The wait is finally over! Season 3 of The Traitors kicks off with a three-episode premiere that is packed with plenty of drama! It doesn’t take long at all for Peacock’s Emmy-winning reality series to pull viewers right back in and remind us why the show is simply the best reality show on television!
Within the first three episodes of the season, a new group of stars move into the picturesque Scottish castle in hopes of making it to the end and walking away with the grand prize. Once again, we have some of the biggest names in reality TV entering the game including players from Big Brother, Survivor, the Bravo-verse, the Bachelor franchise, and more. Traitors are quickly named, alliances begin to form, and deliciously devious betrayals begin.
Who are the players tapped to be our first Traitors of the season and which players are the first to be banished and murdered? Let’s dive right into the first three episodes of the can’t-miss new season!
The Traitors season 3 episode 1 recap
The action begins as our group of Faithfuls make their way to the castle where they’re greeted by the greatest host in the game, Alan Cumming! As they arrive, Alan reveals there is another player waiting to enter the game: Survivor legend Rob Mariano.
Alan tells the group that Rob can only enter the game if one of them steps forward and shakes his hand. In doing so, they’d allow Rob to enter the game and have the ability to banish another player from the game. It’s a tempting offer, but ultimately no player takes Alan up on the offer out of fear of adding Rob to the game. As such, Rob is sent away and the game begins!
After speaking with the group, Alan selects this season’s Traitors with Big Brother alum Danielle Reyes, Survivor’s Carolyn Wiger, and RuPaul’s Drag Race’s Bob The Drag Queen set to stir up drama in the castle as the season's Traitors. We also learn there is change this season in that when the finale arrives and the time comes to determine who among the finalists is a Faithful and who might be a Traitor, any eliminated players at the final banishment will not reveal their status in the game which is sure to make for an interesting finale night!
In the first challenge of the season, the players must gather gasoline from pontoons in order to ignite a fire adn win any money secured throughout the challenge. The twist is that along the way, players must sacrifice themselves in order for the rest of the group to continue in the challenge and bank money. In the end, the group is only able to bank $20,000 of the possible $40,000 available and there is more. The people who made it back to shore and were in the shield when it was set on fire were all safe from murder while the eight players who stepped up during the challenge to allow for the team to continue are in danger.
This group includes Traitors Danielle and Bob the Drag Queen; host Bob Harper; model Sam Asghari; and Housewives Chanel Ayan, Dolores Catania, Dorinda Medley, and Robyn Dixon. The group is not at all happy about how the challenge went or the fact that the other players didn’t even bank the full amount due to no other players willingly putting themselves in jeopardy.
As the episode closes, our Traitors take their official oath before meeting for the first time to decide which player to murder. However, a murder is not how the episode ends. Instead, the episode ends as Alan makes his way to the woods where he greets Rob and tells him that he’ll get to enter the game as a Traitor and he won’t be the only one joining the game late!
The Traitors season 3 episode 2 recap
Following Alan’s shocking reveal at the close of episode 1, we learn that the two additional players entering the game are Big Brother winner Derrick Levasseur and three-time winner of The Challenge Wes Bergmann. Unlike Rob, Derrick and Wes will be joining the game as Faithfuls.
We then join the rest of the cast back at the castle for our first breakfast of the season and it’s here that we learn Dorinda is the first victim killed by the Traitors. Before the group can really process the murder of Dorinda, they’re whisked away to the woods where Alan tells them about the three new players set to enter the game. Our new players each have a shield and can gift them to a player, but in order for their shield to be given away the others have to find coins and lower the players to the ground within 20 minutes.
The players manage to get all three new players down and bank $15k for the prize fund, but we don’t learn who is gifted the shields right away. We do, however, learn that Derrick, Rob, and Wes will all be immune from the next banishment and the next murder.
At the roundtable, Bob the Drag Queen throws Bachelor in Paradise bartender Wells Adams under the bus saying his behavior is strange and that he changed after Traitors were picked. Robyn piles on as Wells tries to explain his approach to the game, but it seems to fall on deaf ears. The attention shifts to Survivor’s Jeremy Collins and actress Chrishell Stause are called out by Vanderpump Rules star Tom Sandoval, and Chrishell quickly points a finger back at Tom.
British Royal Lord Ivar Mountbatten catches a few strays before Danielle mentions she believes a Housewive is a Traitor as she calls out Robyn and Dolores.
