Fans of "The Traitors," rejoice! Reality TV's most murderous game is back, with a few twists. The fifth season of "The Traitors" premiered last night, Thursday, Sept. 17, with 22 new gamers embarking on a game of blind trust, backstabbing and betrayal. The catch? Don't look for familiar faces in this cast.
Not only did the hit competition show make its network television debut, airing first on NBC instead of dropping straight to Peacock, but the cast is made up entirely of civilians instead of the usual roster of celebrities and reality TV stars.
To reflect the twist, this season of the show has been cheekily dubbed "The Traitors: New Blood." Among the 22 contestants are two from Florida. And the two Floridians are at the forefront of the game,
competing to become the third traitor in the castle. Whoever loses the competition to become a traitor will be murdered and have to leave the show next week.
Here's who was murdered and who was banished on "The Traitors: New Blood" premiere last night, who the traitors are, how the game works and how to watch the show.
Watch 'The Traitors' with Peacock
Is there a civilian season of 'The Traitors'? New season premiered last night
Yes! The fifth season of "The Traitors," which premiered this week, features an all-civilian cast for the first time. "The Traitors" Season 1 featured some civilian contestants, but the cast was a mix of reality stars and normal people.
New episodes of "The Traitors: New Blood" air on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.
'The Traitors: New Blood' cast list, 2 contestants from Florida
There are two Floridians in "The Traitors: New Blood" cast: Katie Fites, a marketing manager from Jacksonville, and Xavier Scruggs, an MLB analyst from Wesley Chapel.
According to Fites' bio on NBC, she's also an actress and plans to use those skills to her advantage in the game.
"I'm going to trust my gut going into this, and I think that I have the potential to make a really fun environment while also reading people, connecting with people, and then if necessary, backstabbing people if it saves me," she told NBC.
"I'm [also] an actress. I think that I'm going to play into that just as much as I would any other strategy. So I think I can really lock in when I need to, and hopefully, people wouldn't spot it if they do."
Scruggs told NBC his strategy going into the game is to understand when to be more outspoken and when to lay low.
"I think that's where playing a long season in Major League Baseball helps you understand, there's going to be certain highs and certain lows, and you have to be strategic about how you're going to use your energy — exude your energy — at the right times," Scruggs told NBC.
"Understanding leadership as well. Knowing who's the leader, who's the top dog at a certain point. And being able to insert yourself in that same type of role."
Here's the full cast list:
- Abbey Benjamin, a nurse from Mangham, Louisiana
- Abby Lee, an astrophysicist from St. Paul, Minnesota
- Arisa Thomas, a dog groomer from Los Angeles
- Ben McDonnell, a barrel racer from Granbury, Texas
- Clyde Moser, a teacher from Charleston, South Carolina
- Dr. Jay Vinnedge, a physician from Oklahoma City
- Joe Vanella, a funeral director from Wantagh, New York
- Katie Fites, a marketing manager from Jacksonville, Florida
Kim Daily, a lawyer from Houston, murdered day one- Kriste Lewis, a realtor from Hattiesburg, Mississippi
- Logan Smith, a realtor from Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Madeline Kostopulos, a construction manager from San Diego, California, banished night two- Mark Zgoda, a personal trainer from Phillipsburg, New Jersey
- Michael Foote, a lawyer from New York City
- Morgan Cook, a content creator from Midland, Michigan
- Niyyah Hayes, a therapist from Indianapolis
- Shane Beatty, an iron worker from Staten Island, New York
- Sherry Kuehl, a writer from Leawood, Kansas
- Tomica Adams, a pilot from Boston
- Victor Vollbrechthausen, a business executive from New York City
- Wyatt Gillespie, a designer from Ligonier, Pennsylvania
- Xavier Scruggs, an MLB analyst from Wesley Chapel, Florida
How does 'The Traitors' work?
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 castle in Scotland. Award-winning Scottish actor Alan Cumming has been the host of "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. The banished player reveals if they were a traitor or a faithful after they are banished.
What differs the upcoming fifth season from past seasons, though, is that the contestants are all regular people. Previously, contestants were celebrities, public figures or reality stars, with a significant amount of contestants coming from other gaming shows, like "Survivor" or "Big Brother." The first season of the U.S. version of "The Traitors" was a mix of regular people and reality stars.
Who are the traitors on 'The Traitors: New Blood'?
There were two traitors selected in the premiere of the new season: Tomica Adams, a pilot from Boston, and Joe Vanella, a funeral director from Wantagh, New York.
The third traitor will be one of the two Floridians on the show. In yet another deviation from the show's method thus far, the two selected traitors were tasked with selecting two more people to complete a series of secret tasks.
Adams and Vanella will anonymously observe their game play and then decide which of the two will become the third traitor. They chose MLB analyst from Wesley Chapel, Xavier Scruggs, and marketing manager from Jacksonville, Katie Fites, who also happens to be the youngest player this season.
Their first task was to anonymously murder the traitors' victim of choice. Next week, either Xavier or Katie will be chosen to become the third traitor and the other will be murdered.
Who was banished, murdered on 'The Traitors: New Blood' premiere?
Kim Daily, a lawyer from Houston, was the first faithful murdered on this season. The first person to be banished at the roundtable was a faithful: Madeline Kostopulos, a construction manager from San Diego, California.
What days do new episodes of 'The Traitors' drop?
New episodes of "The Traitors: New Blood" will air on NBC on Thursday nights at 8 p.m. ET and be available to stream the next day on Peacock.
Watch 'The Traitors' with Peacock
Lianna Norman and Samantha Neely are trending reporters for the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida, covering pop culture, lotteries, rocket launches, Florida wildlife, 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 https://floridatoday.com/newsletters.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: 2 Floridians face off in 'The Traitors' premiere. Who was murdered?
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