MY FINAL GUESSES FOR THE SECRET TRAITOR *long post under cut*
my top guesses for the secret traitor are fiona and ellie! (and my other guesses are sam or matthew)
MY MAIN SUSPECTS:
HARRIET — Don’t think a Traitor would say “I do hope that it’s you” while voting and having been in the game such a short time but this could still be good acting. Openly voices suspicions at breakfast knowing she’s also barrister in a way that wouldn’t make sense if she was a Traitor. You wouldn’t make yourself obvious to the other Traitors and she voices this directly to Rachel. Continually voices this suspicion in front of Rachel, again, and Stephen—her fellow Traitors, which you wouldn’t do again. Is also happy to say it at the roundtable? Faithful. She finds it irresistible going after Hugo, despite knowing she could be murdered/banished “If this is the hill I die on, so be it”—a Traitor’s gameplay would be entirely different and they probably wouldn’t start a roundtable by openly accusing a fellow Traitor. You would let someone else begin and piggyback off them.
MATTHEW — Possibly kept alive because of suspicions; still a bit unreadable. In the group of Ross, Jessie and himself when they try and figure out who murdered Ben. He feels like Stephen is not a Traitor; I doubt you would say this carelessly as the ST trying to look like a Faithful as it would backfire later at the roundtable, considering you know who they are.
JACK — Barely has any camera time—so unreadable though. But he stays quiet and might have done so since beginning. He may be playing a similar game to Mollie and Evie (both S2). He is baffled at the idea there is a secret detective in the group and laughs at it; this is slightly reaching but I don’t see a Traitor openly laughing at people keeping secrets given that every time even a career secret is kept it gets you murdered/banished.
FIONA | #1 choice (SECRET TRAITOR?) — In the room while Ben says he’s going to be murdered? In the room is: Ross, Sam, Jessie, Fiona, Stephen, Ellie, James. This shortens the list to Ellie or Fiona or Sam. It’s hard to see Ellie finding any threat in keeping Maz or Reece around, but maybe it’s intended to be random. However, I can see Fiona wanting to get rid of Maz, perhaps because he's close to her and she is at risk of being caught. And Reece because he's probably switched on, to a degree the other Traitors haven't noticed or something, doubtful. The ST is in this room and added him to shortlist because of this. She asks James who he’s thinking is a Traitor, and he names: Matt and Ross but they don’t appear on the Secret Traitor’s Shortlist, and Ben does. At breakfast says Ben would be a random choice despite hearing him say he was going to be murdered last nights, then later says he did bring up that he had suspicions; may have genuinely forgotten. Is playing well if she is letting someone else “remember” for her. Has an interesting talking head where she says never to underestimate a woman of a certain age, while laughing cheekily. Fiona speaks in the kitchen, in front of lots of people including would-be fellow Traitors Stephen and Hugo, her doubts about Hugo and her suspicions about Amanda. She mentions Hugo’s energy has shifted from the train, which is typical Faithful logic. Although, it’s possible she wanted Hugo gone for whatever reason. She again voices the same suspicions against Hugo, at the roundtable—unsure a ST would want to voice suspicions against a fellow Traitor so publicly. Defends Amanda against Hugo without thinking about it, which screams Faithful. Could be playing to get Hugo out, unsure why this would be. All things aside, she reminds me a lot of Sonja (S2). And, she may just enjoy stirring the pot no matter if she’s a Faithful or a Traitor.
ELLIE | #2 choice (SECRET TRAITOR?) — Is suspicious of Fiona during the coffin mission trying to not save any suspected Traitors (EP2); would have no reason to be suspicious of her as the ST because she would know she’s a Faithful. Unless she's lying in her confessionals, this does not make sense. She says herself she is introverted, so this explains her being quiet, which does not make her a Traitor. Mentions the words “Secret Traitor” which no other player has mentioned, or knows about. But this may be overanalysed as the Traitors are secret to the Faithful so she may have been using it as an adjective, not a noun and we are being misled by the subtitles, i.e. “secret Traitor” not “Secret Traitor.” It’s worth considering the idea that she and Ross might know each other, based off their drama GCSE acting on the train; and Ross is vouching for the fact she is a Faithful. They rarely put family members on different sides, with Armani/Maia (S3) being the one (bad) example. The only main suspect who hasn’t directly voiced suspicions to her fellow Traitors. Votes for Hugo on the roundtable because of his breakfast speech, seemingly fine the first time—earlier was in a conversation with him and didn’t voice any of this, something a Faithful might do without thinking. Openly asks Ross his thoughts on Stephen; if she knows Ross is Faithful, and they do know each other, I don’t know if she would do this. Also whoever added Ben to the list did so knowing it would further implicate someone in the room. She presumably accidentally led the charge the wrong way, toward Ross, instead of her target Stephen. It would be a clever play to put Ben's name on the list, solely to turn everyone towards Stephen's direction. Not sure why you'd want to send people after your (presumed) close friend. That could also be why later she asks Ross if he has any suspicion toward Stephen, so he can lead the charge instead of her, as she is a Secret Traitor. But this plan is complex and risky if Ross ever tries to get her to back up his "Stephen Theory," putting her directly in the limelight of the other Traitors. Ellie’s is one of many interviews missing at the beginning—she may have asked to be a Faithful.
