Page 22 | Traitors 2026 - New Years Day

CaveMum · 2025-12-29T20:40:58+00:00

Apologies, I can’t see another thread so just starting this one in anticipation. Can’t wait to see what the red cloak is all about!

WonderfulSmith · 02/01/2026 08:25

Silverbirchleaf · 02/01/2026 05:35

Did anyone else wonder why Hilary Tyce was in the civilian version, not the Celeb version? She’s a best selling author, and a name known to many.

In the olden days, the word ‘Celebrity’ simply meant someone who was in the public eye, a film star, sportsman, etc and it’s only relatively recently it’s become more of a persona in its own right. The meaning has changed and developed over time to be more encompassing, incorporating a lifestyle, rather than just having a famous face or name.

Edited

Her name clearly isn’t that well known as she’s Harriet, not Hillary.

Silverbirchleaf · 02/01/2026 08:28

WonderfulSmith · 02/01/2026 08:25

Her name clearly isn’t that well known as she’s Harriet, not Hillary.

Show quote history

Sorry, sleepless night typo.

PeonyPatch · 02/01/2026 08:31

dapsnotplimsolls · 02/01/2026 00:27

I'm going for Jack purely because his hair annoys me.

🤣 👌

WonderfulSmith · 02/01/2026 08:37

I think that the editing is leading us to think it’s Judy, but I’m leaning to Roxy.

It was interesting what Richard said on TRIE that when the ST does the piece to camera in the ‘diary room’ talking about the day or task they almost have to do it twice. Once talking like they are a faithful and once talking about their thoughts as the secret traitor.

xsquared · 02/01/2026 08:38

The secret traitor might be one of the traitors.

Not convinced by this. They all look genuinely surprised at having to follow orders rather than pick their own victims.

TinfoilTangerine · 02/01/2026 08:48

I agree that there may be a few connections between the players. I did wonder if Hugo and Harriet knew each other. Think either Roxy or Harriet for the ST.

HereforonedayonlytoavoidStrangerThingsspoilers · 02/01/2026 08:51

Silverbirchleaf · 02/01/2026 05:35

Did anyone else wonder why Hilary Tyce was in the civilian version, not the Celeb version? She’s a best selling author, and a name known to many.

In the olden days, the word ‘Celebrity’ simply meant someone who was in the public eye, a film star, sportsman, etc and it’s only relatively recently it’s become more of a persona in its own right. The meaning has changed and developed over time to be more encompassing, incorporating a lifestyle, rather than just having a famous face or name.

Edited

I don't think authors are seen as celebrities unless they are a celebrity who becomes an author, like Richard Osman.

LighthouseLED · 02/01/2026 08:55

HereforonedayonlytoavoidStrangerThingsspoilers · 02/01/2026 08:51

I don't think authors are seen as celebrities unless they are a celebrity who becomes an author, like Richard Osman.

Show quote history

Or they are an absolute household name (thinking someone like the late Jilly Cooper here) - not sure Harriet is in that category. I read a lot of crime fiction and have never heard of her

MaggieFS · 02/01/2026 08:58

My expectation is that the ST can be banished the same as anyone else. To pp who said the producers would have to engineer the round table so they weren’t, I can’t see that being feasible not happening. So the traitors would know if they managed to banish the ST.

I can see that the ST could be replaced but might not be. It’s probably flexible at this stage in the game. For example if they happen to be banished at the first round table, it will have been a bit of a damp squib (so I assume that doesn’t happen anyway).

As pp said, the best way for the ST to remain secret from the other traitors is to keep the murder menu as tight knit as possible. This is also the best clue we’ve got as to who it could be. In previous series, we’ve seen the top three flex as traitors have needed to dodge suspicion etc. I still don’t like the idea of the ST, but I think this is the key area it makes it more interesting. One of the traitors could be under great suspicion and rife for banishment, but if the ST doesn’t put them on the murder menu, then there’s nothing the traitor can do. Which of course then opens up the option for another glorious double bluff conversation.

it’s certainly an interesting twist which reduced the traitors’ stranglehold on the game. I’m just not convinced how it will work for viewer enjoyment, which is why I assume viewers will be told who it is fairly soon and we will also start to see diary room time with the st.

RubieChewsDay · 02/01/2026 08:59

I just don’t think Harriet would see herself as a celebrity, so that’s why she’s applied for this version.

