TheRealityCheckmate_E03_2026-01-26

[00:00:00]

Voiceover: This is the Reality Checkmate podcast.

Garrett: Two reality nerds who break down stratagem and psyche.

Intro and Welcome

Garrett: All right. I'm Garrett. And Britney is not here. Uh, she's had some family stuff come up. So please, uh, think of her, keep her in your thoughts. And, um, anyway, we'll, we'll just go with it for now. Uh, hopefully she can join me in the future. Um, so it'll be less a discussion this time and more just, uh, talking through what happened in this episode.

So again, uh, we are going over the Traitors US season 4, episode 2, uh, and. Let's get into it. All right.

The Murder List

Garrett: So, um, they, uh, the Traitors, uh, we start off with the Traitors who are going over who they wanna choose out of the three that they had, uh, [00:01:00] to choose from. Um, they give some pretty interesting reasoning, uh, for Ian.

They talk about maybe taking one of the gamers out. He's smart, capable of causing some damage. Mark because it seems random. He's nice. Maybe to put people on edge and a similar-ish reason for Eric. They, you know, acknowledge that he is very smart, but a low key person. And so maybe that might make people confused about why.

Um, and of course all of that to kind of make us wonder who they're gonna choose. Uh, they do end up, of course, choosing Ian. Unfortunately, neither of us saw that coming. But, uh, it does make sense to take out one of the, you know, one of the gamers. Um, they talk later about, you know, keeping the scent off of them.

And, you know, he's, you know, so smart in the game. A genius they said. And. Needed to keep non threats in the game. So [00:02:00] definitely, uh, going to miss Ian. Uh, he did not have a lot of time there. Um, he did, uh, say there at the end, you know, he knew, he had a feeling that it was gonna happen and that didn't know what he could have done differently.

But it's the biggest backhanded compliment of the game. And in a way it is, uh, to get murdered, uh, especially first like that. Um, and, uh, he, you know, like you said, was there a way for him to have played this differently to stay in the game? I think, uh, not necessarily. He, of course, could have been a, a traitor or tried to be a, played as a traitor, but I don't think that the way that he was going about it, uh, about being a faithful was the, the best for his game.

In the long run 'cause people know him, know of him and about how smart he was. Um, he wasn't an aggressive faithful. He was kind of trying to be under the radar a little bit. [00:03:00] Um, but it also didn't seem, or we didn't see a lot of him making any moves or calling out people. Probably to try to keep, um, the scent off of him, but also maybe not, um, enough to.

Uh, yeah, it's hard because he probably didn't know who the traitors or the secret traitor were either, and he was trying to figure all that out and not being able to know that, not being able to maybe put something, get out there. Maybe people who aren't the traitor to, or getting people mad at him like some of the other people are doing as part of their response maybe have been a way to keep himself in the game, uh, or at least keep him from getting murdered, but may not have kept him from banishment. So, hard to say. Um, but that was interesting.

The "Kituation"

Garrett: Um, they did at [00:04:00] breakfast, uh, the next morning they do bring up, we were wondering if it would come up about the whole Porsha and Candiace and Michael's situation, and they do talk about it.

Um. And, uh, Porsha talked about how, you know, she'd already forgotten about it, which is fair. Um, you know, maybe, uh, she probably should have thought a little bit harder about it with, with Candiace, but, um, she, you know, says, you know, let's not target big personalities, which was funny and great. Um, and I loved Johnny's, uh, calling it the Kituation.

Um, great term, coinage there. And, uh, anyway, the, they didn't really get to explore more as more people came in. Um, Dorinda made it to her first breakfast. Yay. She was so excited. Um, and, um, Donna, uh, is interesting . . . is playing this in an [00:05:00] interesting way. We'll talk about that a little bit more later. But, um, she does seem to be saying things that a faithful would say, so . . . evidence that she's a secret traitor, maybe not so much. She is looking down a lot and being quiet. So maybe that's how she's playing it as a secret traitor, trying to stay under the radar, but I still don't see it, um, as she's definitely, you know, fangirling about all these people. Um, Rob C talks about how he feels like, uh, Yam Yam is throwing him under the bus, throwing him under the bus.