After everyone hashes out their thoughts, it’s time for the votes which come through as follows:
Nikki votes for Ayan
Sam votes for Wells
Ivar votes for Dolores
Ayan votes for Tony
Bob H votes for Ivar
Dolores votes for Ivar
Wells votes for Robyn
Gabby votes for Robyn
Jeremy votes for Wells
Tom votes for Jeremy
Chrishell votes for Tom
Tony votes for Wells
Bob the Drag Queen votes for Ivar
Robyn votes for Wells
Britney votes for Jeremy
Ciara votes for Ivar
Dylan votes for Robyn
With the four votes for Wells, Robyn, and Ivar, it all comes down to Carolyn’s vote and she votes for Wells which leads to his elimination from the show.
After Wells leaves, Dylan begins planting seeds about Bob the Drag Queen during a conversation with Ayan and Robyn, wondering if he might be a Traitor given how quickly he tossed Wells’ name out only to then pivot to another player when it came time to vote. We also get to see Derrick, Rob, and Wes hand out their shields with Dylan, Tony, and Jeremy receiving the trio's respective shields which helps keep them safe from murder.
As the episode ends, our Traitors assemble to murder another player and are surprised to see Rob walk into their turret.
The Traitors season 3 episode 3 recap
Picking up where the previous episode ended, the Traitors discuss strategies and it becomes clear another Housewive is likely in danger. Sadly, that indeed turns out to be the case as the Traitors choose to murder Ayan, going two-for-two in killing off Housewives to start season 3 of The Traitors. Fans of the show will definitely find this interesting as Bravo stars tend to fare well in the competition but that’s not looking to be the case this season.
During some chats before the next challenge, Jeremy tells Carolyn to watch out for Danielle as he fears she could be a Traitor. Dylan, meanwhile, tells Rob, Bob H, Gabby, Tony, Jeremy, and Nikki about his growing suspicions over Bob the Drag Queen being a Traitor, though no one seems to back him up and we were defintely shouting at our TV about the lack of support Dylan received!
We move along to the next challenge which is Alan’s personal fun house of horrors. The challenge seems easy enough – the players are broken into teams of two and must navigate through the fun house by opening doors and making it through to the end – but it proves to be much more difficult than the players expected. Not one single pair makes it through to the end resulting in no money being banked for the prize fund and no players earning a shield, meaning anyone can be killed by the Traitors.
On their way back from the challenge, Jeremy tells Tony, Gabby, Nikki, and Bob the Drag Queen that he’s worried Danielle might be a Traitor. Bob the Drag Queen quickly takes this information back to his fellow Traitor Danielle when they get to the castle to give her a chance to be prepared for the roundtable should her name come up.
Elsewhere, Nikki, Chrishell, and Gabby talk about their suspicions about Tony, as Dylan tells Jeremy and Wes about his concerns that Bob the Drag Queen might be a Traitor. Jeremey basically blows Dylan’s game up by running right to Bob the Drag Queen and Tony, blabbing about how Dylan is looking in the direction of Bob the Drag Queen. Bob the Drag Queen is furious and vents to Nikki and Britney, with Britney confirming Dylan had indeed mentioned his name to her as well.
At the roundtable, it was no surprise that Dylan chose to speak up first and called out Bob the Drag Queen as well as Robyn. Poor sweet Dylan is quickly swallowed up by Bob the Drag Queen and Robyn who come for him hard and try to disprove his theory – oh if only the group would listen to Dylan who is proving to have amazing Traitor radar early on.
The conversation then shifts to Tony when Gabby calls him out as a potential Traitor and things spiral for him from there. Tony gets into a heated exchange with Bob H with the two players calling one another out as possible Traitors. Jeremy attempts to come to Tony’s defense, but Robyn jumps in to add that she believes Tony could be a traitor as well mentioning Ayan which is when Dylan again tries to point the group in the direction of Bob the Drag Queen, who again shouts his way over Dylan.
The final nail in the coffin for Tony comes when Rob tells the group he gave Tony his shield only for Tony to then not have a single conversation with him at all after. This seems to be enough to sway the group as it’s a sweep for Tony with nearly every player voting him out, the sole exceptions being Jeremy who voted for Tom, Tony who voted for Bob H, Dylan who voted for Bob the Drag Queen, and Wes and Bob the Drag Queen who voted for Ivar.
Tony then reveals to the group he was a Faithful before calling out Rob as a sellout, painting a major target on his back as a parting gift.
Following Tony’s banishment, we learn that the Traitors will not be immediately murdering another player. Instead, they must shortlist three players who will be eligible for the next murder. Who will these players be? That’s the mystery we’ll have to stew on until episode 4 premieres on Jan. 16!