It would be great to see someone like Iain Rankin in the celeb version

xsquared · 02/01/2026 09:02

<<Whispers>> I have never heard of Harriet Tyce. Those who have, do you all know what she looked like before she was a contestant here?

SuperDuperFuckNuts · 02/01/2026 09:03

Silverbirchleaf · 02/01/2026 05:35

Did anyone else wonder why Hilary Tyce was in the civilian version, not the Celeb version? She’s a best selling author, and a name known to many.

In the olden days, the word ‘Celebrity’ simply meant someone who was in the public eye, a film star, sportsman, etc and it’s only relatively recently it’s become more of a persona in its own right. The meaning has changed and developed over time to be more encompassing, incorporating a lifestyle, rather than just having a famous face or name.

Edited

Loving that you’re misremembering the well-known person’s name 😅 I’m sure plenty of people - me included - have never heard of her. Depending on the job, plenty of people will be well known in their professional or local circles.

WonderfulSmith · 02/01/2026 09:05

I read a lot of crime fiction and haven’t heard of her either. Now had it been Val McDermid that would be different.

Richard Osman had heard of her though and said that she was at the Hay festival. She refused to do something with a celebrity turned crime author because they don’t write their own books.

xsquared · 02/01/2026 09:07

Ouch!

Stowickthevast · 02/01/2026 09:08

The first celebrity version had really big names and I don't think Harriet would have met that criteria. I'm a massive reader (more literary fiction though) and have never heard of her.

Good sleuthing re Hugo @FrodoBiggins . I work in his area, not a barrister but we engage counsel regularly, but haven't come across him. I think he'll get voted out for being posh and loud tbh!

SuperDuperFuckNuts · 02/01/2026 09:09

I’m interested in the Secret Traitor twist. It shakes up the first few days a bit because the Traitors can’t play their full game. Provides a bit of additional mystery (no point analysing their build/walk or handwriting, that won’t be theirs) and presuming it will be someone non-white smacks a bit of people wanting to get a dig in at the BBC rather than a genuine reason.

If they get banished I assume they will just say they’re a traitor - so the other 3 traitors’ reactions will be genuine and the faithfuls will think they’ve got 1/3 rather than 1/4, unless there’s a further recruitment after that.

I do wish they’d wear name badges on the first day too - also an issue for me with Bake Off and Strictly 😅

lettingthedaysgoby · 02/01/2026 09:30

CaveMum · 02/01/2026 00:19

For those wanting to keep track of where we are:

Definite Traitors
Hugo
Rachel
Stephen

Definite Faithful
James
Netty
Maz

MN Opinions
40 posters have given their thoughts on ST (some have made more than one suggestion)
2 originally mentioned Netty but have since chosen alternatives
Fiona has 11 votes
Ross has 10 votes
Judy has 9 votes

I’ll update again after the Friday episode.

Having listened to TRIE, I agree with Richard that we’ll find out the identity of the ST fairly quickly so hopefully I won’t have to keep track of all your comments for too long 🤣

For the spreadsheet, I'm Judy for ST

cariadlet · 02/01/2026 09:34

WonderfulSmith · 02/01/2026 09:05

I read a lot of crime fiction and haven’t heard of her either. Now had it been Val McDermid that would be different.

Richard Osman had heard of her though and said that she was at the Hay festival. She refused to do something with a celebrity turned crime author because they don’t write their own books.

I really wish that he had named the celebrity crime "writer".

I listened to a book podcast a few years ago where the consensus was that other crime writers didn't have a problem with Richard Osborne's success because he was writing the books himself and he was known to have a genuine love and knowledge of crime fiction.

But because he was so successful, publishers seem to be jumping on the bandwagon and publishing books by any celebrity who wants to be known as a crime writer. I'd love to know which of them write the books themselves and which of them use ghost writers.

PuppyMonkey · 02/01/2026 09:36

I feel a bit more reassured having listened to TRIE with the secret traitor thing maybe being a gimmick that can’t last more than 4-5 episodes. Hopefully it will pan out in a fun way, but it made me very twitchy them messing around with us.

RubieChewsDay · 02/01/2026 09:36

SuperDuperFuckNuts · 02/01/2026 09:09

I’m interested in the Secret Traitor twist. It shakes up the first few days a bit because the Traitors can’t play their full game. Provides a bit of additional mystery (no point analysing their build/walk or handwriting, that won’t be theirs) and presuming it will be someone non-white smacks a bit of people wanting to get a dig in at the BBC rather than a genuine reason.

