Reality TV's most murderous game has a new episode dropping tonight. Season 5 of "The Traitors" premiered four weeks ago, with 22 new gamers embarking on a game of blind trust, backstabbing and betrayal.
As of Thursday, Oct. 15, there are now 16 players left in the game. That number will quickly drop to just 15 players at the start of tonight's episode, when last week's murder victim is revealed. Last week's episode ended on a cliffhanger, leaving three players at risk for murder tonight. If tonight's episode doesn't end on another cliffhanger, fans may see that number dwindle to 14 after a banishment.
There is only one Floridian left in the castle, Katie Fites from Jacksonville, and she is the third traitor in the turret. Katie narrowly missed
banishment at the top of last week's episode, before attention turned to a faithful.
Here's when and how to watch tonight's new episode of "The Traitors: New Blood," who's at risk for murder tonight, who has been murdered and banished so far, who the traitors are and how the game works.
Watch 'The Traitors: New Blood' with Peacock
How many episodes are there of 'Traitors: New Blood'? New episode tonight
New episodes of "The Traitors: New Blood" air Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and stream on Peacock the next day. Episodes one through five are currently available to stream on Peacock ahead of the sixth episode tonight, Thursday, Oct. 15.
Does 'Traitors: New Blood' have celebrities?
No. This season of "The Traitors" is titled "New Blood" because it is an all-civilian cast for the first time ever. "The Traitors" Season 1 featured some civilian contestants, but the cast was a mix of reality stars and normal people.
Season 2 through Season 4 of "The Traitors" were star-studded casts packed with TV personalities, reality stars, professional athletes and even a British aristocrat.
Who are the traitors on 'New Blood'? Floridian Katie Fites is a traitor
There were two traitors selected in the premiere: Tomica Adams, a pilot from Boston, and Joe Vanella, a funeral director from Wantagh, New York.
In yet another deviation from the show's method thus far, two people were chosen by the traitors to complete a series of secret tasks to become the third traitor.
They chose the only two Floridians on the show: MLB analyst from Wesley Chapel, Xavier Scruggs, and Jacksonville marketing manager Katie Fites, who also happens to be the youngest player this season. In the third episode, Katie was chosen as the third traitor and Xavier was murdered and sent home.
Who have the traitors murdered so far? See who's been murdered, banished on 'New Blood'
At the top of the fifth episode last week, Katie landed in the hot seat at the round table, with Dr. Jay Vinnedge accusing her of being a traitor. The tables turned, though, and the group ultimately banished Sherry Kuehl, a writer from Kansas. After Sherry was banished, Katie said in a confessional that she felt "so horrible," and said the game was much harder than she anticipated.
"I can't let emotion play into my decisions as a traitor on who to murder," Katie said in her confessional.
The traitors were then tasked to complete a "murder in plain sight" by tossing a "poison apple" to a faithful ahead of a "wake of the living dead." Those at risk of being murdered at the wake were sealed in coffins and then released one by one. What the faithfuls didn't know is that two of the three traitors were laying in coffins next to them, never at risk of being murdered themselves.
Tomica Adams (traitor), Kriste Lewis, Abby Lee, Morgan Cook and Victor Vollbrechthausen, were revealed as safe and released from their coffins. Still left in the coffins are Clyde Moser, Niyyah Hayes, Joe Vanella (traitor) and Mark Zgoda.
The last player in their coffin will be revealed as the murder victim at the top of the tonight's episode. But since Joe is a traitor, the murdered player can only be Clyde, Niyyah or Mark.
