Traitors Ireland recap episode four: The faithfuls follow the herd
The Traitor's Siobhán McSweeney
Four nights without The Traitors... what did we do with our evenings before this again?
It must have been an even longer week for Saoirse, who has been in that coffin since Tuesday last, after being murdered by the Traitors.
Aoife immediately catches suspicion for not seeming upset enough about her pal’s departure.
“I’ve only known her a few days!” she protests to Sean C.
Luckily for her — and Dónal, who seemed like a goner last Tuesday — there’s another name in the mix today.
For today’s mission, our contestants split into groups of three, with sheep running around the field, each tagged with the name of one of the players.
Teams must identify the sheep on their ‘wanted’ poster and guess its correct name. For every correctly identified sheep, there’s an extra €1,000 into the prize fund. But, as is becoming the theme this season, the players seem more interested in the opportunity at the end of earn a shield. There's a catch, however. Each team must nominate just one team member to try earn a shield for themselves.
In Fionula’s team, the majority decide Kayleigh and David are most at risk of murder, so they should do rock, paper, scissors to decide who gets the chance.
“Can we all be on the rock, paper, scissors then? Because I’d love a shield,” Fionula pipes up.
“Your name is up for banishment tonight, so honestly... I would prefer you not to be in the running for a shield,” Denis says. Oof!
In the car, after David has scored the shield (David, Pete and Donal were picked in the end), Fionula asks, “Who made [Denis] lord and master to decide that?”
Back at the castle, Denis describes it as a “hilarious” moment, but his partner Diageo worries it was “a bit rude”.
Fionula interrupts their conversation to repeat her lord and master line, and really starts utilising those acting skills. Her voice breaks ever so slightly as she questions why Denis had to leave her out. "I do feel bad," he admits.
At the roundtable, our panto dame ups the ante as she addresses Sam, raising how suspicious she found it that Ian seemed particularly surprised he hadn’t been saved by Sam in the previous day's mission, with Sam bypassing her immediately to go and explain his reasoning to Ian afterwards.
“When I came to talk that out with you, you bombarded me with, ‘No, no! You were the first person, the minute you took off the mask I knew it was you!’” she exclaims, clearly overstating Sam’s reaction.
Fair play to Sam, he doesn’t let it phase him. He calmly explains that he has been floating her name for the past few days and hasn’t wanted to chat to her while he watches her and tries to figure her out. Asked why he didn't come to her with his questions he replies, "that’s not how I’ve decided to play this game."
“Any questions I have will be at the roundtable, to catch you on the hop. I am not giving you a chance to prepare.”
Sam then presents her with some of his own observations, including that he noticed her hands were “shaking” at the previous night’s banishment, as though she had just escaped the Faithfuls herself.
“You are one of the only people that sits at this roundtable with your head down,” Anna adds. “You do not look at anybody."
“You’re bracing yourself,” Denis chimes in, “because this is where we’re catching Traitors.”
The accusations keep coming, and Fionula is floundering a bit now.
“I get the vibe I am being used by the Traitors,” she says.
Janet challenges her to explain what she means, but Fionula says she “isn’t a theorist”.
In a moment that will surely come back to bite her, Gráinne goes out of her way to say she believes Fionula is coming under suspicion for things that are simply part of her personality.
“I don’t think she’s a Traitor,” she says.
When it comes to the final vote, fellow Traitor Páraic K very calmly and cleanly votes to banish Fionula, saying: “I do love you, but it just seems to be pointing in your direction tonight, so I am afraid I’ve put you down.” We wonder will any of the Faithfuls pick up on that odd address in the coming days?
