It’s A Wicked Game | Traitors 2026 | Thread 9 | Spoiler Free!

[CaveMum]

Link to previous thread: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/5476221-everybody-wants-to-rule-the-world-traitors-2026-thread-8-spoiler-free?page=1

Welcome to Thread 9 of Traitors 2026.

This thread runs at TV pace so do not read any further if you are not up to date with the live broadcast. Whilst most discussion will be on the current series, inevitably people will refer to previous series/players/winners so reader beware if you’ve not seen the 3 previous editions, or the celebrity version.

While we welcome posters discussing their theories and speculating on relationships/connections between players, please don’t post spoilers from elsewhere that may ruin things for those of us who like to see things unfold over the course of the series.

The story so far <spoiler warning if you haven’t seen the start of episode 9>

Traitors
Hugo
Rachel
Stephen
Fiona (Secret Traitor)

Murdered
Netty
Ben
Maz
Reece
Adam
Jessie

Banished
Judy (Faithful)
Hugo (Traitor)
Ross (Faithful)
Amanda (Faithful)
Fiona (Traitor)
Harriet (Faithful)
Sam (Faithful)

The floor is yours…

Imagine if James was recruited as a Traitor. Running around like a cat among the chickens, desperate to blurt it out because he wouldn't be able to live with himself and throwing himself and the remaining Traitirs under the bus. Won't happen of course but would be fun to watch.

https://youtube.com/shorts/5uYZa30H8Sk?si=wNyvB1iJdF-J1TxQ
traitor connections

Absolute classic negging, that.

Just like when someone sidles up to another kid at school and says "Don't worry, I know everybody else hates you, but I know you're nice really". Their victim is then absolutely convinced from then on that nobody likes them, and they become withdrawn and defensive.

I see Harriet was at Lisa Jewell’s book promo in Manchester during the week. Do they share a publisher?

Dead Nan is a standard trope in reality shows these days. I don’t like it, not least because it puts pressure on contestants who don’t want to play the dead nan card to reveal more about themselves than they wish.

In celeb shows like Strictly you can argue that celebs are better placed to understand this aspect but most participants in shows like Traitors, Bake Off, Masterchef etc are just members of the public with no previous media experience. Plus telling the Dead Nan stories has happened here inside the game and will affect the gameplay and public perception of that play (which rapidly changes into online hostility as we have seen).

If individuals want to share personal details of their lives on SM they are free to do so but I find the use of selective details from Dead Nan stories to be manipulative.

Honestly I don’t think Jade should have made it through the screening as she plainly doesn’t cope with a fundamental aspect of the game which is not fair on her or the other players. I also find her lack of contribution to the game generally something which means I wouldn’t miss her from it if she disappeared in a puff of smoke. I’m watching a game, not auditioning friends.

Indeed. “I am a faithful and now I’m going to make a tit for tat accusation” isn’t a compelling defence. Others under far more heat have defended themselves but that they understand its part of the game.

There is nothing for the Faithful to 'work it out' with. At the end of the day, every single banishment is nothing more than guess-work based on hunches. There are no real clues and even things like 'Stephen should not have come back from the cages" is only supposistion. It doesn't matter how clever you are, it's just reading body language and personality and that's not very strategic.

If I was the producer, I would be introducing a new element in the form of actual clues. Could be really subliminal and either a part of the challenges - maybe just a single clue per challenge that will lead you there after a couple of games, if you think strategically or could be stand alone clues - small things around the castle, changes, art, certain books etc. Perhaps Moby Dick is casually lying on the table and one of the Traitors has to include the word Whale in conversation that night. I don't know - but that sort of thing.

I'm not sure if they are allowed pen and paper - never seen them write anything down - but I'm always surprised at how few of them try and memorise everyone's voting patterns as well.

Thinking about the Dead Nan stories - the lack of this component in Celeb Traitors was one of the aspects I really liked in that version. I had been a Celeb sceptic at the beginning but enjoyed it hugely - in part because it was focused on the game and not external stories.

Love this line of thinking.

And @CarminaBiryani yes, Stephen & Rachel last pair at dinner party table, etc…Look for the alliances.

The trouble with everyone thinking you are untrustworthy is that people don't believe a word you say.

Mud sticks. Once you've been branded a liar, you've had it.

