If you had been Stephen.... (Traitors spoilers)

[Allswellthatendswelll]

It's a Traitors one sorry! I know this has probably been discussed elsewhere.

Would you have taken all the money when you had the chance at the end (by voting with Jack to banish Rachel)? A few people have told me they would have and I'm now looking at them in a different way (lightheartedly)!

I wouldn't have but part of it is I would never have been able to face Rachel or Jack afterwards and that wouldn't be worth 50k to me.

YABU- He should have taken the money, 50k is alot and its a game about lying.

YANBU- No he made a promise. It was good he kept his integrity.

He'd have got around 50k more is what I meant. As he was always going go get 50k once they were down to two traitors.

I'm sure he wouldn't have been that bothered about going down in your estimation. The whole game is about breaking promises.

I’d have taken the money.

I think he did the right thing.
In an interview Jack said he was absolutely furious when he was voted out & the production team had to calm him down. I imagine that's why they didn't show them all together at the end.

I think he made the right decision, he only made it to the end game because of Rachel’s strategy play.
I would have been totally tempted
to have taken it all, he could have had her bumped off several times towards the very end but chose not to even though he said he had been tempted himself.
I think standing there at the end with his fellow traitor who had helped him get there was a good ending even though I didn’t like Rachel’s tactics. They promised each other to look out for one another and they didn’t back down.

I was hiding behind a cushion when it was down to the last 3. I was so glad he voted to keep Rachel in and share.

No I wouldn't. I think Stephen will do better afterwards by not taking it all too, so it was a pragmatic choice.

I’d have taken the money. Mostly because I can’t stand Rachel. But for him he’ll earn far more than that 50K in media opportunities.

He’ll get more media basking in the glory of not shafting Rachel. So right decision for him.

You've got to consider also what he wants to get out of his time on the show in the long term, and how his personal branding plays into that. If he's looking to build any kind of media/influencer career, it makes much more sense for him to lean into the image of the "nice guy" that he essentially seems to be, rather than a ruthless cutthroat, which I don't think fits him and he can't do as much with IMO. He's very different to Harry.

I think this is why he made the right decision - not really based on whether he could do it to Rachel, but based on making a statement about the kind of person he is, when the whole country is watching.

I would have shared the money in his situation. My image of myself as a fair and decent person is worth more to me than £50k!

Traitors is a game, and traitors deceiving the faithful is an integral part of that game. Any single one of the contestants would have done that, if they had been tapped on the shoulder as a traitor. It's already factored in when you sign up to play the game.

Betraying your own team mate isn't a requirement of the game, though... it's just pure greed. I don't think I could have lived with myself in that scenario.

I think that’s the bit that would have stopped me from taking the money even more - the fact that I’d then have to stand in front of someone who thought they’d made the right decision and had now won (Jack in this case), and say “I’m a traitor”. I’d really hate that.
But would I hate it so much I’d lose £50k over it… who knows.

I think Harry was a very different situation. Unless he had deliberately sabotaged himself completely so that he got voted out (which no reasonable person would expect him to do), he was going to take that money from Molly.

The ball was very much in his court at the end. He could have easily got rid of Rachel and kept all the money but I think it would have left a sour taste. I love that they won together and played as a team throughout. I wonder if Rachel would have done the same?

In that situation I would have done what Stephen did. Telling Jack he was a traitor would have been awful and he’d have lost his integrity with Rachel too. I know it’s only a game but I do think morals come into it too.

I hope I would make the same decision as him. Lots of people wouldn't, but it was really lovely to see him stay true to his word to the end. I felt weirdly very proud of him

DH and I have discussed this and we think he’s gained a lot more by maintaining his integrity. People now really like him which will do well for him on social media and in his career. Worth a lot more probably than £50k. £90k is obviously an amazing amount to win but it’s not an amount to retire on.

I agree with this. It was the game, and he should have taken the money

To answer your question, I’d have done the same I think. I hope!

I wouldn't like myself very much if I'd played a pretty good team game with my fellow traitor, who'd helped me get out of scrapes, and who I'd gone a bit full on already to the extent she ended up in a chance situation, if I'd then decided to be greedy and take the lot.

There's far more important things than money, and £50k is already a decent whallop.

I agree, but Harry played the game quite differently, he was very calculated and ruthless as a Traitor, which isn't the way Stephen played. Stephen was far from stupid and made some shrewd decisions, but also we saw that the whole thing weighed on him a lot more than it did Harry, and his partnership with Rachel was something he actually valued. Harry was always viewing himself as a lone wolf.

No judgement on Harry by the way, I'm just saying he and Stephen took different approaches and are different types of people.

They never show them together after the last person leaves the final firepit scene. In the case of just one winner they show them standing on their own with Claudia outside the castle.

I would have done as Stephen did because I couldn't have sat there on Uncloaked and faced Rachel. He'll get more than £50k off brand deals and featuring fashion brands on his Instagram.off the nice-guy image.

For me, the point of Traitors is two fold

One, win all the money
Two, vote Traitors out

That's it really. That's the game as I understand it

However of course, there are nuances.

For example Rachel was brutal. Absolutely focused and imo , if she could have, she would have dumped Stephen and taken all the money. I feel quite clear about that. She is not someone I would trust irl. I didn't get good energy from her and her playing of the game was hard to watch for me

Stephen could have got rid of Rachel on a couple of occasions and might well have then ended up with all the money

He chose not to do that and I'm not 100% sure if it was because of the pact or he didn't have the balls or he simply isn't that sort of person

I am guessing he will make way more than the £47k he lost in media deals and so on. Maybe he was simply not so worried about the money?

The Faithful....least said, really. They were so flip floppy. Even Jack, to a degree, although he was the Faithful i admired the most

Edit - I think Stephen was scared of Rachel

I agree with this. I thought it made that final episode so fantastic precisely because, as Claudia said, they were 'traitors but completely faithful to each other.' It added such a great dimension.

As other posters have said, I would have done as Stephen did because that loyalty and decency would have been more important to me than the £50k I'd have got by breaking the promise. And he also knew that, had he voted Rachel off, he'd have then had to look Jack in the eye and admit he was a traitor.

And yes it's a game, and yes it's about deceit and cunning and maximising your own chances - but I think most people who go on there are intelligent enough and savvy enough to know it's not just about the game, is it? It's about media exposure, minor fame, future opportunities. Both Stephen and Rachel will do far better out of the Traitors in the longer term than an extra £50k.

Stephen was featured in the programme (can't remember when: last week, week before?) saying that he wanted to act with integrity. He made a promise (that he didn't have to) not to put Rachel's name on the slate, and stuck to it.

The win wasn't all on Rachel, though. She may have invented the strategy to stick together but a lot of the decisions in the turret seemed to have been Stephen's ideas / planning / schemeing.

I would have made the choice Stephen did. I see no evidence that Rachel would have chosen differently. She kept to the promise they made throughout the series and protected Stephen when he was threatened. Rachel didn't even vote for Hugo, the only she voted out was Fiona, entirely understandably in the circumstances. It was only fair that Stephen shared with her, neither would have won without the other.

In series 2 there was no traitor loyalty and Harry played a great game beating everyone, including other traitors. This series they had professed loyalty and I'm glad they kept their word.

I’d have taken all the money - that’s what the game is about! He’s had to lie all the way through so I don’t see the difference at the end.