TheRealityCheckmate_E04_2026-02-02

[00:00:00]

Voiceover: This is the Reality Checkmate podcast.

Garrett: Currently just one reality nerd who likes to break down strategy and psyche.

Intro and Welcome

Garrett: Hello and welcome to this episode of the Reality Checkmate podcast. I'm Garrett and I am still holding down the fort by myself. but I am excited to be here and talk about the Traitors US Season 4, episode 3, titled, "Show Me Your Faces". This points of course, to the very end of the episode, but we'll get to that towards the end of this episode.

The Murder Revealed

Garrett: First we need to talk about the biggest news. The murder was indeed successful, despite my worries that they didn't follow the instructions completely.

And of course, Rob C who, and they chose, I should say Rob C, who I did guess would be murdered. So I was at least right in [00:01:00] that, He, of course, was confused and didn't know how they got him, despite him being cautious and knowing that this was going to be a murder in plain sight. Hopefully now that he has watched it with the rest of us, feels vindicated and validated, and is now able to plot his sweet, sweet revenge, in some other way. Perhaps by haunting ... his spirit, hauntingthe halls of Traitor Castle and the traitors themselves.

I do think their choice was smart. He was a good player, strong and insightful. and his, voting for Michael does stoke the flames of that conspiracy more. am sad that Rob C was eliminated. I enjoyed watching how he played and how his mind worked. it also does not bode well for Tiffany. Perhaps,you know, as they were trying to set up an alliance, even if it was a little hush hush.

Breakfast Shenanigans

Garrett: Of course, we learn [00:02:00] all this at the end, of breakfast, but there is plenty of strategy and insight that happens before that.

So, Colton, Caroline and Yam Yam all think Ron is a traitor, because of the direction away from Donna who they were wanting to, from Donna to Porsha, who they were wanting to gun for at the last roundtable. They also assume that Michael, is a Traitor, although they don't necessarily give a specific reason about that at this time. They feel like Ron is the more obvious one. And if he is a traitor, then that means that Michael is obviously also a traitor and that they'll go for him next, as his assumed conspirator. Then Candiace comes in and also starts going after Ron, continuing her gameplay as a vocal, faithful. Now, Donna was also there andkind of defends Ron, which of course [00:03:00] I don't think helps her in the long run. But, we learned that her original game plan, according to what we get, was to, just observe and that, after roundtable yesterday, she now planned to talk to people more and she tells them at the breakfast table, "Seriously, I'm not a threat". Which of course is what a threat says. Although it's also what a non-threat says, so what are you gonna do?

Many players now believe that the Traitors are going after the gamers, and I can see how this might look like this strategy from the outside. It's kind of,what I think or what I might do if I was a Traitor as well. This should of course, make the gamers very nervous and suspicious, I think, of the non-gamers, not the gamers. If there were other gamers who were Traitors, I would think they would want to set up other gamers in their alliance or in their, in their group as shields for themselves or friends, right? Like, "Let's work together to find these Traitors," and then [00:04:00] steer them in the wrong directions. But that is not what happens. That's not what's happening. So strategy wise, if I was a Traitor, I would try to get them to do it as part of, banishments, get everybody else, if at all, unless they were just obviously faithful and then go for them, or unless everybody believes they're obviously a faithful, then go for them, as a murder. Regardless, going after the gamers group is a smart move generally for a Traitor. However, there are people who are not in that gamers group who are obviously threats to the Traitors game, that they should be taking seriously.

Like Colton, who seems to be on a kick about wanting to be a Traitor Hunter. Also Eric, who's a very smart player. And we have Kristen, who also seems to be thinking deeply about strategy and showing signs of catching a Traitor here soon. So I think the Traitors should be thinking about that. I think Rob R [00:05:00] especially should be concerned about the Housewives as a threat to his game, since he's up against two as Traitors already. I know that Porsha, we all know that Porsha, was eliminated previously, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Rob is safe. They could ... be strong as a group of four in a voting block. And as we've talked about before, many of them are very savvy and intelligent, even if not a gamer specifically.