On Uncloaked, they talked about Matthew having a photographic memory and remembering everyone's votes which made me think they don't have access to pen and paper.

I understand your point and agree there is no real evidence. However, I think part of the fun (for viewers) is seeing those baseless accusations being made and how people jump on the bandwagon. Everybody (including us) likes to think we know more than we do. See how many times people have said 'I knew it!' when someone is revealed as a traitor or a faithful, despite making several wrong guesses at the same time. Jessie might have been convinced that she KNEW Stephen was a traitor, but it was just a lucky guess.

I think some other players across series have mentioned that they write stuff down when they get back to their rooms.

I suspect Rachel would have a whiteboard with her plans and options 😄

I think a heatmap would be useful, colour coding the intensity of players' reactions to each other - particularly banishments...

Or they should all wear those t shirts from the 80’s that changed colour depending on body heat..

..

My first post on these threads this series. Usually I'm here from the start but I've been trailing at least one episode behind (still am) all the way through and trying not to see spoilers.

I've really missed the Mumsnet threads! It's been hard not having a place to check in and theorise - and there's just so much to discuss.

I'm not sure if I like the new devices in this series or not. Too early to tell for me yet.

BUT I have a question. It's from days and days ago, I can't search all the way back through the threads with Advanced Search not working properly, so does anyone mind answering me? Was it discussed at the time, what did you all think?

My question is why was Ben adamant that if he was murdered that meant Ross was a Traitor? What was behind all that? And then, further, why did that mean anything about the Library group that Jessie keeps on and on and on about?

Sorry to go over old ground again ... but it's the thing that's been really bugging me this series.

I'm not sure why Ben was adamant that Ross was a traitor - clearly he was wrong. But he says it to a select few in the library.

So when Ross was voted out as a faithful after Ben being murdered, Jessie was sure that one of the people in the library 5 must be a traitor as they deliberately tried to frame Ross. And she was right as both Fiona who proposed Ben for murder, and Stephen who used exactly that reasoning in the turret were part of the group.

so I think you do see logic from the faithful sometimes, but I guess so much goes on each day that they're never sure what to focus on.

Roxy’s repeated argument against James is so dumb. He snuck the shield in the statues task because he was a faithful worried about being murdered. He didn’t deprive a faithful of the shield because it was going to be left behind if he didn’t take it. A traitor might try to get a shield to stop a faithful getting it but taking an unused shield is only of benefit to a faithful.

i think the dagger might be given to Roxy and the traitors are then ‘persuaded’ by her to get James out though. 4 votes from the 9 available should do it unless anything drastic happens on Weds. Rachel and Stephen need to go into the final 5 with someone who has historically had a lot of heat on them so will want Jade in there. No one will end the game until someone widely believed to be a traitor is banished.

And I think if you are a faithful in the final 5 you want to get it down to just you and the person you trust most to max the chance it’s a faithful win. So if it were Roxy, Rachel and Stephen at the end. Roxy would want to banish again to get Stephen out as she trusts Rachel more. But Rachel and Stephen would then vote Roxy out. In fact that is my ending prediction. Rachel could vote to get rid of Stephen and double her prize but I don’t think she will. She doesn’t need the money enough to trash her reputation on national tv.

In terms of the dagger, whoever they chose is likely to have suspicion on them because that just always seems to be how the game works.

I think smartest for the traitors would be:
Roxy - never going to vote for either of them and easily led
James/Jack - consistently voting for Matt so would just have an extra vote going to Matt

Faraaz and Jade would probably be safe too as neither of them seem to be looking at Rachel or Stephen.
Matt is too unpredictable but could further cement him as a traitor in others eyes, I don't see him or Jade making it to the end.

I think they'd be mad to choose Stephen. Rachel perhaps could get away with it saying someone is trying to set her up, but it's risky.

This makes a lot of sense

With the dagger does the double vote mean that the person with the dagger gets to vote for two people or that their vote counts as 2 votes?

How come nobody has thought to themselves: "Crikey, Rachel is seriously good at this. Everybody likes her and everybody trusts her, she is so calm and really astute, and when people have accused her, she shrugs it off so easily. She's an awesome Faithful and could easily win, so I simply cannot understand why the Traitors haven't murdered her yet.......... oh wait.......hang on....... <facepalm>...💡"