‘The Traitors’ Finally Dethrones Its Queen in a Shocking Twist

(Warning: This post contains spoilers for The Traitors Season 2, Episode 10.)

Alas, poor Peter Weber. We knew him, we watched him steadfastly hunt down the Traitors in Alan Cumming’s castle, and now, he is gone.

We all knew that Pilot Pete was probably going home after last week’s The Traitors cliffhanger, but nonetheless, this week’s confirmation hit the castle pretty hard. Ever the martyr, Peter told his fellow players, “I tried to save you guys” as he got up from the roundtable to say his goodbye during Thursday’s episode, a glum look spreading across his face. Meanwhile, former Real Housewives star Phaedra Parks—who had also been on the line alongside him—looked as bitterly nonchalant as ever. Sadly for her many, many fans, she was not long for this world either.

As the Peacock series rolls up to its finale next week, we’re down to just one Traitor—Below Deck star and returning Traitors player Kate Chastain. Despite her claim at the start of her foray into Traitor-dom that she’s a bad liar, Kate proved this week that she can be a master of misdirection and deception. That said, at least one player seems to have caught on to her treachery. Survivor players have a solid track record on The Traitors U.S., and given what we’ve seen so far, two-time winner Sandra Diaz-Twine might just turn out to be Kate’s undoing.

For those who’ve never vacationed in Alan Cumming’s castle of backstabbing and horror, The Traitors is a reality competition show in which players compete to split a massive prize pot up to $250,000. After this week’s mission, the winnings for this game so far total $158,100. Most of the players are Faithfuls, but among them are an undisclosed number of Traitors—each of whom will take all the money for themselves, should they make it through the final elimination. Each week, all the players gather to “banish” one suspected Traitor by popular vote before the Traitors convene in the castle’s turret to “murder” one poor, unfortunate soul.

Phaedra and Big Brother star Dan Gheesling started out as Traitors before recruiting Survivor legend Parvati Shallow, and until this week, Phaedra was the only surviving member of that long-standing crew. Now, it’s all down to Kate Chastain, whom Phaedra recruited a couple weeks ago. If the players can eliminate her next week, then the Faithfuls will have officially won the game—an outcome that’s actually less rare than you might think.

As usual, the Traitors got to choose a murder victim after the elimination, and this time, they chose former Parliament member and Pilot Pete ally John Bercow—whose long speeches at the roundtables tend to sway the votes. That left only two guaranteed votes against Phaedra: Fear Factor winner Trishelle Cannatella—a long-standing member of Peter’s crew—and her fellow The Challenge alum Chris “C.T.” Tamburello, who turned against Phaedra last week. (Et tu, “castle daddy”?)

With John gone, C.T. is now the only male player left standing—a distinction that seemed to really tickle him. “I feel like I’m on a dating show now,” he joked at the breakfast table. “Girls, after today’s mission, the winner gets to have a one-on-one lunch with me.” If social media posts from the Traitors fandom are any indication, his Bachelor-like comparison isn’t too far off the mark. Joey Graziadei, watch your back!

But back to the super serious matter at hand: To earn their prize money this week, the players faced their “toughest mission yet.” They had to dig through a pile of mud for a bunch of gold nuggets and one Shield, which would protect a player from murder. Then, they needed to carry the nuggets (and the Shield) across the river by hopping across a series of wobbly pontoons. If they managed to place enough gold on the scale on the other side to balance out the weight holding it down, they’d win their money. The only problem? No one seemed to be able to make it across the water without falling flat on their faces over, and over, and over again.

Trishelle and C.T. turned out to be the only ones who could make it to the other side, so they carried pretty much all the gold. M.J., meanwhile, made it across the river only once, in a last-ditch effort to deposit her Shield. (Why she believed she’d even need a Shield at this point is beyond me, but in this game, selfishness always rules.) In the end, the group managed to bank a solid $28,350 out of a possible $30,000.

When it came to the roundtable, however, things were looking pretty hopeless at first. For weeks, Bravo stars Shereé Whitfield and Mercedes “M.J.” Javid have refused to believe that Phaedra could be a Traitor, and Phaedra’s accomplice Kate has naturally done everything in her power to keep it that way. Now, however, something seems to have shifted.

Maybe it was the frostiness in the house. C.T. did not hide his frustration with M.J. for casting the deciding vote to send Peter home. When she tried to explain her reasoning, he responded with a curt, “Whatever helps you justify it.” Or maybe it was the moment when Shereé asked Phaedra, point blank, “Are you a Traitor?” only for her friend of 30 years to stammer and offer no convincing alternative culprits.

Whatever it was, the entire group voted unanimously to send Phaedra home at this week’s roundtable, and Shereé cast the first vote. The real scene-stealer during that elimination, however, was C.T.—who made it a point to tell Phaedra that he believed that her sneaky nature on the show was the “opposite” of who she really is. Did anyone else catch that look he gave her afterward? Again, I ask: Are these two going to end up being an “it” couple in real life?!

By all indications, next week’s finale is going to be stressful as hell. With only one Traitor left, the Faithfuls have a decent shot at winning, but only if they manage to identify Kate. Sandra, at least, seems to be on to her. She might not always be right about “girl knocks” versus “dude knocks” at the breakfast table, but she’s right on the money when it comes to who the final Traitor is. Kate’s comment at the roundtable that Phaedra is “selfish” stuck out to her, and with any luck, she won’t let that little slip slide next week. Most players know Sandra as a badass and master game-player, so hopefully she’ll be able to sway the others. Trishelle and C.T., at least, shouldn’t be too hard to convince. Maybe this time, the honorable will actually prevail.