I didn't really see any of that, or at least we didn't see it in the, the show itself. Maybe it's just some comments that he is getting, um, from him that we're not seeing. Um, but it does of course keep me suspicious about Yam Yam as a secret traitor. Um, then. The, once we find out that it's Ian that has left Tiffany's speaking up and saying she wants to speak on Ian's behalf. [00:06:00] Came across as very strange to me, as well as, of course, weird to Colton as well as he said.

Um, love the moment where Monét says I wanted to Ron or Rob R to throw me. Uh, very, get a good chuckle there. Love it when we get the comic relief. Um, and Rob R talks about how he thinks that Michael may be a secret traitor because he keeps throwing names out. I don't . . . could be a reason. Right. Could be what a secret traitor would do.

I, I think it's a little bit too much, and maybe he's playing it that way. We do have some commentary later about that in the, the round table, uh, banishment ceremony. So maybe that's part of it, but, um, part of how he's playing it if he is a secret traitor, but honestly, it doesn't really seem like that would be the way to go.

Anything You Say . . .

Garrett: Okay. So, um, there is, [00:07:00] you know, discussion going on. I did find it very strange when Porsha said that, you know, he's the one I killed. Um, not sure why she said that. Uh, I can't come up with anything except maybe just terminology, um, or, uh, you know, not, or maybe taking it to heart. Um, we hear later if we. You know, uh, talk about in the round table or later where she's kind of defending herself that it was because she's trying to put herself in the traitor's shoes, which is maybe a good thing to do.

But yeah, you definitely need to, to do that, but also then bring it back when you're talking to people and talk about it, you know, as a faithful. 'cause obviously she is a faithful, um.

Also interesting how Donna is playing it. Um, she, Tiffany calls out how someone who [00:08:00] is confident they're not gonna get murdered, would not wanna make friends, which maybe it could be a valid point. I don't really see that though. I see it more as, um, because you can always get banished, right? So. Thinking of one and not the other is a tough way to go.

Um, then, uh, the, you know, the life lists after the blindfolds and she changed from Colton, you know, all of that. Very interesting. Um, and signs, you know, people are trying to use to determine who they're gonna vote for. Um. I did notice Michael talked about not knowing that there's gonna be voting happening. And so I wonder, is he not a fan of this show?

Has he not seen it before? Um, or maybe he just didn't know the timing of it. Maybe that's what he meant, but it seems odd. Um, he [00:09:00] is playing this game in a totally different way than most people would play it or have played it, um, as a faithful or even as a secret traitor, if that's the case. And, uh. That could be a reason why -- he hasn't really watched it before.

Um, Porsha then made another verbal mistake, um, with the, if we kill a faithful, a banished, I think in that sense, that specific instance, she's probably meaning, you know, banished 'cause she talked about banishment. Um, just the terminology of, you know, banishing versus killing. Um. To be fair is an honest mistake in that case, right?

You can think of it as killing an innocent or killing someone at banishment, even though that's not technically what you're doing. Um, and then of course Ron is starting to collect more and more evidence from Porsha, this [00:10:00] terminology stuff. And then we'll get more into, into his arguments. But, um. It all kind of makes sense from that point of view.

Selfish Thrones

Garrett: Uh, let's talk about the mission next. Uh, it was a fun mission. Uh, a lot of little twists and turns to it, and we won't go over the, uh, specifics of it, uh, but we do, uh, get a couple different interesting takes here on how people are playing the game as far as. Uh, challenges versus, you know, competition versus, um, you know, getting protection and so forth.

So, uh, the three who are in the, the chariot chairs first are Tiffany, Candiace, and Caroline. And so those seemed useful. They were trying to go with smaller-ish people and to help pushing go better. And, you know, it was pretty [00:11:00] good. They didn't necessarily worry about being there at the end. Um, Tiffany said she'd be, you know, able to keep track of time very well, and she seemed to do good.