If they get banished I assume they will just say they’re a traitor - so the other 3 traitors’ reactions will be genuine and the faithfuls will think they’ve got 1/3 rather than 1/4, unless there’s a further recruitment after that.

I do wish they’d wear name badges on the first day too - also an issue for me with Bake Off and Strictly 😅

I don't think it's a dig at the BBC more just people looking for clues and they do generally try to go for a diverse selection.

The contestants were wearing name badges during the trial - still didn't help me😂

I will be keeping the radio times list for tonight's show I think.

BIossomtoes · 02/01/2026 09:36

xsquared · 02/01/2026 09:02

<<Whispers>> I have never heard of Harriet Tyce. Those who have, do you all know what she looked like before she was a contestant here?

I’ve read all her books and had no idea what she looks like. The casting this series seems more leaning towards people with occupations that will give them an edge.

goldtrap · 02/01/2026 09:46

AuntyAngela · 02/01/2026 08:06

I’m not feeling very positive about this year, especially when it feels like almost everyone said they wanted to be a traitor. There also seems to be an overload of people who think they’re “amazing at lying” (or some variation of being deceitful). I much prefer when contestants barrel in announcing they’re great at reading people and then turn out worae than the average person at it (Because realistically, none of us really are.) Also not liking the traitors - don't mind Hugo but I see I'm in the minority with that!!

I’m also not convinced about the Secret Traitor twist. I’d have been more okay with us as viewers not knowing who any of them (though that would completely change the show and turn it into something more like The Mole, so in reality couldn't be done). What I don’t like is only one traitor being hidden.

A better twist would have been two groups of traitors that we do know about, with traitor-only task mechanisms that affect who gets into the turret or who gets to influence the shortlist.

With a Secret Traitor, the dynamic changes in a bad way. The traitors will spend all their time trying to work out who the ST is. And even if they do figure it out, they still can’t remove them directly — they have to convince the faithful to banish them, which is already what the faithful are doing anyway. So it feels redundant.

Plus now half of us are going to be obsessively trying to identify the ST instead of doing the actual fun stuff — like calling the faithful “stupid” for their guesses (conveniently forgetting they don’t have access to the same information we do, such as, you know… who the traitors actually are), or debating whether someone’s top is iconic or a crime against fashion.

Gosh I agree with all of this. Well articulated! Plus, I feel the whole secret traitor thing curates the game too much. There are too many concepts now. It's a good game at heart, it doesn't need too much meddling. Plus, I like a secret family reveal but as an exception, not a rule. No need for the bells and whistles!

WarrenTofficier · 02/01/2026 09:47

MaggieFS · 02/01/2026 08:58

My expectation is that the ST can be banished the same as anyone else. To pp who said the producers would have to engineer the round table so they weren’t, I can’t see that being feasible not happening. So the traitors would know if they managed to banish the ST.

I can see that the ST could be replaced but might not be. It’s probably flexible at this stage in the game. For example if they happen to be banished at the first round table, it will have been a bit of a damp squib (so I assume that doesn’t happen anyway).

As pp said, the best way for the ST to remain secret from the other traitors is to keep the murder menu as tight knit as possible. This is also the best clue we’ve got as to who it could be. In previous series, we’ve seen the top three flex as traitors have needed to dodge suspicion etc. I still don’t like the idea of the ST, but I think this is the key area it makes it more interesting. One of the traitors could be under great suspicion and rife for banishment, but if the ST doesn’t put them on the murder menu, then there’s nothing the traitor can do. Which of course then opens up the option for another glorious double bluff conversation.

it’s certainly an interesting twist which reduced the traitors’ stranglehold on the game. I’m just not convinced how it will work for viewer enjoyment, which is why I assume viewers will be told who it is fairly soon and we will also start to see diary room time with the st.

I wonder if we will have more tasks that result in a murder 'long list' from which the ST has to pick the short list or if we will have everyone up for the chop, bar a shield or two.
Yesterday there were effectively three levels of restrictions on who could be murdered.

Beachtastic · 02/01/2026 09:47

I wonder if they want to mess things around because people learn from previous episodes, and there has been a general accusation that the traitors are too relaxed compared with the other players. The ST might be to keep them on their toes, too, so that they are more convincing as faithfuls?

WonderfulSmith · 02/01/2026 09:49

On Uncloaked Bonus they confirmed that the castle has been redecorated. I thought it had been I don’t know if I said on here or just to myself.