Reality TV's most murderous game is heating up. Season 5 of "The Traitors" premiered four weeks ago, with 22 new gamers embarking on a game of blind trust, backstabbing and betrayal.
After one murder and one banishment in last night's new episode, there are now 14 players left in the game. There is only one Floridian left in the castle, Katie Fites from Jacksonville, and she is the third traitor in the turret
.Last week, she narrowly missed banishment before the other players ultimately banished a faithful. This week, the attention turned to her fellow traitors, but Katie successfully diverted the attention to a faithful, who was banished at the end of the episode. As of Oct. 16, the faithfuls have still not banished a traitor this season.
Here's
who went home on "The Traitors: New Blood" this week, who the traitors are, how the game works and how to watch the show.
Watch 'The Traitors: New Blood' with Peacock
How many episodes are there of 'The Traitors: New Blood'?
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 six are currently available to stream on Peacock as of Friday, Oct. 16.
Who went home on 'The Traitors: New Blood' last night? See who's been murdered, banished
After narrowly dodging banishment on last week's episode, Floridian traitor Katie Fites helped save her fellow traitors from banishment this week.
Last week, the traitors were 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 faithful didn't know is that two of the three traitors were lying 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 before last week's episode ended on a cliffhanger. The start of this week's episode revealed that of the four players left in the coffins, three were safe: Clyde Moser, Joe Vanella (traitor) and Mark Zgoda. The murder victim was Niyyah Hayes, a therapist from Indianapolis, Indiana.
New York City business executive Victor became suspicious of traitors Tomica and Joe the next day, telling other faithfuls that he believed the murder in plain sight was related to the apples they were eating the day before. After Katie caught wind that Victor had correctly guessed the identities of her fellow traitors, she planned to sway the faithful to banish Michael, a lawyer from New York City.
At the roundtable, Victor tried to present his theory of why Tomica and Joe could be traitors, but the faithful did not believe him, accusing him of being a traitor. Both Victor and Michael were accused of being traitors and the faithful ultimately decided to banish fellow faithful Michael.
Here's the current cast of "The Traitors: New Blood," who's been banished and who's been murdered so far:
- 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
- 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
- Morgan Cook, a content creator from Midland, Michigan
- 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
Michael Foote, a lawyer from New York City, New York, banished week four, Episode 6Niyyah Hayes, a therapist from Indianapolis, Indiana,murdered week four, Episode 6Sherry Kuehl, a writer from Leawood, Kansas, banished week three, Episode 5Logan 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
Does 'The 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.
When is 'The Traitors: New Blood' finale?
"The Traitors: New Blood" two-part finale (Episodes 11 and 12) are set to air one week before Thanksgiving, on Thursday, Nov. 19, starting at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.
See airing schedule for 'The Traitors: New Blood'
As of Friday, Oct. 16, there are six episodes of "The Traitors: New Blood" available to stream on Peacock.
September 17: Episodes 1 and 2 aired back-to-backSeptember 24: Episodes 3 and 4 aired back-to-backOctober 1: No New Episode.October 8: Episode 5October 15: Episode 6- October 22: Episode 7
- October 29: Episode 8
- November 5: Episode 9
- November 12: Episode 10
- November 19: Episodes 11 and 12 (the finale)
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: Who went home on 'The Traitors' last night? Who was murdered, banished
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