They came in under their time limit. Um, Candiace, uh, talked about not having anybody ask her questions, which also good strategy in that case. Uh, anyway, at the first stop, Monét finds a coin first and gives it to Lisa, and then Stephen also finds a coin and gives it to Donna or Dorinda. And, um, Monét talked about how he did it because, you know, didn't want people to resent them.

And then, uh, Stephen about, you know, how, you know, that's how he was raised or whatever. But, uh, I think, in addition to those, you know, just not putting a target on yourself like that was very interesting, uh, or was a very good idea. Um, and, uh, even though you probably wouldn't [00:12:00] have stayed in the chair, it still gives you, puts a target on your back, makes people suspicious and also resentful of having to push you around.

So definitely smart move on both of those points. Um, then at the next stop, Stephen finds another one, gives it to Caroline this time, and, uh, so she gets a, you know, a second shot shot in the chair. So that was good. Um, and then I. On the third stop, um, we hear that "I'm going to get the shield" from someone. I'm not exactly sure. I tried to pause and see who's speaking, but it's hard to tell. Maybe Michael. Um, but Colton ... had the plan the whole time to get it on the, the third stop and then get pushed all the way to the end. Um, and then he takes it from Lisa and we hear him say that, um, Lisa is on his list of potential [00:13:00] traitors. And so that's why he did it, to keep her from being safe, but also to save himself. Um, seems like something that a faithful would say rather than a secret traitor to me. Um, and I think Maura and Kara, Maura and Caroline hear him say that. At least that's what it seems like from the editing. Uh, and then Rob R finds his... a coin as well and he gives it to Yam Yam.

Um. Says that he did it because of puppy dog eyes, but also thinks that, um, maybe Yam Yam's a secret traitor. Um, and then, you know, he tells Maura, they're not gonna kill you. Nobody's seeing you as a threat. Um, she's not of course happy about it. Very mad, but, um. Nobody is happy, you know, pushing Colton and Rob R [actually, I mean Yam Yam] around in the chairs, but you know, that's how it goes.

Um, Michael was very [00:14:00] upset, you know, didn't get a chance to argue for himself on it. I don't know why he thought that would happen. It didn't seem to be a, uh, discussion anybody had, but that's what he did. Um, and of course, bringing it up all over the place, you could tell people were getting a little annoyed with him.

Didn't really help. Um, Yam Yam of course, made a great point about anybody who was in those chairs was going to be selfish or it was a selfish move in all of the cases, uh, no matter what, who got there. Um, and you know, Michael and Yam Yam do seem to have a little bit of a, a, a back and forth going and, and non-trust thing going.

Um, again, Donna doesn't talk to the group at dinner. Um ... won't give any names. This, you know, too early. This comes across as very shady to Monét. Um, I think she's being smart in a way to not go outside her group, however, [00:15:00] um, you know, because they're gonna go with Porsha and she doesn't want to give that away or want Porsha to know.

Um. Dorinda, you know, argues against Donna as well, that she's talked to her, um, and that she doesn't know people, uh, which I think was very smart. I mean, Dorinda is making some great, um, connections in this game and some great, uh, points and ideas, thoughts about what is really happening. And . . . and, then Porsha also, when they're talking about Michael maybe being a traitor, you know, she has some nice call outs about why it couldn't be him or probably isn't him. And you know, traitors are probably doing it differently and or making him seem like it and, then Porsha makes another verbal [00:16:00] thing where she says there are four traitors.

She says it very confidently as opposed to likely four traitors. I don't know if that's actual what's going What? If you've watched the show, you're going to think there's at least three, probably four. I would think, and so you probably just make an assumption. Now, in this case, her assumption is correct and so that's why she's stating it so well, that's not why she's stating it so confidently.

She's stating it confidently because that's what she believes, and even though she doesn't necessarily know, so, um, easy, easy mistake to make in that case.

Et tu, Housewife?

Garrett: All right, then we get to round table. And it does seem like Donna just doesn't fit in with people really well and that she's an outsider and that isn't working to her benefit for this game at this point.

Hopefully she can turn that [00:17:00] around and start making some alliances, uh, with other people outside of the group that she currently trusts. Um, and. As this was happening, I want, I had a question I was going to ask Britney. Uh, what do you think it would be a good idea? So I'll ask you instead, do you think it would be a good idea to speak up first or would you speak up first if you were at the round table and a faithful or a traitor?

