SPOILER FREE PLEASE The Secret Traitor Big Reveal? Place Your Bets | Traitors 2026 | Thread 3

[CaveMum]

Previous thread: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/5469362-red-cloak-dagger-were-all-being-played-traitors-2026-thread-2?page=1

Here we go, ready for the big reveal (maybe?) next episode - Wednesday 7 January.

Current Status

Confirmed Traitors
Hugo
Rachel
Stephen

Murdered
Netty
Ben

Banished
Judy (Faithful)
Hugo (Traitor)

Confirmed Faithful (still in)
James
Maz
Reece

Secret Traitor Suspects Remaining (in order of when named and who said it first)

Ross - *@maggieFS
Fiona - *@Empress13
Jessie - *@DandelionPockets
Roxy - *@CheerfulBunny
Jade - *@sleepeazie (technically it was CheerfulBunny who said it first, but you’ve already got one on the list!)
Amanda - @TokyoSushi
Sam - @lightanddreamy
Harriet - @Newgirls
Faraaz - @Ohcrap082024
Jack - *@Beachtastic
Ellie - *@Piggywaspushed

Only 2 players have not been named as ST suspects at this point (please provide screenshots if I’ve missed these being named!):

Adam
Matthew

It’s going to be a long 4 days!

I'm going Ross or Roxy
however I reckon it will be someone who hasn't actually had much air time so far and we will underwhelmed initially but there will be more to it than meets the eye

Brilliant summary thanks @CaveMum

Thank you, still not looking as watching the darts final, will watch both today/tomorrow and then ready to watch along live from Wednesday!

Ah, go on then...I'll pick Adam 😀

Jade or Roxy for me.

Definitely not Amanda. Every time the ST was mentioned in the first episode they cut to Amanda. Agree it will be someone who is not in the spotlight for now. I’m plumping for Roxy.

ST is probably Roxy 🙋‍♀️

Though after next Wednesday’s reveal it’s not as interesting anymore! They’re all just plain old traitors 😂

Why are the revealing the st so soon? Is it because they can’t really do a recruitment but the producers didn’t expect them to catch a traitor so soon?

My guess is Harriet

It could never realistically more than a few episodes. The traitors would've worked it out as more players are named by the ST or are banished.

Having an ST until the very end gives too much power to one player and also deprives the audience of some the game's core enjoyment: seeing the traitors plot, seeing them try to get themselves out of situations etc. Plus it means the audience can't take any of the faithful at face value or trust their interviews. There is already a game that does this, it's called The Mole.

I suspect the producers never planned for the ST to go beyond the first few episodes.

Just popping in to say if the clips shown are of the real st, then they're quite broad shouldered... I'm therefore guessing not a woman.
My guess is Ross or one of the younger lads ( vague I know 😄)

I thought it was Harriet, but after last nights episode I think Fiona or Ellie

Based on the way it has been edited my guess is Fiona.
Based on diversity of pick from production my guess is Jade.

I like Jessie - I think she is spot on with her theories. I really like Amanda - an interesting woman...it would be a shame to see her go early.
There was a point where Amanda sort of pulled Faraaz into the snooker room to play - it seemed very over familiar? Probably nothing.

I like Rachel & Stephen - will be interesting to see how they are with the 'new' traitor.

I do like the idea of other relationships in the house - my money would be on Ross and Ellie being married.

Overall a very good series so far.

<clears throat>

I’ve got a theory!

And no it does not involve:

1. Witches
2. Dancing Demons
3. Wacky Broadway Nightmares
4. Bunnies

<early 00s pop culture reference for all the kids there 😜>

There were 2 envelopes when Ben and Hugo met but we only saw them open the one about the Traitors.

When Netty and Judy met they also had a second envelope that revealed Judy to be Roxy’s mum.

There’s no reason not to show us Ben and Hugo reacting to this piece of news UNLESS the envelope now contained additional information about another secret relationship involving either Ben or Hugo, or both!

That's my guess - they planned for the secret traitor to join the others when a traitor was banished, but didn't expect it to happen so quickly.

My prediction, upon hearing about the secret traitor, was that they would do it for a limited time due to the isolation/stress the secret traitor would experience.

I have a colleague who advises TV production companies on supporting the psychological wellbeing of participants (do no harm principle) and she was saying that they would need to provide a lot of monitoring of the secret traitor and it would be likely they would struggle quite quickly.

I expect they had a range of options for ending the isolation that would fit with different storylines/ eventualities.

I agree but I thought they would eke it out a couple more episodes. I wonder if Hugo getting caught forced their hand or if it was always planned as a episode 3 cliff hanger

Richard Osman said in the TRIE reaction after Ep1 that he didn’t think the ST would last long. Producers need to find the balance between keeping it interesting and dragging it out too long. It would also have been pretty easy after about 5 episodes to figure out who the ST probably is and then when the Traitors have narrowed their options they just start setting them up for banishment.

If you start with 22 people, 3 known Traitors and 1 Secret Traitor, that’s 18 Faithful to whittle down. You know you’re going to get rid of at least 1 every day with the murder, and hopefully banishment too. Each day they get a list of 3 people who cannot be the ST. Even if the ST only adds 1 new person to the list each night, by Murder 5 you’ve ruled out 7 people and banished, say, 4 (assuming they only catch Hugo at this stage), so now you’ve only got a pool of about 4 people who it could possibly be.

I think those sums add up!

I don’t want to spoil anyone’s drinking game, but the production team needs to schedule another grammar refresher course pronto. The banishment (ha!) of “yourself” from the round table speechifying only lasted one episode. Still, it was nice while it lasted.

I’m relying on you lot as my background information source because if I start checking out the eleventy billion other sources of wild speculation theories out there, it will totally take over my life. So at this point, many thanks!

Random thoughts:
How does Ellie get away with saying absolutely nothing at the RT?
I want to shear Jake’s hair and knit a pair of socks out of it.
Loved the artworks task. Baffled that the players jumped on Reece for being shield-obsessed. Who wouldn’t be?
I’d love to see a week’s worth of the catering menus.

I think either Ellie or Ross is the secret traitor, I also think they might know each other as from observing the chats, Ellie seems quite quiet overall, but more relaxed & open with Ross. Also Ellie was the only one to mention the words secret traitor in the interview room.

Can I join you on this thread? I'm with those posters that say Ellie or Ross.

Ross because of Netty and Ellie because she's very quiet.

'I’d love to see a week’s worth of the catering menus'

Their buffet dinners look SO GOOD 🤤

Ellie probably does speak in the RT but it's edited out because what she says is not relevant thus far. We know from other series that this happens, e.g. on the Irish series earlier this year a contestant's entire theory at a RT was not shown because it didn't end up being relevant to anything.

Hasn't a former contestant said that the RT goes on for ages?

Me too. DH is vegetarian so I don't eat meat very often as a result and due to convenience when cooking (he cooks more often than I do) but those lamb shanks looked delicious the other day!

I also envy the breakfast selection and choose hotels based on their breakfast menu quite often! 😂