'The Traitors' episode eight: Paudie converts power player just in the Nick of time
Newly converted Traitor Nick helps his team in the forest. File picture
We’ve talked about Irish fathers knowing what’s best for you, but have we talked about their stubborn tendency not to take no for an answer?
It’s the first thing that pops into our head when we see Nick approaching Paudie in front of the conclave.
He doesn’t seem all that shocked to see the Limerick man beneath the cloak.
“You knew it was me,” Paudie asks. “I did,” Nick answers.
What is with that man and keeping Traitors in the game?
Well, he’s one of them now. Despite turning them down previously, and assuring the Faithfuls he couldn’t be brought over to the dark side, he seems pretty happy about getting a second opportunity.
“Little bit earlier than I want, but why not,” he tells the viewer. “It honestly has probably come at the perfect time. I’ve cleared my name, I have a clean slate.”
And for his first murder? It’s time for nice guy Mark, the Traitors’ “biggest threat”, to go down.
Back at the breakfast table the following morning, the remaining Faithfuls are trying to work out whether Andrew was an “OG Traitor”. The sense is he wasn’t, and some are already surmising about who will be Paudie’s next scapegoat.
Nick isn’t wasting any time throwing his new pal under the table. Before the tea has been poured, he’s
already making sure Christine knows he “doesn’t trust” the prison officer.
He tells Ben it would be “pretty cool to be the final two lads”. No guesses as to what Nick’s game plan is...
Before the Faithfuls get too into the weeds with their next set of theories and fall guys, Siobhán swans in with her next challenge.
For those of us who have watched other Traitors series, it’s a shudder when we realise it’s the babydoll game. In this nightmare inducing challenge, half of the contestants are tasked with trekking into the forest where they listen to the “sound of the spirits”.
They must then run to a phone box where they repeat this sound to the other team, who are tasked with finding a doll inside the castle who sings the same song.
We suspect the scenes that transpired will haunt these players long after last night’s show...
The contestants secure the €3,000 up for grabs, so all is well. Plus, Vanessa nabs herself a shield.
Heading into the roundtable, you might think the Faithfuls would be feeling particularly confident after getting it right three nights in a row. Alas, they seem to be floundering around in the dark once more.
Joanna kicks things off by accusing birthday girl Faye, who got a lovely rendition of Happy Birthday from all her pals at breakfast this morning.
Vanessa backs her up. As does Amy. Faye is on the verge of tears. The theory? Faye is pals with Christine, so she must have put her on death row. (We are struggling to follow this too.)
Next, talk — once again — turns to Patrick.
“I am not saying you’re
an OG,” Ben offers, “but whoever the heat is on the night before, they’re recruiting.”
Running with Ben’s theory, Patrick suggests it could actually be Nick who has been recruited.
“If I wanted to recruit someone and they declined, I’d blackmail them. That makes sense,” Patrick says.
Christine also brings Will’s name to the table, with Paudie interjecting to say: “I personally don’t think Will is [a Traitor]. I think the only possibility is Patrick.”
“The possibility is everybody,” Patrick says baffled.
Thank God our psychic queen Oyin is back.
“That conversation you had with Eamon and Katelyn ... Could you just remind me what that conversation was?” she asks Paudie.
If only the Faithfuls shared the belief the viewers at home have in Oyin.
Instead, once Patrick is banished at the roundtable (the least surprising thing this episode), Christine brings Oyin’s name to her girl gang.
“Oyin’s name has not been brought to the table,” she whispers. “And she asked me who I was voting for,” Joanna adds.
But the real bit of drama last night? Siobhán challenges Nick and Paudie to commit murder out in the open. The piseóg (that’s curse as gaeilge), must be
delivered in the form of a “farewell hug”.
“I am not being smart here, but I am not a fucking hugger,” Paudie informs Nick, leaving him to do the dirty deed.
As it turns out, Christine herself instigates a hug with Nick. Has she just embraced her own murder?
- airs on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday at 9.30pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player
