The Traitors delivered another explosive episode on Thursday night, with a face-to-face murder, a banished Traitor, and another shocking recruitment.
The episode began with heartbreak for one contestant, who was murdered by the Traitors in plain sight after a dramatic game of “hide and seek” in the woods.
James Acaster, Maya Jama, and Hannah Fry correctly deduced that singer Leigh-Anne Pinnock would be given the key by her fellow Faithfuls Ross Kemp, Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan to be saved from murder, and decided to murder another of the three players hiding in the woods to spread “chaos” round the castle.
The fifth episode of the BBC reality gameshow aired on Thursday (BBC/Studio Lambert/Cody Burridge/BBC Creative)
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And the unfortunate victim was none other than comedian Rob Beckett, with Ross Kemp and Romesh Ranganathan spared from murder.
After he learned his fate, Rob said: “It's over. I’m a dead man. And in a way this is good news for the Faithfuls because I was nowhere near getting Maya Jama and James Acaster. No chance!
It comes after last week’s episodes became the most-watched of the series so far, drawing an average of 10.3 million viewers on Thursday and 9.6 million viewers on Friday.
The remaining celebrities gathered around the breakfast table the following morning, with the Faithfuls thrown into disarray as they desperately tried to unravel the Traitors' latest move.
Ross Kemp and Romesh Ranganathan both found themselves under the spotlight after surviving the previous night’s murder, while many suspected James Blunt for leading the charge to banish Julie Hesmondhalgh at the previous night’s round table.
Rob Beckett was murdered by The Traitors
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During the episode’s challenge, the contestants had to escape from the “Death Parade”, successfully banking £8,000 in the mission.
However, in the process, all three Traitors, along with Romesh, Jerry Hall and Joanne McNally were forced into a cage to allow the others to secure the cash.
The six weren’t released until the Round Table - where tensions boiled over, and another traitor was banished.
Ross and James Blunt found themselves firmly in the firing line, with Ross accused of being regularly put in “Traitor situations”, and Hannah pointing the finger at James Blunt for his voting methods.
Faithful Joanne almost put her foot in it - when Ross described the previous night’s near-murder as an “awful experience”, she chimed in, saying “It was horrible”, suggesting she might have been there herself doing the killing.
Hannah Fry was recruited as a traitor
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Hannah tried to talk her way out of banishment for the second night in a row - but ultimately was booted out, with James and Maya both voting to banish their fellow Traitor.
Standing in front of the round table, the professor said: “This has been so much fun!
“I came in here with absolutely one job and one job only on my mind, and that was to catch Traitors. And I calculated every conceivable scenario, except for the one that actually unfolded.”
She then announced she had been a Traitor, with her fellow contestants celebrating wildly.
In her exit interview, Hannah said: “My fellow traitors - they had to vote for me, it was so clearly going in that direction.”
Joe Lycett spent much of the rest of the evening begging to be recruited, but when James and Maya returned to the Traitor's turret, it was Kenny they chose to recruit.
Kenny has been recruited
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Kenny fell to his knees in the turret upon discovering that it has been James and Maya pulling the strings all along.
He said: “I think being a Faithful was fun, but being a Traitor is going to be better.
“The Faithfuls are doomed!”
The episode ended with Kenny laughing maniacally - but how will the Faithfuls react at breakfast tomorrow?