Next we get some of the "altercation" with Yam Yam and Michael.Michael talks about his youth in New York City and being a "crap trash talker", which made me laugh at his word choice. 'Cause I kind of do believe he is a crappy trash talker. Gotta put the emphasis on the right words, that you intend to mean that crap and trash are both modifying talker and not that, you're bad at trash talking.I do give him credit though for at least not backing down from Yam [00:06:00] Yam, who, we, as the audience of course know, is a faithful, and Michael is way off track here. Also Yam Yam of course is wrong in his guess that Michael's a traitor. Although I feel like Yam Yam is more doing it out of _maybe_ it being a possibility, then absolutely. But also that it's just difficult to work with him and,not being able to work with him. Alan, as he usually does, gives the faithful some pretty pointed clues about when and how Rob C was, murdered, but nobody seems to catch on, or nobody seems to be picking up on it. This is good for the Traitors, of course. But again, why didn't at least Tiffany or, Mark bring it up or say anything about it? Very interesting that they don't. Or that they ... we at least don't get any of it in our ... in this episode, even as confessionals. It does make me wonder if they understood what Rob C was saying or if they believed him, [00:07:00] or perhaps they're keeping it under wraps for now for some sort of a self preservation reason, you know, seeing Rob get murdered like that would definitely put me on the high alert, in this situation.

A New Twist

Garrett: Alright, but we don't get time to think about this much more, because TWIST, we're going straight to the roundtable.

This definitely doesn't help Donna with her plans to talk to people today. Now she only gets a few minutes and that extra stress, less ability to plan or figure out her strategy for how to talk to people. I wonder if this was the plan from production all along. because if not, it is really setting up Donna to fail miserably and that is unfortunate.

In the time they have before heading over, people other than Donna also are scrambling a little. We see that Tiffany is cozying up with Michael [00:08:00] because she believes he is a traitor and that he will keep her around because of this.

I think this may come back to bite her, because he's not a traitor. Still her advice to him is solid when she says "The point is how do you get other people to vote for him [meaning Yam Yam]? We've seen other people try to get this idea across to Michael, get it in his head, help him step back and think a little bit, which doesn't seem to be his preferred method for, attacking traitors. But perhaps Tiffany will be more productive since,he trusts her. She's building that trust with him. His antics remind me a little bit of last season with Tom Sandoval. he was rarely right with his proclamations, but he was loud and unafraid of what other people might think of him. And if you throw enough accusations out loudly enough, eventually you'll be right. We'll see if this ends up being more shotgun-like, when, or if, he learns that Yam Yam is a faithful.

[00:09:00] I found Donna's straightforwardness in addressing people about being on the radar, quite refreshing, and could have been helpful for her if she had more time to prep them. Also, her use of statistics... Did she make them up or were they real? ... was genius. Great way of providing some sort of evidence. As she said, "Traitors, 92% of the time are, will try to get shields",you know, as evidence against Michael and his, you know, big, worry last episode about getting the shield and his whole beef with Yam Yam. And then also of course, that Rob C voted for Michael, and now Rob's gone. As you know, as a way of Michael getting his revenge. I think bringing up the evidence was good for her and could have been convincing in another season. A good way to throw people off your scent, but, she was talking also with Yam Yam and Colton, who both did all they could to get their shields, could be considered (Yam Yam, especially), a [00:10:00] gamer. And so may not have come across the way she intended. It kind of makes them also, or makes it look like she's also casting doubt on them.

An Early Roundtable

Garrett: Then we get an early roundtable. All right, so as they head into roundtable, we learned that Rob R (guess I can just say Rob now) ... plans to use the strategy of voting with everyone else. Just be a sheep. Perfectly good strategy in this case for a Traitor to take at the roundtable.

The first to speak is surprise, surprise, Candiace. And about Ron. So again, on the offensive.This game play from her seems to be working, getting people to see her more as an outspoken faithful and so true to who she is. So a smart move from her despite maybe what would be more comfortable for Rob or any other Traitor. I'm interested to see how this plays out over the course of the season though. 'cause [00:11:00] it can only take you so far, I think. And she might have to switch tactics, which could look very, incriminating, suspicious.

Also just throwing out Donna's name. Who, you know, Candiace is blending in well with the faithful, so she must be trusted in many of these conversations, to know that these are the names that people are throwing out, and that people are telling her these things. In any case, she says to Donna that she would be a good Traitor because "You're sweet and unassuming. Like you bake cookies.." So we do finally get some reasoning for the claim.