Like what is the strategy there? Why would you do one or the other? Uh, why would you do it or not, depending on what you're trying to accomplish? Um, in this case we get Natalie who starts, uh, and she had said she's gonna be an aggressive player, so definitely matched, um, her, pla-, play style to what she was doing, uh, being consistent there.

Um, Donna talks about, of course, she's low hanging fruit and seems like the obvious choice because she doesn't really fit in or doesn't have anybody [00:18:00] have her back. And it is a valid point. Um, the, uh, you know, Natalie, then, you know, counters, it doesn't mean you're not a traitor. And, you know, both of these are valid points.

Um, the Traitors, Secret Traitor, Traitors are wanting other names to get out there to throw people off and not make it look like them. Now we don't yet know who the Secret traitor is, but we can assume that that person is doing this as well. Uh, what names have been thrown out? Well, mostly Michael, Donna and Porsha we see.

So. Uh, and we're pretty sure none of those are secret traitor or a traitor. Um, and so could be evidence or things we need to look for on who, who's throwing out the names of these fake names and maybe do they have some [00:19:00] ulterior motives. Um, but Ron and his evidence very convincing and he presented it very well.

His voice was shaking a little bit, I noticed as he was talking, and I can imagine how. Uh, rough this would be, uh, or how problematic it would be, but, um, definitely scary. It would be, but definitely, uh, needed to be said and he presented it in a, in a great way. Uh, I did like that Porsha. Or I did think that she did okay with trying to defend herself.

Um, she seemed pretty calm and, you know, gave her reasoning even if it wasn't the greatest reasoning, she might have been able to do a little bit better, maybe convince other people if she had a little bit more to go on. It's a tricky situation to be in, to have your name thrown out to be accused. Go. How do you prove that you're a faithful versus, uh, and [00:20:00] not a traitor?

Right? In these cases. Um, it, it, it comes down to what you're doing outside of the, the, the round table, I think. Um, but it's, it's all about perception in this game. So, uh, I did, uh, find it interesting Candiace telling Donna that you would've been a great traitor. Uh, but we don't get any reasons for that. Like why would she have been a great traitor?

Um, and then Donna, you know, it's very nice of you to say you would be too. I love that. A very talkative, very presentable and also could be a little traitor, deflection kind of, uh, situation going on. So maybe, um. Then, uh, but you know, Ron talks about, you know, bringing more than one piece of evidence that you're trying to decide on these things and Good point, Ron.

Um, [00:21:00] and then Michael, I don't know what he was saying why he said we got rid of Ian. Well, I think it's because he just meant we as a group no longer have Ian as opposed to taking credit for it. But yeah, definitely his lack of thinking before he speaks. May have, uh, got his people's, um, antenna up about who he might be.

Um, and he does, when he gets called out for it, he kind of loses it. He definitely not the, the calm debater. Um, and he's doing a lot of deflecting and kind of gaslighting in his, um, defense of himself. Not going over well. Um, I loved Eric pointing out, but is this useful information, you know, about the, you know, why, you know, he's Yam Yam and, and the whole shield situation, right?

Like pointed out, this is useful information. And Michael seemed [00:22:00] dumbfounded by that. Like he had not thought about. The reasons people might choose something and what that could mean about who they are, what they're doing. Um, and hopefully he does take that to heart in the next episode and, uh, maybe starts to think deeper about this.

'cause obviously Eric is, uh, which as, as they were saying in the tower, um, you know, Eric, strong player, very smart, um, the. Monét also kudos for some amazing clarity and insight. Um, even though I don't think it's correct on that the person was a secret traitor, but still great insight into why somebody might be doing something, um, and making good, uh, call outs.

Okay, so then we get, um, Yam Yam, who [00:23:00] is, of course, going after Michael. And the way that he's doing it makes me still suspicious about him as a secret traitor. He's saying things like, very quiet, calm, um, maybe a little manipulative, like the whole, you know, go for it. Let's see what he says. Right? Like Michael saying, you know, call me over there.