Here's the full cast list:
- Abbey Benjamin, a nurse from Mangham, Louisiana
- Abby Lee, an astrophysicist from St. Paul, Minnesota
- Ben McDonnell, a barrel racer from Granbury, Texas
- Clyde Moser, a teacher from Charleston, South Carolina, at risk for murder tonight
- Dr. Jay Vinnedge, a physician from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- Joe Vanella, a funeral director from Wantagh, New York, traitor
- Katie Fites, a marketing manager from Jacksonville, Florida, traitor
- Kriste Lewis, a realtor from Hattiesburg, Mississippi
- Mark Zgoda, a personal trainer from Phillipsburg, New Jersey, at risk for murder tonight
- Michael Foote, a lawyer from New York City, New York
- Morgan Cook, a content creator from Midland, Michigan
- Niyyah Hayes, a therapist from Indianapolis, Indiana, at risk for murder tonight
- Shane Beatty, an iron worker from Staten Island, New York
- Tomica Adams, a pilot from Boston, Massachusetts, traitor
- Victor Vollbrechthausen, a business executive from New York City, New York
- Wyatt Gillespie, a designer from Ligonier, Pennsylvania
Sherry Kuehl, a writer from Leawood, Kansas, banished week threeLogan Smith, a realtor from Gatlinburg, Tennessee, murdered week twoArisa Thomas, a dog groomer from Los Angeles, California, banished week twoXavier Scruggs, an MLB analyst from Wesley Chapel, Florida, murdered week twoKim Daily, a lawyer from Houston, murdered week oneMadeline Kostopulos, a construction manager from San Diego, California, banished week one
See airing schedule for 'The Traitors: New Blood'
As of Thursday, Oct. 15, there are five episodes of "The Traitors: New Blood" available to stream on Peacock. The sixth episode will air on NBC at 8 p.m. ET tonight and will be available to stream tomorrow, Oct. 16.
September 17: Episodes 1 and 2 aired back-to-back starting at 8:00 p.m. ET.September 24: Episodes 3 and 4 aired back-to-back starting at 8:00 p.m. ET.October 1: No New Episode.October 8: Episode 5 airs at 8:00 p.m. ET.- October 15: Episode 6 airs at 8:00 p.m. ET.
- October 22: Episode 7 airs at 8:00 p.m. ET.
- October 29: Episode 8 airs at 8:00 p.m. ET.
- November 5: Episode 9 airs at 8:00 p.m. ET.
- November 12: Episode 10 airs at 8:00 p.m. ET.
- November 19: Episodes 11 and 12 air the finale at 8:00 p.m. ET.
How does 'The Traitors' work? Here are the rules of the game
Based on the original Dutch show, the U.S. version follows the same premise — a group of contestants must work together on "missions" to add money to their overall prize pot, which can climb as high as $250,000.
However, hidden amongst the "faithful" contestants are the "traitors," whose goal is to eliminate the faithful and claim the prize for themselves.
Think of the party game "Mafia," but with a quarter of a million dollars at stake. In Peacock's version, contestants stay in an ancient Scottish castle. Award-winning Scottish actor Alan Cumming has hosted "The Traitors" since its American debut in 2023 and is also an executive producer on the show.
Every night, the selected "traitors" of the group meet in the castle's turret after all of the "faithful" have gone to sleep and choose one person to "murder." Each day at breakfast, the contestants who "survived" the night enter the room in small groups. As the contestants enter, each traitor tries their hand at keeping it cool and minimizing suspicion, acting as surprised as a faithful would when it is revealed who was "murdered" the night before.
Every night after dinner but before the traitors meet in the turret, the entire group has a roundtable discussion in which they attempt to reveal and banish a traitor by casting votes. After they are banished, the player reveals whether they were a traitor or a faithful.
What makes this season different from past seasons, though, is that the contestants are all regular people. Previously, contestants were celebrities, public figures or reality stars, with a significant number of contestants coming from other gaming shows, like "Survivor" or "Big Brother." The first season of the U.S. version of "The Traitors" mixed regular people with reality stars.
Watch 'The Traitors: New Blood' with Peacock
Lianna Norman and Samantha Neely are trending reporters for the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida, covering pop culture, breaking news and more. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at floridatoday.com/newsletters.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: ‘The Traitors’ returns with a murder tonight. When, how to watch
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