I don't really understand this reasoning from a faithful, for who? ... Well, from anyone ... for who could be a traitor or not. I suppose they're, even though the faithful seem to fall for this trap all the time, I suppose they're trying to figure out, who Alan would've chosen and maybe that he would've tried to choose someone who was not [00:12:00] obvious, or who could make it far in the game. But that's the missing connection in this argument syllogism. However, you only know the people from past experience or from current experiences. We really don't see much of a pattern like this in Alan's choices. If I think about the previous three seasons or even seasons in other regions, the Traitor group is kind of all over the place, which is what makes this game so difficult. So this line of reasoning needs to be the last thing on the mind of the faithful, the last ditch effort at trying to find a traitor. It seems like Alan chooses people who are willing and are likely able to lie, and maybe that he enjoys his conversation with them, indicating that they might be good television. As far as I can tell, that's about as far as the pattern goes. I should probably research that. Let's see and see what it is. But yeah, maybe someone out there can [00:13:00] tell me what they think or what they know about this, any patterns that they've noticed.

In any case. back to Donna who counters Candiace with, getting the group to follow, "Who's pushing my name?", as a theory, a way to draw attention away from her. And if she would've been a faithful, would've been pretty convincing or would've ended up being pretty convincing. So generally I think a good strategy, when you're a faithful or when your name gets out there ... but her name has come up so much, I don't know that there's anything else she could have done or said to get out of this specific situation.

So she's asked to put out a name. She, of course says Michael, and that he could be smarter in this game than he's letting on. This could be the case. He may be playing a part. But, as we'll learn soon enough,he's not the secret traitor. He does seem to know more than he is letting on. He calls himself faithful of the faithful,[00:14:00] terminology that's indicative of someone who has watched the show or knows the show at least a little bit. But as we've wondered on previous podcast episodes, he doesn't seem to be making smart choices or thinking very deeply about who else might be a Traitor or reasons why people are doing things, especially if they are Traitors or not Traitors. And so it's problematic.

At this point, Michael, then of course points to Yam Yam as a traitor, calling him the ultimate "deflector, defender and projector". But everyone else points back to him saying, that's you, that, is how you're playing this game ... which valid,and of course proving that he's not really thinking deeply about his actions or how his actions are reflecting on him with the other faithful. Colton asked him if he knew it was him and Donna, on the chopping block, you know, why throw out Yam Yam's name? [00:15:00] His answer is just, well, it's Yam Yam. He's like, you know, a dog with a bone, he just won't let go. Single-minded. One track-mind kind of thinking going on here. Which if Yam Yam was a Traitor would be amazing and I, I would admit, Commendable, but Michael doesn't seem to present evidence that helps us know why he's so set on Yam Yam. Unless I'm missing something that, let me know if I'm missing something here. Other than the fact that Yam Yam is a gamer in the gamer group and he thinks ... a Traitor's gonna be one of those,One of the housewives or of a gamer, and that was from the first episode. We haven't heard anything from him about that since.

I do think it is good potentially to not just follow the group, as opposed to, of course, Rob's strategy, as a Traitor. Which is a good strategy for his game in this case. But as a faithful though, in the beginning of the game, it's almost always a good strategy to go with a group. [00:16:00] You don't want your name getting out there. You don't wanna be seen as conflicting with a group or creating group conflict or especially when the group is wrong.

It makes you look like you may know something. but they don't. If you're going with them, it look makes you look good as far as you were in on it and you can't, and you can say you were in on it. When you go outside of the group voting when it's obviously going to be a group vote and the group will be right. Then it just makes you look like you're hiding something. And if the group is wrong, it makes you look like you may know something they don't. And then why do you know that? Not necessarily because you're faithful, but that you have some insider knowledge as a traitor. So in this case, with it being Donna and him not going after Donna, I think he's still not long for the season, but we'll see.

All right. We get to the voting, and it is a resounding 18 to one vote against Donna.

Donna of course votes for Michael. [00:17:00] The only one to do And Michael, of course, votes for Yam Yam. The only one to do.

So everyone else votes for Donna, including our Traitors. Candiace, who now looks like she knew, or that she, maybe doesn't look like a traitor as much because she also voted it that way the previous time. May not bode well for Lisa and Rob, who didn't vote that way last time, but even Yam Yam votes for Donna despite wanting to vote for Michael.

I think he, in this case was trying to follow the group like I was just talking about. Much better to follow the group here, and either be right with everybody or wrong with everybody, while still pointing out as he does that. If we're wrong, it could be this person, or if we're right, it could also still be this person. So I think that's a win-win situation for Yam Yam.