Um, and, uh, it's, it's hard to know. Would I do the same thing? Not sure. Uh, then we see Ron whispering together to stick with Porsha. Um, and then Tiffany and Yam Yam. Tiffany says she doesn't think Michael's a traitor, but they still, her and Yam Yam both voted for Michael. So that was interesting. Kristen also joining said she didn't think it was a, well, she didn't vote for him, but those two did.

So that's interesting. Uh, interesting, uh, observation. I think we'll see what happens with that. And if there's any. Reasoning behind it other [00:24:00] than just thinking he might be or not enjoying, uh, working with him or just the, the way he's going about things. Uh, Michael makes a point of kind of a valid point about voting to find Traitors not loud mouths or people who don't get along with, and that is definitely true.

I think some of the voting, like I was just saying and maybe, maybe happening that way. Easy to do on Banishments, the first couple, at least when you have really nothing else to go on. So I don't blame them. But, uh, you know, Yam Yam then also counters that, you know, there are Traitors who play that way, um, and maybe, maybe one of them.

Then, um, we get the, the votes and it goes, uh, Michael gets four. Donna gets eight and Porsha gets 10, and so she's the one banished, not, neither of us saw that coming. I don't know. Did you see that coming? Um, I, I did as part of the episode, just Porsha was focused on a lot and all the stuff that [00:25:00] happened with Porsha and Michael and Candiace was focused a lot.

So I could kind of see it coming during the episode, but I did not see that happening. I did notice, of course, Candiace voted for Donna. Um, we know that she knows Donna isn't, um. But then also Lisa and Rob R voted for Porsha, and I was, I found it interesting that Lisa went after a fellow housewife. And what will that do for Lisa's game?

Will it affect, um, how the other housewives view her? Will they not trust her anymore? Um, and, you know, will. That start putting a spotlight on Lisa that she may not have wanted to have. Um, so in a way, good for Candiace to vote for Donna. Um, but Lisa maybe should have tried someone else or voted for someone else, uh, just to keep [00:26:00] spotlight off her.

Um, and if she had, if she'd voted for Donna, it would've been a tie, which would've been interesting. Um, but if she had voted for Michael, then it would've. Definitely still been Porsha, uh, but she may have not have had her hands as dirtied as they were or are now. Um, lots of talk to Michael about being, you know, the boldest traitor this game has ever seen, or the worst, um, faithful.

Um, but just that he's getting in the way of the discussions they need to have with, um, where he's, how he's playing it. Um, I do wonder as well with Ron championing and presenting the evidence so well against Porsha and being wrong, will that do anything to his game? I don't think so. I think everybody will have, he wasn't making up evidence.

There were several people who witnessed, um, the different things going on, and so hopefully it [00:27:00] doesn't back go, uh, back onto him. Um, but I mean, he thinks it'll put a target on him. I, uh. I don't necessarily think that, I think he'll be okay.

Conga in Plain Sight

Garrett: Um, then we get to, of course, the evening and the murder in plain sight, uh, with a bit of a twist this time.

Um, I enjoyed the shenanigans that had went on with this twist. Um, they learn that there are. Uh, tarot cards, a shortlist of four that, um, Candiace who apparently had had a whole glass of wine before this, uh, was a little confused about how to burn stuff and maybe was a little confused about things going on because, um, she didn't seem to be as involved in the selection of the murder.

Um, but in any case, um, the, the. Instructions were to find the cards, [00:28:00] discuss with the fellow Traitors who to murder, and then if unsuccessful there would be, they would not murder that night, the secret traitor would. And then if they were successful though, then they would get to meet the secret traitor the next, uh, night.

Um, I Rob R very chill about it. He did a good job at keeping his, uh. Nerves in control and, uh, being sneaky enough, uh, even though he was nervous and, uh, the, the conga line distraction and Candiace's, you know, it pays to be a little extra was genius. It was, it did seem very strange to me, um, to choose to do something like that.

I mean, first thing that came to her head, I guess, um, but. A very odd thing to do unless you've done that kind of thing before. I guess the being a little extra maybe helps. Um, but I was, I found it interesting that many people joined in. [00:29:00] Um, but Rob C clocked it immediately and we do see him with Tiffany.

