The pain in Slane continues on The Traitors Ireland (RTÉ One, 9.30pm) as the Faithful conspire to eliminate yet another innocent contestant. This time, it is poor Linda, who becomes the third Faithful to be banished at the round table at the end of another absorbing episode that confirms RTÉ is on to a winner with its Co Meath-set take of the global social deduction hit.
As before, the Faithful are breathtakingly out of their depth when attempting to detect the back-stabbers in their midst. Even host Siobhán McSweeney – whose job description includes words such as “aloof” and “cryptic” – seems to take pity on these guileless goodies. “All you’ve done is talk and banish Faithful,” she says, as a teary Linda takes her leave. “The Traitors are running rings around you.”
The day begins with a bang as it is revealed that the Traitors’ latest victim is kick-boxing champion Michele. But even as they continue to pick off Faithful, there is little danger of bromance breaking out among the back-stabbers. Quite the opposite: Paudie, Katelyn and Eamon have started to turn on each other. Voices are raised as they pick their next target just before the final credits. Hoods lowered, retired prison officer Paudie confronts garda Eamon for leading a whispering campaign against him in advance of the round table – prompting an exasperated business consultant Katelyn to weigh in.
“You’re not going to get anywhere if you keep interrupting each other,” she sighs. “So you’re interrupting the two of us,” shoots back Paudie. Given the option, you suspect they’d all vote each other off straight away.
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But if the Traitors aren’t getting along – and they really are not – how is it that the Faithful have been so inept at unmasking them? The answer is that they have developed an uncanny talent for picking the wrong contestant. After ejecting Diane at the first round and then Nina, it feels all too inevitable that they would interpret Linda’s natural curiosity and chattiness as a red flag, while failing to pick up on the guilty-as-anything body language of Paudie, Katelyn and Eamon.
Tough talk at Traitors’ Tower aside, there is lots to enjoy about the episode. The latest challenge involves growing the prize pot through a puzzle featuring a church, a riddle and pews filled with creepy cultists wearing gold masks, vaguely reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut.
Here, too, the Faithful miss a blatant clue when Katelyn proves economical with the facts about her private chat with McSweeney. Why would she brush over the details of their conversation? Tearily, she says she’s tired and emotional – and they all fall for it.
The action ends with the Traitors selecting their latest victim – to be revealed on Monday. However, the true challenge will be to get a handle on their infighting. Paudie is fed up with Eamon spreading rumours about his co-conspirator. Eamon thinks Paudie is deadweight who needs to go. Katelyn is tired of them both. For now, their perfidious plotting remains just about on track – but any more bad blood and the consequences may prove disastrous for all three.