The Secret Traitor Unmasked

Garrett: Alright ... the result ... we learn ... Donna was the secret traitor. And Britney was right.Wish she was here so I could congratulate her on [00:18:00] her, speculations and she could rub it in. But, we can look back now and think about Donna's game up so far.

She was great at keeping a straight face at the card reveal. We talked about that when we were first going over it. We also talked about how her choice of words during the Alan, interview at the beginning seemed to ... indicate her reluctance and maybe feeling nervous, but still willing to give it a go. So I think we can now go back, read into that with, you know, 20/20 vision and say, yeah, she definitely was. And maybe had a rough go at figuring that out. This out. I wish we had more confessionals from her, or I understand a little bit why they were keeping it from us as an audience. Try to create some suspense, but getting her out so soon I think just it ruins the suspense that might have been there. Because it feels like it was for nothing. But having confessionals from her or [00:19:00] having some information so that we know, and then we understand even if it came now, which may be too much of an interference in the current flow of the episode, but understanding why she chose who she chose. And we get that a little bit. But, I would've liked to see a lot more from her about why she made the decisions she did. She talked about how she was going to be a sweet mom on the side, and I think she was, but also as we heard in the accusations, that was part of people, what people were suspicious of. I don't really know why, like I said, but that's where they were going. She does seem like she would be a sweet mom, but in general, the faithful's reasons for her being suspicious as far as her demeanor seeming to change and so forth are of course not valid because she knew before, the tapping on the shoulder. She was the secret Traitor. So why do you think she looked different then? Why do you think she looked different then? Or is it just their [00:20:00] imagination? Probably some of their imagination. Maybe some of her, it becoming more real for her at the time. Even though she didn't get tapped, on the shoulder.

We do, like I mentioned, hear about her reasoning and her choices for murder. They were based on those who were laying low and not being outspoken, so therefore wouldn't be banish she thought. Not necessarily gamers per se, or maybe strong people per se. Thinking back to her choices, I can definitely see that she chose people who were exactly that or trying to do that. So not a bad strategy necessarily there. She didn't have any other Traitors to consult, anyone else to consult with. It also doesn't necessarily point back to her as a Traitor, but it was her actions around accusations for that first banishment or lack thereof that really got her in the hot seat.

Where she probably fell down a little also was in not being the sweet mom of the group and trying to be everybody's [00:21:00] friend. She wanted to be that, I think she was fan girling and a little in awe about people. So maybe talking more with people, especially talking game with people would've helped her as a mom, as a, I want to, you know, mother you through this game. She was acting suspicious of people instead. And that put up a big, big red flags for the other players.

But otherwise, I think she did what she could. Is there a different way you think she could or, should have played? Let me know in our, in the comments. Other than that, of course, having the other Traitors meeting her and getting them on her side would've helped. But that was beyond her control here.

So again, I think she did a good job overall in her attempt as a secret Traitor here. As a new thing, a new way to play. Very hard to play by yourself, to have your own strategy, and to not have the backing of the other Traitors.

Afterwards, people are talking [00:22:00] about how she was so good ... seeing it, with hindsight and trying to make their reasoning make sense. Like that she's never said, "I'm not a Traitor. I'm not a Traitor." True. But, that can go both ways. It can more seem like you're protesting too much, can also seem like trying to hide something. So you have to say that maybe we just don't see it all from the others, but we don't see everyone else saying that all the time, even though they said they do. So I don't know that that was a great remark, but it makes sense to them in hindsight, right.

I'm now waiting for, Colton's hubris with being the traitor hunter to catch up with him. Maybe it won't come, but it seems to be heading that way. It's like he's trying to be another, Peter. Maybe a little, competition there with a fellow bachelor/bachelorette alum, who was on season 2 of Traitors, of course.But a less insightful and careful version of a Traitor Hunter.

Candiace talks about how she's keeping [00:23:00] Tara around, because of her hair wand curler. I suppose that's as good as any other reason to keep someone as a shield for you, as a Traitor. And Tara doesn't seem to be suspicious of Candiace at this point, so it is working for her and it's good TV here.

Makes, made me laugh.

Ron definitely is in trouble though. Not only of course at the end of the roundtable and the chatter going on, but then the mission, let's talk about that.

A Mission Built For Two

Garrett: We learned that they definitely want to pair up. They are an odd number of people now, and Ron just doesn't find anyone.

As for the pair ups, I think some are a little surprising. Alan had said that they're putting their lives in the hands of the person they trust most.