And so maybe the worry we had, um, before about Alliances there maybe not being wanting to be seen? I think it may have been more not wanting to be seen than maybe him being a secret traitor. Um, but, uh, very, he clocks it and he knows exactly what's happening. And I wonder now if he's going to be suspicious of Candiace.

Didn't seem to be, we didn't get any of that in this episode. Um, but the, the food that was. They were sharing like the, you know, making sure he is not gonna take a drink from anyone. Staying out of the way of it. Very, very smart. Did not help him though. He, the shortlist was Monét, Rob C, Tara, and uh, Kristen.

Uh, this is a [00:30:00] very different group than the first group of four that we got. Um, they are all competitors in their own way though. Uh, and so maybe the secret traitor's taking a clue from the other Traitors who had of course gotten rid of Ian as a, let's get out some gamers. Um, if it is, I still think it's Yam Yam.

Um. A way of getting rid of some of the competition fellow players who may be strategic, um, especially Rob C Um, so we also know that of course none of these four are going to be the secret traitor. So that narrows down our list a little bit more. Um, 'cause I had thought maybe Rob C would make a great secret traitor, but obviously not him.

And maybe Tara. Tara. Tara Lipinski. Got it. Alright, so love the [00:31:00] Rob R and Lisa playing chess, like teaching her, teaching her chess as a way to talk among people without being suspicious or looking like you're having a secret conversation. But then they have a secret conversation that was amazing, great TV as well.

And so fun to watch, um, using the chess pieces to talk about who they might, um, uh, try to murder in plain sight. Um. Then I do wonder who they chose, you know, from the pieces and the movie. There's a lot of editing going on, so we don't know where the pieces were. It seemed like it could be, um, Tara, um, from the one that he pointed out the piece, um, and they kept showing her, like watching them for a while and maybe being suspicious, um, or potentially Kristen out of the list.

Um, so my guess is that's who they chose. Um, [00:32:00] Tara was who they chose. Um, but the instructions were that they, they were to discuss with fellow Traitors who to murder. And we didn't see, uh, Candiace being part of that discussion. So, um, if they didn't all discuss it, will it still work? We know if they didn't get it in time, it wouldn't work.

Um, which they did. They were able to burn it. And of course Candiace comes in after as they're leaving. Uh, kind of crazy, the whole back and forth on that. But, it was successfully burned, but they didn't all talk about it. So will that part of the instructions be held to? Personally, I think they should. And let the secret traitor, murder. As opposed to the one they chose. 'cause that would make it great crazy tv, but I think they'll let it go so that we all know who the secret traitor and they know [00:33:00] who the Secret traitor is.

Predictions

Garrett: I think that's gonna be what it is. But my, my prediction is that it won't work and that the person who will be murdered is Rob R. I mean Rob C not Rob R, Rob C um, because of the, you know, let's get out gamers kind of thing. Uh, if the secret traitor gets to choose, seems like a good, uh, strategy than the, than the other people.

Um, we get a, uh, a commercial where next season regular people can play this game. Um, so hopefully all of you who are uh, listening, watching are obviously diehards and. Maybe could be a great, uh, cast member, so go and do it. Um, the, so that's who I, that's who I, uh, look, [00:34:00] or that's who I'm looking for to happen.

So it didn't work. Rob C gets murdered. The next banishment, I think is gonna be Michael. That's my guess, my prediction, because he's just. Too big, too loud and too maybe, um, frustrating for some of these players. So, uh, and yeah, still going with Yam Yam as the secret Traitor. So that was episode two. Um, want to hear what you have to think you have to say, especially since I don't have Britney here to help, um, guide discussion and talk about it.

Lots of strategy going on, lots of psyche, lots of thinking, lots of interactions. Looks to be a very strong group of players this year. So [00:35:00] follow us on the socials. Comment, like, subscribe, all the things. But, um. Let me know what you think and what your guesses are, and with that, that's checkmate.

Voiceover: Wanna keep the conversation going, join us on social media and tell us how you would play it.