The Time for Talking is, Almost, Over | Traitors 2026 | Thread 11 | Spoiler Free!

[CaveMum]

Link to previous thread: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/5478288-a-dagger-to-the-heart-traitors-2026-thread-10-spoiler-free?page=1

Welcome to Thread 11 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 - this is a mid episode thread change so do not read on if you are not up to date with the live broadcast!

Traitors
Hugo
Rachel
Stephen
Fiona (Secret Traitor)

Murdered
Netty
Ben
Maz
Reece
Adam
Jessie
Roxy

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

The floor is yours…

No. It will be completely random where it was placed. It may have been blind mixed up by various members of staff, so nobody would know where the shield was.

Why are people so helll bent on insisting that the show is rigged in some way 🤔🤔🤔

So, one person might have placed the shield in the box, then mixed them up out of sight, another member of staff is given those boxes, then mixes them up again, then the third person places them neatly on the tray, hands it to Claudia....so nobody would have any idea where it was...

I think Secret Traitor set up the absolute drama between Fiona and Rachel which was great TV.

The relationships in the season didn’t amount to much as one member of each was voted out early but I think they could have been interesting if they’d had the opportunity to run (but that’s out of the producers control).

Questions to Traitors again produced some great TV.

Dagger also set up some dramatic TV as James let it go to his head.

I think the producers should be pretty happy.

I think you're over thinking it.

I would suspect that nobody in the team knew where the shield was.

And even if they did, they cannot influence who picked first ... They would have no idea what the contestants would decide about going first.

I agree, I think the twists this series have produced some great TV moments. Everyone has been talking about the programme & it has stopped it feeling stale.

Yeah I think the secret relationships would have brought a lot more to the show if Judy and Ross hadn’t left the game early on, since producers can’t meddle too much it’s just left to chance whether they will be significant or not.

Yes Roxy feels like she’s not contributed much to the show but I think if Judy had stayed in longer that could have been very different. It’s a shame, I would like to have seen that play out longer.

I think there must be some indirect meddling in the show, though, just by making decisions about what order the challenges might be in, what the prizes/shields/powers will be, and so on. I can't imagine that they decided in advance to do the double-vote dagger, or the offer the chance to stop the murder, or whatever, and when. They might have had some idea that those twists would be in there somewhere, but I suspect some of it is still decided on the fly, when they see how many traitors are left, and possibly who, just to get better drama.. I don't know, though, as maybe that would be illegal, depending if they are rigging the actual chance of various people winning, or just trying to increase drama.

@CaveMum thank you for all your sterling work with the threads 💐

Clues as random as the ones in Masked Singer maybe 😂

I agree. But people were wondering whether the producers could rig things and this could potentially have been a way to do that.

Heads up - The One Show has a Traitors feature on BBC1 right now.

Question - last night when Rachel kept saying (insisting) she “caught Fiona in a lie” - what did she mean? Fiona said Rachel was lying about Amanda’s job confession.. but we couldn’t remember what lie Rachel caught Fiona telling?

Same. He’s great entertainment in his wrongness

It was very confusing to me too! She might have meant Fiona calling her a traitor, or Fiona saying that Rachel herself was lying about the chat with Amanda? No idea, my head spins at that sort of retrospective finger-pointing!

Rachel does seem to have this air of "I'm the adult among children here," so people naturally defer without question to her authority. I think that's why she lost her cool at last night's round table, she's not used to anyone challenging her!

I have no idea, but the constant conspiracy theorising on these threads is far more boring than speculation about potential relationships in my opinion!

I have found her irritating but I love that after a very difficult start in life Judy has given Roxy the confidence to think that she could be the most likeable. What an impact to have on someone's life.

I thought it was funny when Rachel was asked what colour her cloak is and she reacted the same way Ross did when she asked him about the turret.

I have been wondering for ages how they film the voting order. I'm assuming they film it in any old order then Edit the order so that the last person always has the deciding vote- and then they must separately film the bits where Claudia says 'so a count; 2 for James etc' when the contestants are gone. But I can never see any continuity errors!

They go round in the circle.

It's how they decide who goes first

I think I read somewhere they leave the room with the slates down, the producers check the votes, then they film the voting? Could definitely be wrong about it though. As most round tables last 2-3 hours, I imagine they must need a loo break by that point!

Yes, but at 32, you'd think she'd be more mature?

They could. Yes. Try in some vague way to maybe influence something of it happens a particular way...

But they wouldn't. It will be random.

I don't think she reacted how Ross did at all. Ross seemed genuinely confused and flustered. Rachel seemed amused.

Yes. I read about this. They write on the slates, Claudia leaves the room, the producer looks at the slates and then tells Claudia where to start going round for maximum drama.