So before we get to that, I do wanna point out that I find it interesting how all the multitude of cloaked and masked figures who are carrying the cages and helping in this season from, [00:24:00] episode one up until now. We've seen a lot of them. I'm pretty sure more than in any other season, where they, you know, were usually just a handful, at different missions or events. This is a big group. It reminded me a lot of squid games and how that works. The anonymity of the people who are working, for the show.

I think that here it adds a level similar to squid game, even if it's not obvious. They don't look the same as the ... the hooded, cloaked masked figures from squid games. But there's still that idea of threat, of unknowing, of the anonymity, that may be intimidating. So I love this directions from the Traitors production franchise and tying into that, the mood that that creates.

All right, so the pair ups. We'll talk about each[00:25:00] and what happened. we get Rob and Maura. Maura is in the cage. She ends up being safe at the end. This pair totally makes sense because of course, you know their connection, from Love Island, not connection, but that they, know of each other. You know, are familiar with who each other is, and she thinks he's a faithful and strong, both good, reasons to go with him and put your life in his hands. Rob does seem very steady. Seems like he's the first done, very strong, very good competitor. You know, as he said in a previous episode, that's part of his game strategy. So good job, on Maura, on, on picking him.

Then we have Candiace and, Tara. Candiace was in the cage. She ends up being safe. Tara finishes just in the nick of time. I think it is an unexpected pair up. Despite Candiace keeping, Tara around for the wand curler. Tara does talk about how she wanted to stay apart from Johnny, as a way to keep people from thinking they're super close. So I [00:26:00] suppose that's a fair reason for her, but it doesn't seem to be an issue with like housewives or gamers, etc. this season. So they may wanna rethink this at this point and maybe, I don't know, now that you, you kind of have to play it, the whole way I suppose, or else it'll look suspicious. But, I think they can start to get together more, and "befriend" each other during the season.

But let's talk about Johnny and his pair. He pairs up with Eric. Eric is the one in the cage of Johnny, is just horrible at finding the skulls, not showing any sense of urgency at all in this mission and poor Eric is of course at risk. I can see Eric thinking that Johnny would be good at athletic things as a former Olympian. But that was quite a while ago and there is no frozen lake to skate on here. Just soft ice, liquid ice.

Then we have Lisa and Dorinda. [00:27:00] Interesting that both Lisa and Candiace were in the cages. in any case, Dorinda does not do well with this. She finds the skulls, but the stacking them just was tough for her. Lisa ends up having to do her best acting performance of sadness and worry.

Then we have Michael and Tiffany as a pair. It does seem to be causing concern among other people, maybe thinking about her and why she's choosing him. We'll get to that later. But Michael gets in the cage, says he trusts her. Good show of faith for him, actually, I think. He, he ends up being safe. She is, as we've talked about, a competition master. She completes the task fourth, I believe, just so sturdy or steady and so reliable. I'd want her as a teammate if I were on anything.

Then we have, Yam Yam and Steven, who I didn't see as a pair either. I didn't know [00:28:00] that they were that close or, you know, where they would put their life in each other's hand. Especially Yam Yam, putting his life in the hands of someone else. He seemed worried, but Steven was good. I think he finished second. Interesting to see that relationship that, we hadn't seen in other ways before. So we hadn't really seenYam Yam much with people outside of the main group that he's been associated with.

Next we have Colton and Caroline. people seem to be fighting over having him as a partner a little bit.

Caroline is the one who gets him and he is one of the first back. But his hands are so shaky, super, super shaky. I don't know, maybe he always has shaky hands in football. It didn't matter for whatever position he, played or maybe the whole having someone's life in your hands, just added so much extra stress to him that he was not prepared for. But incredibly shocking that it happened and that Caroline is not safe.

Mark and Kristen are paired up, which, we hadn't really [00:29:00] seen them together. But although at breakfast we did hear Mark, say that he hoped the murdered was not Kristen. So we see at least that from that point on, that there is a connection there. But ... and Kristen is the one who goes in the cage. Mark - steady hands. Took it slow and steady. But alas, too slow. So Kristen's up for elimination and now of course he'll probably blame himself, if he was worried before, for, having, you know, putting more blame on himself for this if she is murdered.

