Traitors Ireland episode 10 recap: What the fudge cake?
Siobhán: "Just when you think things couldn't get any crazier at the castle..."
Pauric nicely sums up the mayhem swirling around the Castle tonight by praising a faithful in his armchair chat to us at home: "You're after doing the traitors a solid, lad."
He was referring to Pete but could really have been talking about any of the faithfuls who are floundering around, suspecting people for showing emotion, not enough emotion, for wanting money, or not wanting it enough.
Whatever their reasons, the five faithfuls and the two traitors manage to get rid of another faithful. Even ones who declared they 100% knew who is a traitor then somehow managed to not vote for their number one suspect at the round table.
Kayleigh might even have had a traitor's name on her slate for a moment but then she scrubbed it out and voted for Ian. She's a múinteoir so of course she did a good job erasing her first choice too, leaving not a trace of who she was initially suspecting.
You might think that a bit of maths and stats would be dry but absolutely not when you're totting up who's on your side and who might cost you money.
At the start of Sunday evening's episode there's a reminder that we had 23 players, that six have been murdered, four traitors have been caught, and three faithfuls have been banished.
The reduced size of the breakfast table with just seven place settings really brings this home to the players and Pete declares that "the numbers are actually crazy".
Then it emerges that Anna has been 'gifted' the ceremonial dagger which gives her two votes to everybody else's one at the round table later.
It could as easily have been a poisoned chalice that she was presented with and in fairness she does a good job recognising that.
Then somehow it all gets tangled up and she stabs herself in the back at the mission where the players (except Pauric O) are partnered up to make their way up the steps of a podium which is littered with temptations. Players can opt to take home some money for themselves — €500 or €2,000 — or they could pick a shield to protect themselves from murder tonight.
The first pair, Diego and Carla, decide together to put €2,000 in the general prize pot.
Diego admits he's tempted by the shield but reckons he's already created enough drama here.
Carla claims she's tempted by the cash: "I could do with an all-inclusive holiday, I really could." This makes her sound like a sweet faithful but of course we all know she's gonna withstand this temptation as she has her eyes on the bigger prize. And why wouldn't she when she seems to have a cloak of invisibility when it comes to most of the faithfuls. Even Pauric's efforts to direct gazes in her direction haven't really played off: "I think I do need to open my eyes to Carla."
Most of the other pairs manage to dodge temptation too but Anna has a moment of weakness and Pete swoops.
Was he genuinely trying to see a nice person get a little something for themselves or was he setting her up for scrutiny and mistrust?
Whichever it is, Anna succumbs and takes €2,000 from the pot for herself.
Then Pete can't wait to spill the beans on her and Anna realises that she's possibly made a huge mistake and tries to explain how it went down: "Pete was literally shouting at me. He was like 'drop the bag, drop the bag, drop the bag. You need it, you need it, you need it. Drop the bag now. Drop the bag now'."
Pauric declares to the room that he's lost respect for Pete and then delightedly privately tells the audience that "Pete is acting more like a traitor than I am".
Diego seems to be loving the drama when he tells the audience: "Oh my god, this game is just mental." And Pauric sums up his glee for us at home: "Fair play to you, Pete. You might be letting the faithfuls down, but you're after doing the traitors a solid, lad."
Anna gets upset and calls Kayleigh out for a chat in another room. Kayleigh doesn't sugarcoat it and declares: "Oh, Anna, what the fudge cake?"
Then Siobhán reminds us all that it's time for the round table: "Just when you think things couldn't get any crazier at the castle..."
Things get heated and then a little personal as Ian and Pete get stuck into each other with accusations, personal comments, and rebuttals. Ian tells Pete that he doesn't like having his character attacked. Pete denies he called Ian weak and then digs in some more with "I lead, you don't lead... you are a sheep."
The other players try to call a halt to this new and slightly vicious twist: "The insults ... you're just going at each other on a personal level now" and "yeah, we're getting a bit nasty now."
So we get to the votes, aaaand... amazingly neither Pauric nor Carla's names are on a single slate.
Kayleigh, who had earlier announced that: "I want to set Padraic up in flames whether he's a faithful or a traitor" then writes Ian's name on her slate, as do Diego and Pete.
Pauric puts Anna's name down as he's purporting to be so upset by her taking the money. But that's the only vote for Anna so she's safe for tonight.
Of course Ian votes for Pete and then so does Carla.
Anna knocks the final nail into Ian's coffin by using her two votes to have him ousted.
He doesn't prolong the suspense and tells them he was a faithful all the way and strides off.
Siobhán twists the knife a bit and reminds them that they have "sent another faithful packing" and that there will be a murder tonight.
Kayleigh tells Diego later that "It's 100% Carla" and the pair form an alliance that seems to have Pete in its sights too. Diego quietly tries to recruit Pauric by saying he suspects Carla. Pauric acts agonised and seems to be doing well to deflect suspicion again.
Then Kayleigh tells the audience: "I KNOW it's Carla but I knew not to go for Carla tonight" so the heat might be on a traitor tomorrow.
At the traitors' meeting after dark Carla and Pauric delightedly tell each other "they're all just doing our jobs for us."
Pauric announces that 'It's getting to the business end of things for sure'. They seem to give Anna and Diego a reprieve and point out the pros of murdering Pete or Kayleigh. And we have to wait till tomorrow to see who doesn't survive the night.
