields up for grabs, maybe for bonus cash.

Punish faithful for voting out traitors, a tax on faithful's winnings.

The challenges can just be a bit dull in terms of Main game mechanics.

Handful of editing/producer involvement suggestions

Stop making the murder shortlist last ones arriving for breakfast - its every single time, and yet it's never mentioned. It doesn't make sense, so I feel there's some interference occurring.

Same with somehow always landing on the deciding vote, its like they know everyone's votes and start accordingly.

I know both of these are for dramatic purposes, but it does annoy me.

Barnaboy · 24-01-2026 12:30AM

I'm pretty sure I read before that the breakfast scenes are staged. The group already know who was murdered before they go in. Otherwise the faithful can start using that information as clues to who the traitors are.

I have to say I very much enjoyed this season. Rachel and Stephen deserved it. Rachel was so lucky, but in fairness to her she played a great game.

Faraaz was useless but came across as a lovely bloke. A bit like Molly from a few years ago. Easily swayed.

Leg End Reject · 24-01-2026 12:35AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124174874#Comment_124174874

its like they know everyone's votes and start accordingly.

The producers do, there's cameras everywhere so they obviously tell Claudia who to start with and which direction to move in.

I like the suspense and drama of it, it worked really well last night and tonight.

fritzelly · 24-01-2026 12:36AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124174874#Comment_124174874

The latest Canadian version added money if you voted out a traitor so the different shows are trying different things. Don't think you can just take money away from the pot but maybe instead a few thousand goes to the traitors…

505_ · 24-01-2026 01:00AM

Stuck with it but found that the most disappointing season so far. Mainly due to an awful group of faithfuls. The only one who was actually good went nuclear very early for some strange reason. And despite her clearly telling the faithfuls Rachel was a traitor they basically discarded her warning. Rachel a very lucky winner given plenty of evidence against her and the odd slip up “If I was a faithful..”. Funny how none of them ever pushed her on the FBI training too. Fair play to Stephen he was excellent throughout. Played the perfect game and showed exceptional morals to split a pot he could easily have taken for himself.

siblers · 24-01-2026 01:57AM

Rachel was excellent at the round table, she was very good at swaying the faithfuls in how they voted and making them second guess each other.

Stephen was excellent at seeing the overall picture and how doing X could result in Y. Very intelligent players

Was also pretty cool seeing how they never voted for each other. Claudia said it well saying they were faithful with each other

MacDanger · 24-01-2026 02:36AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124174661#Comment_124174661

In fairness to faraaz, Rachel's line about how she would have felt up there announcing that she was faithful was very very good

MacDanger · 24-01-2026 02:46AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124174759#Comment_124174759

In general terms, they are with the recruitment but this series was won by the original traitors so I think they outplayed the faithfuls in a big way Rachel with her clever play and Stephen with his loyalty

MacDanger · 24-01-2026 02:48AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124174784#Comment_124174784

100%, he really showed good character there. Tbf though, Rachel navigated him through some tricky times earlier in the game

Galwayguy35 · 24-01-2026 06:53AM

I reckon Stephen will get a few reality TV gigs after this.

He seems to be very popular with the public

Penn · 24-01-2026 10:20AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124175053#Comment_124175053

It's why sharing the pot with Rachel was by far the better move in the long run. If he'd betrayed her at the end his likeability would have plummeted. Sure, smartest move overall, but this way he shows himself as being an absolutely genuine, sincere and likeable guy.

Penn · 24-01-2026 10:24AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124175000#Comment_124175000

Yeah I think they outlined it well on Uncloaked; Rachel played the strategy game the best but Stephen played the social game the best, and it's why they were able to last so long and win. First time two original traitors made it to the final together, never voted against each other, never recruited. Just absolutely stuck to their gameplan and worked together.

Heroditas · 24-01-2026 11:49AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124175204#Comment_124175204

Again, he was always thinking of the bigger picture and strategy during the game. This was the biggest "big picture" okay of the lot - betray Rachel and get all the money or stick with her, get half the prize but leave himself open to bigger opportunities in the future and earn even more.

loyatemu · 24-01-2026 12:42PM

Or maybe he's just a nice guy. If he'd written Rachel's name down it would have been like the final 2 years ago, which was incredible TV but devastating for the losing faithful.

Penn · 24-01-2026 01:37PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124175440#Comment_124175440

Oh yeah I think he was genuine in his decision to share and didn't make the choice out of concern about his long-term prospects, but I think it does end up helping his long-term prospects more. Genuinely just a nice guy at heart.

Hippodrome Song Owl · 24-01-2026 01:47PM

While I agree that Stephen is clearly just a lovely guy and that his decision was probably mostly influenced by not wanting to betray Rachel at the last moment or devastate Jack by stringing him along to the very end, I'm not sure I buy that any potential long term prospects would be affected by being selfish at the end. It's a game. The goal is to win the money at the expense of everyone else, so I can't see how voting off Rachel would have sullied his character.

If someone is nasty, bitchy, or mean during the missions, breakfast, dinner etc then that reflects badly (and we have seen that in the past), but not simply playing to win the game. As much as everyone felt for Molly, Harry wasn't viewed badly over it, and he has had a lot of subsequent opportunities from the show regardless.

SlickRic · 24-01-2026 01:58PM

Just to say, as much as Stephen could've taken it all, Rachel more than deserved a share.

Even that bit of play to convince Faraaz to go Stephen so the faithful vote would be split. Genius.

Steve Allen · 24-01-2026 03:35PM

Was a latecomer to the series, only started with the irish one and then celeb uk one. Thought I'd skip this one but it reeled me in.

Has been asked already, not sure on the answer. When it was the final 4 and say both Jack and Faraaz had voted Rachel (like they should've really), and Rachel and Stephen voted Faraaz - 2v2. Do they vote again? And if same result again it goes to chance?

The Traitors

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