Then we have Natalie and Monét. Love this pair up. Seems like a strong couple. Also Natalie, of course, an amazing competitor. But, Monét actually finishes and Natalie is safe. I was surprised that Natalie chose to go in the cage. like I said, she, even more so than, um, Tiffany, Challenge Beast. Uh, would want to be on her team as well, [00:30:00] to have her as a partner if I was in a competition. She does say that sometimes the best move in this game is to create a strong, strong bond with someone. I believe that's true, not just sometimes, but almost always in this game, to have a strong, strong bond. If it's a strong bond with a Traitor, that puts you on a potential list as a Traitor, but... your name thrown out like it's happening with Ron now... but in, in general it's usu-- It's a good move because you are a shield, so you're not gonna get murdered. They're gonna try to keep your name out from banishment as well. Monét, made it back, after Dorinda, but finished, third ... so ... strong competitor, Monét. Uh, talks about was, you know, not normal to go through swamps and stuff, but she did it definitely much better than some of the other people.

Finally, in a cage and partnerless, is Ron.

So that means those in danger are Ron, Eric, Lisa, Caroline, and Kristen.[00:31:00]

They are going to be staying in the woods. But obviously going to be separated. Maybe that wouldn't have happened if Lisa had not been part of that group, but definitely have to be separated so that Lisa can then come meet the other Traitors in the tower, for the soon-to-be face-to-face murder.

As the group is heading back to the castle, Tiffany thinks Lisa may be out. So showing that she, at least, believes Lisa is a faithful at this point. Perhaps editing is putting that in there so that we have some evidence for later. Perhaps people will in the future having some worry about her being a traitor since she wasn't eliminated.

Colton talks about his suspicions of Tiffany choosing Michael. You know, as her being the head of the serpent ... calling shots, having control. She definitely is that type of person.

I do wonder, should she tell someone [00:32:00] else her plan, as far as why she's cozying up to Michael? It's a tricky one. Especially if he isn't a Traitor and you tell it to a Traitor, or if he is and you tell it to someone who is also a Traitor with Michael. It could come back to haunt you either way. In this case, him not being one and her being wrong, and he's so high on everyone's list ... as an obvious Traitor is putting a target on her back.

I'd be interested to know why she is so convinced that he's a traitor other than, you know, everybody else does too. But, we haven't really heard anything specifically. I do think that maybe telling some other people in this case, who she believes are the most faithful of the faithful. Letting them in on her plan would be good to help her not get banished, because that may be more a threat to her than being murdered. Tiffany does tell Colton, Maura and Rob that she does still think Michael could be, but she's way more wary of Ron, and [00:33:00] then Yam Yam because of the getting out gamers thing that's been going.

This is a curious take from her. She's a gamer, so why don't you think they would also see that as possible from you ... putting that in their heads.

I tend to think this is, editing here to prepare us for the potential of her getting banished next episode. But I'll talk about that at the end of the, prediction section.

Traitor Tower and Their Choices

Garrett: All right, then back to Traitor's Tower. In the tower we get, Candiace telling them about what happened with Rob C and him guessing the murder in plain sight. So they do not seem to be talking much, if at all during the day. It's probably a good strategy for now, but will become obvious as numbers start to dwindle. They may need to start, doing, having more interaction.

We get confirmation of Rob's goal of wanting to get out the strongest players. Will that impact their choice for tonight's murder? Maybe.

They are rather, happy with the loss of Donna since now they have control. They [00:34:00] don't really have any blood on their hands for it. They don't look too guilty and playing favorites with someone. Donna's choices for murder were not really aligned with their reasoning, but also don't really cast any, blame on them. Lisa and Rob have been playing a similar game to what the game Donna was doing, with being more quiet and observant, but they don't really seem to be on anyone's radar right at the moment.

Finally they start talking about who they're going to choose of the four. Kind of funny that even though there's no secret Traitor anymore, they're still forced to choose from a list of four (five if we count Lisa).

They consider Ron, because choosing him would make no sense to people and I thought "Really?" People are gunning for him. He seems a likely shield for them and a banishment choice. The threat level to them is low. It'd be great to have him banished or be potentially bring him as a recruited [00:35:00] Traitor later who then gets banished. I think people would be confused. Sure. But that doesn't, but not that it doesn't make sense. Maybe not make sense insofar as people thinking, why would the Traitors do this? It seems dumb. Like I just said. He seems an obvious banishment, maybe to bring their own threat level down, maybe throwing some shade on the people that have been gunning for him. Maybe.

Then at the end of the episode ... we'll skip ahead for him ... we get all of them saying something to the Traitors while they're blindfolded, before they get to see the faces, before we know who gets killed.

