The Traitors UK discussion thread *SPOILERS*

[DavidB6937]

Enough drama in that episode to cover a whole series!

Poor Harriet. Can see what she was trying to do but being that loud and OTT was never going to end well.

Plus to be fair most of her ideas were shit.

[Nexus]

Honestly one of the best episodes of Traitors ever. On the other hand, like my wife said - two episodes in a row where massive blow ups happen but then are resolved in one episode. 

 

Roxy is absolute dog shit though. 

[Chilly McFreeze]

So much to be said about the absolutely stunning levels of head loss there from Harriett. 

- Given what just happened with Fiona it seems fucking insane you would go even *harder* on Rachel. She was pretty much the safest person in the house and no one was gonna buy the theory even if she was subtle.

- One thing that anyone who watches the show knows is that losing your head at breakfast is a terrible idea. (Red Breakfast, The Toast, Hugo overacting etc....) People come in the morning looking for someone to start suspecting and you're just putting a target on your head.

- Personally attacking other people or shutting them down never plays well. She stopped playing the game and started sounding off at Roxy (i know she's annoying but still) and made it weirdly personal. People naturally felt defensive of Roxy after the breakfast which did not help Harriett.

- Harriet thinking there were 5 fucking traitors left in the game. That would mean there would have been 7 traitors?  This to me shows she's never actually watched the show. Mental to use this as 'evidence' because everyone knows there's never been more than 3 Traitors at a time and recruitments are rare.

- By the end she clearly didn't want to stay anyway and was more concerned with being shown as correct than winning the game. This is extra hilarious because absolutely no one bought the Rachel bit and she's even safer now.

 

Phenomenal episode. I didn't think Fiona's exit could be topped for it's sheer satisfaction, but Harriett managed it. I really hope Rachel and Stephen stick together and win as a team. 

Also must be said Stephen clearly has game as a Traitor given how well he thought through the murder candidates. I would need a spreadsheet to work that shit out.

[CTXRussomark]

Absolutely mental for Harriet to go full scorched earth like that after Hugo and Fiona's downfalls.  That level of aggression was never going to go down well and I think she massively overestimated how much credence she'd get from revealing her true past, and I think she ultimately lost sight of it being a game that you need to win as an individual just as much as you do as a team.  Made for amazing TV though. 

[DavidB6937]

I've said it before but it's why shows like Survivor work so well for me (not the UK version ugh) despite being around for so long and people 'knowing' the game inside out.

You don't. You think you do, and you think you can go on there and do your shit and own it, but the pressure gets to nearly everyone eventually, and Traitors is the closest I've seen to replicating that in terms of people just completely falling apart. Even the people who on paper look like they should absolutely excel in an environment like this. Once you throw in everyone else and the various elements of the game, actually most people end up on a level playing field.

It makes for amazing television and goes against everything I was worried about once we lost the original novelty factor.

 

[Arch Stanton]

I was initially impressed that Harriet correctly identified Rachel as a Traitor, and with such conviction too. She made out like she was going to lay out such a convincing, watertight case at the roundtable that it would blow everyone's minds. Then we got there and it was a total wet fart of a prosecution, just hunches with zero evidence. It made her look like a mad old lady, which to be fair, would be correct. If I was sat at that roundtable I'd have written her name down just for making such a nob of herself.

[RedTwoster]

She came across as very shrewd when she met the Traitors, but Rachel must have been so relieved when her evidence amounted to…that.

We’re in a mad situation now in which I could actually see Stephen winning the whole thing. A turnaround through the implosion of the Faithfuls more than anything else, but a turnaround all the same.

Harriet probably could have swayed that herd of sheep had she not gone in so hard. Yelling and being slightly aggressive never ends well, as she just saw with Fiona. 

[Chilly McFreeze]

It's also worth considering that because actually finding traitors doesn't really matter, especially in the first half of the game, if you start pissing everyone off then you're likely to get banished anyway because no one wants you around spoiling the vibes. 

[FLips]

The absolute turnaround from Harriett telling the confessional she knows it’s Rachel and she’s gunning for her, to her just being incredibly aggressive at breakfast really was to behold. Rachel went from shitting herself and planning an exit strategy to not being under suspicion at all. Unbelievable TV and I was wrong to ever think the show had ran out of steam.

I really can’t fathom what went through her head to just lash out like that. I know we don’t see a lot of footage but it was breakfast time, there wasn’t even time before it to have got her back up. Mental behaviour.

I’m absolutely loving the pattern this series of people going in thinking they’re the big kahuna cos they’re a copper or a barrister or a crime writer and just shitting the bed spectacularly. Rachel claiming to have been trained by the FBI was such a funny admission because somehow despite likely being the only one lying about it, everyone got so excited and it didn’t fuck her game up at all like it did everyone else who revealed their job. She’s untouchable.

[TheBurningRed]

I’m trained and work in behavioural detection. We got taught the 16 behaviours people display when they’re nervous/lying etc. I just know if I went on there all cocky about my skills, I’d get it absolutely wrong and embarrass myself. It’s such a completely different environment with people in your ear about who they’re suspicious of, all the tasks, and other factors.

[wordsfromlee]

I don't think any of the people who voted for Harriet actually believed she was a traitor (because why would a traitor explode like she did), they just voted her off because she was ruining the game for the rest of them by being really aggressive and personal.

[DavidB6937]

Mad that Rachel seems to be off the radar now. Think she'll have to do something fairly monumental to fuck it up now. I think Stephen's demise is inevitable now but might take a few more round tables. He'll be the "can't understand why you're still here" vote eventually, even if Jessie can't get it done quite yet.

[RedTwoster]

8 hours ago, DavidB6937 said:

Mad that Rachel seems to be off the radar now. Think she'll have to do something fairly monumental to fuck it up now. I think Stephen's demise is inevitable now but might take a few more round tables. He'll be the "can't understand why you're still here" vote eventually, even if Jessie can't get it done quite yet.

While she’s obviously right in thinking Stephen’s a Traitor, her continued suggestion that Maz had more heat on him than Stephen is a bit annoying as it’s simply not true. 

Stephen has made more slip-ups and displayed more suspicious behaviour than most Traitors do, but even Jessie doesn’t seem to have noticed these as she’s never brought them up. 

in addition to that, being fixated on one person usually helps the person on this show more than it does the accuser, unless someone else gets on board with the theory, it just feels like they’re obsessed. 

[DavidB6937]

Yeah it's definitely a fine line how to play the game. Too quiet or too loud or too forceful etc - all ends up badly. There's definitely a subtlety to it and you have to play the middle ground really.

Unless, as you said, there's actual decent evidence and suspicious behaviour - which, to their credit, doesn't actually happen a whole lot with any Traitors really. They're normally pretty decent!

[RedTwoster]

47 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Yeah it's definitely a fine line how to play the game. Too quiet or too loud or too forceful etc - all ends up badly. There's definitely a subtlety to it and you have to play the middle ground really.

I’d like to see a Traitor play the game like James does at some point. Alongside the middle ground you mention, being a rubbish Faithful and generally coming across as thick gets you far to the point you might actually win. 

I reckon a smart Traitor playing as an idiot/chaotic Faithful could do extremely well.