We’re reached the halfway mark in The Traitors season three, and the action shows no hint of slowing down. While that means the show’s end is fast approaching, it also means we’ll soon be in for another nail-biting final. After the drama, lies and betrayal of season two’s, we can’t wait.
But in episode one of the new season, host Claudia Winkleman revealed that this year’s final would be a little different. At the first roundtable, she told the players – and us at home – to ‘listen carefully’. Then, she explained that those players who make it to the final will no longer reveal their true identities (AKA whether they’re a Traitor or Faithful) as they leave. Instead, the players will have to trust their instincts and end the game when they believe there aren’t any Traitors left in the game.
While the players all looked pretty confused, we at home were also left scratching our heads. So to break it down: in the first two season, the remaining players would collectively banish anyone left in the group that they suspected to be a Traitor. That banished player will then throw their bag into the fire, which will reveal whether they were a Traitor or Faithful.
Now, they’ll just leave without making their true identity known, meaning the Faithful can’t reason how many Traitors are left in the game if they get one out.
What isn’t entirely clear is what this actually means for the game. But speaking to heat, The Traitors: Uncloaked host Ed Gamble broke down how he thinks the new final rules will impact the show’s direction.
‘I think it balances it a bit more,’ he explained. ‘I think the fact that the Traitors won last year is a bit of an anomaly. I think it's because Harry was so good, and he had a little bit of luck, and he ran with it and did the most intelligent things with it.’
Of course, last year’s winner Harry Clark was a whole new level of savage as a Traitor, not only throwing his fellow Traitors under the bus but convincing his bestie in the house Mollie Pearce to trust him as a Faithful in the final. But according to spin-off podcast presenter Ed (and the stats back it up), The Traitors is overwhelmingly the Faithfuls’ game to win on numbers alone. While this twist won’t throw that off, it will make things slightly less hard for the Traitors.
Comedian Ed revealed, ‘Without this new twist, I think it's slightly weighted towards the Faithful just in terms of numbers. Then if they reveal when they go out, they can be pretty sure when they've got rid of all of the Traitors.
‘So we'll see. I think it balances the game a little bit more. It certainly doesn't make it harder for the Traitors – it makes it slightly easier – but it's still all for the Faithful to win.’
And Ed didn’t just soothe our brains by helping heat understand how the final will work (at least, how we think it will work). He also opened up about the viral TikTok theory about the order the contestants come in at breakfast.