When we last left off with The Traitors: New Blood we were in the midst of the third Round Table session with Jay Vinnedge (Faithful) about to present a case for why he thinks Katie Fites (Traitor) is a Traitor. Leading up to this moment, Jay had spent the afternoon aggravating everyone in the game with his intentionally chaotic antics. Will any of them have any patience left to listen to him now?
Following the Round Table, the Traitors are asked to murder in plain sight, sending alarm bells throughout the castle for Faithfuls worried that they’ll be the next to die. For those on the shortlist for murder, the “fear of death” strikes hard as they’re buried alive to await their fate.
After three missions and no successful banishings, the players’ prize pot sits at $77,000. Playing as Traitors are Katie, Joe Vanella, and Tomica Adams. Still in the game as the trustworthy Faithful are: Shane Beatty, Abbey Benjamin, Morgan Cook, Michael Foote, Wyatt Gillespie, Niyyah Hayes, Sherry Kuehl, Abby Lee, Kriste Lewis, Ben McDonnell, Clyde Moser, Jay Vinnedge, Victor Vollbrechthausen, and Mark Zgoda.
Read on for our recap of the important moments from Episode 5 of The Traitors: New Blood, titled “Wake of the Living Dead,” which aired Oct. 8 at 8 p.m. PT on NBC.
Round Table
Jay’s case against Katie as presented to the group includes her change in body language before and after the Traitor selection and the amount of time she spends with Kriste, whom he also suspects. Despite saying he has more “objective” evidence than Kriste refusing to make eye contact with him, Jay is convinced to end his rant so that the group can “move on.” It’s clear that no one is buying what the body language expert is selling, especially not Niyyah, who predicts that he won’t even vote for one of the people he accused.
Abby pivots the conversation to her evidence against Sherry, who in a private conversation with her stated confidently that there are three Traitors. When pressed to name names as part of her defense, Sherry makes an argument that Jay should be banished simply for creating chaos. Abby and Mark push the narrative back to Sherry for being too intentional in her speeches and being louder tonight than she had previously been. In the end, 11 vote to banish Sherry (Tomica, Katie, Abbey, Clyde, Michael, Ben, Joe, Wyatt, Jay, Abby, Morgan), five vote for Jay (Shane, Kriste, Mark, Sherry, Niyyah), and Victor rides alone as the sole vote against Michael. Sherry is banished as a Faithful.
Murder in Plain Sight
Following the Round Table, the players prepare for a funeral wake where one of their deaths will be revealed. Up for murder are the players left on the shortlist from the previous mission: Niyyah, Abby, Morgan, Mark, Victor, Kriste, and Clyde among the Faithful, as well as Joe and Tomica among the Traitors. In order to make the decision of who to kill, the three Traitors are tasked with murdering in plain sight by throwing a poisoned apple which their intended victim must catch.
When Joe makes his first attempt at executing the kill order, his toss of the apple to Morgan flops and he very awkwardly starts eating the apple to cover his tracks. Stressed by Joe’s actions, Tomica retreats to the kitchen for her own attempt and openly offers fruit to the room, but no one bites. Instead, Victor rushes out to speak with Abby and Katie about how suspicious it is that Tomica offered fruit on the very night they already suspect is a “murder in plain sight” evening. Still struggling to curse a player, Joe is seen walking around with a second apple by Victor before finding himself back in the kitchen with targets Clyde, Niyyah, and Mark.
The Wake
Alan Cumming escorts all of the players from the castle to the grounds graveyard where there is a tombstone named for each of the shortlisted players. The nine on death’s door experience the “fear of death” when Alan has them enter their own coffins to be buried alive. Alan also informs everyone that the Traitors were tasked with murdering in plain sight, confirming the suspicion that Victor already had and solidifying his belief that fruit was involved.
One by one, Alan reveals the names of the players that “were not taken by death” and are safe from the murder: Tomica, Kriste, Abby, Morgan, and Victor. Left in the coffin until the next episode are Clyde, Joe, Mark, and Niyyah when one of them will be pronounced dead.
Find out who is murdered when The Traitors: New Blood returns next week with Episode 6.