And Ron's reaction of, "Better kill me now or you'll regret it!", made me laugh. I don't know why he said that, except perhaps he's scared, strategy wise, even though they've probably already made up their minds, why would you give the traitors a reason to get rid of you. And, why would they regret it? He doesn't seem to have any [00:36:00] evidence or hasn't been talking about any of them specifically.

Also, it may be too obvious that he is murdered. The title of the episode are the words Ron says at the end: "Show me your faces!" Again, seems like they're trying to trick us with this. Choosing him would be an odd --- choice and go against the reasoning for their other picks so far.

Then Caroline. The traitors talk about how there haven't been any housewives murdered so it might take some potential heat off of Lisa and Candiace for that reason. And that I believe is good reasoning. That would be a good idea for them. The, the blindfolded Caroline says, "I'm the least of your problems". I think she's meaning that there are people who are definitely more hunting, more vocal. Those are the ones who are going to find out who they are before Caroline does. But she of course doesn't know that there's two housewives there that have a good reason to get [00:37:00] rid of her.

They talk about Eric being a random kill. So that could be useful for them. Also interesting was his reaction saying his skills would be useful to them, in a way that reminded me of Liam Neeson, with, you know, a special set of skills. I don't know what that means in this case. Maybe that he has an in with a group. I don't know how they would use him or how he thinks they would use him. Not being able, not knowing who they are or how they might use him. Maybe he's pushing for recruitment, I'm not sure. So interesting strategy here. Could be fun if they take him up on that. I don't know how they will or if they will, other than to recruit him, but could be a big twist, different way of playing the game. Be a, a stooge for the Traitors just to be kept around. I dunno.

And then finally, Kristen. They talk about how she's very smart and a big threat, which makes me worry for Kristen. That is her, [00:38:00] that is who they've chosen, that is their strategy so far. Her statement to them was that I don't beg for things. Which I don't know if that's, what they really wanted. They probably already had their minds made up. Not helpful for her or didn't make them think or question their choice if, If they do kill her or wanted to kill her.

My Predictions

Garrett: So let's go to predictions. Who did they murder? My guess is they chose Caroline. Going against the, strong player reasoning. I think it's best for the ladies' game. They do seem to be a little bit more running the show, in the tower. Even though I feel like Rob is doing much more behind the scenes and being more stable as a Traitor and more frankly devious, and doing such a good job as a Traitor. I think it's also a little confusing for the [00:39:00] faithful. It could come back against them as a ... "It's so confusing, it must be a housewife who is a traitor". But that's a big if, The only person who may still think that a housewife is a traitor could be Michael since the rest of the faithful seem to have moved ... or you know, been satisfied with that question with the banishment of Porsha.

I could also see a reason for them to, murder Kristen because of their wording about her being very smart, a big threat to them. That could be valid. But like I said, I think it's, editing, trying to throw a curve, to us.

In the "next time" clip, we have a segment where Lisa says something about someone saying her name. I'm assuming,putting her name out as a Traitor. The question is, who did that or who would do that at this point?

My guess is that it was Candiace or still Candiace, based on that first day chat, [00:40:00] that doesn't seem to have been resolved yet or talked about, that we've seen. It could also be from Caroline's murder starting to blow up,you know, blow back on them. And Candiace uses as an opportunity to bring up Lisa Again. Or, even if they murdered Kristen and people start actually talking about why no housewife murders. And Candiace takes that as an opportunity to take some heat off herself.

Candiace is playing it pretty big, pretty loud, pretty aggressive as a, pretend faithful. So that kind of jives with that style of play. So that's my guess.

The guess of who is the next banishment...

I think based on the name of the [next] episode, "Cut the Head Off the Snake", and the way that they've been pushing with Colton's suspicions of her that editors want us to believe or presume it's going to be Tiffany. But I think, again, classic editorial misdirection.

I think it's actually going to be Lisa who is banished next [00:41:00] because of the somebody saying her name ... because in a way she is kind of, or at least views herself as the leader of the traitors. More Candiace, you know, in, in being loud and, and forceful I think. But, she and Rob were the ones who, you know, played chess and made the decision without Candiace.

If that does happen, then we may very well get a recruitment. We'll have to see.

Alright, that is all I have for this episode. I've thrown a lot of strategy, thoughts and questions at you. Time to throw 'em back. I wanna know what you think, what interests you about this show. Join us on our social medias, various channels. Join the conversation.

Now that's checkmate .

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