OTHER NOTES (ON THE HUNDIES)
• To me, both Jade and Amanda going after each other makes them both Faithful as they are going after body language and falling into the typical Faithful trappings of “I think it’s them because they are going after me.” Also I don’t think Jade would be selected as she specifically requested to be a Faithful, on top of that, she voices suspicions in front of a fellow Traitor in the kitchen
• Amanda does say she has a “Jekyll/Hyde” personality or something but I think that’s a Red Herring. Also this is super random but I doubt a Traitor would accost Faraz in the hallway and make him play pool on a whim (Ep3). Could be spur of the moment, but you’d expect less assumed familiarity from a Traitor and vigilant behaviour to some extent, especially in regard to a social game. It isn’t really indicative of much, but it could be more common in a less paranoid game. She reminds me a lot of Tom Daley/Clare Balding’s approach to the game, where she sees the game like a sport and approaches a lot of it very analytically, which would explain her use of phrases such as needing to “exude being a Faithful” to “rally the troops” and saying “there are people in this game cleverer than others.” She’s thrown under the bus by Hugo, and she manages to convince the oblivious Faithful squad of James, Jack and Sam. Her quickness for going for Jade is too obvious; hints at lack of planning. Her job as a police detective makes her an ideal Faithful, despite the fact she requested to be a Traitor…her skills would lend better to the Faithful team from a producer standpoint
• James is definitely a bad Faithful. Constantly changing guesses based on opinion/emotions. Jumps from Roxy, to Ross, to Reece even after forming alliances with the latter
• Roxy voting for him proves she’s a Faithful because that sort of thing is always seen as Traitor-bait by a Faithful, when it’s really just the Faithful acting a mess or being slightly defensive like Brian (S2) or Anthony (S2) or Rayan (S1) or Jonny (S2)
• I think it is entirely possible there are 3 male Traitors and if that’s the case, I narrowed the ST to: Sam or Matthew or Jack.
• Despite Sam acting like a Faithful he looks extremely capable of playing a calm game and I can’t get a clear enough read on Matthew but he is acting like the “here for the ride with little gameplay” Faithful e.g. Aaron and Meryl (both S1). If not, I can see them getting recruited later in the game.
• Despite my suspicions of Sam, he is constantly saying how desperate he is for a shield, how he trusts certain players, and how he sees everything “as a Faithful” so he is more realistically a Faithful. With Matthew, there's no real game plan going on, so that’s why he is also more likely a Faithful. However, if we remember Ben’s murder, it’s also more likely to be Sam as he was in the room.
• Thought it could be Jack aswell, but he bursts out laughing at the idea there could possibly be a secret detective knowing that he’s in a lying game and I doubt a Traitor would be so flippant about the idea someone is keeping a secret so he’s acting like a Faithful.
• Ross is an obvious set up
• We know Maz, Reece, and James are Faithful
• Roxy, Jessie, Adam, Faraz, and occasionally Matthew and Jack appear to be obvious Faithful
• Adam guesses Amanda is in a relationship with Hugo and mentions he thinks they are both Faithful; a Traitor wouldn’t care or wouldn’t even think it’s relevant to bring this up at the roundtable. Says hundie stuff like “I think he’s a Faithful”
• I want to keep Ellie as a #1 choice but because of the handwriting theory I don’t know if anyone under the age of 40 writes a “z” like that unless it’s intentionally different to your usual hand. Though, I am being wary of the handwriting theory and the cloak body shape theory because it’s possible a producer wrote the names down and that a body double is wearing the cloak for the shots. Also the figure in the cloak seems to change each episode.