{"id":239554,"date":"2026-01-11T14:15:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T14:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/239554\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T14:15:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T14:15:14","slug":"explained-how-genius-harriet-and-jessie-are-running-rings-round-the-traitors-and-will-define-week-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/239554\/","title":{"rendered":"Explained! How “genius” Harriet and Jessie are running rings round the Traitors and will define week 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Traitors may be in for a shocking shake-up as two of the most perceptive Faithfuls are only a chat away from winning the game. <\/p>\n

This season’s two remaining Traitors, Rachel and Stephen, will have to seriously watch their backs next week as Faithfuls Jessie and Harriet are onto their case. Separately, that is, but a quick regroup may soon change that.<\/p>\n

The delightfully backstabbing show hosted by Claudia Winkleman<\/a> has just aired a jaw-dropping banishment. Last night’s episode has seen former Secret Traitor Fiona<\/a> being voted out as her fellow Traitors teamed up to throw all Faithfuls off the scent.<\/p>\n

Rachel never made it a mystery she was suspicious of Fiona after the Secret Traitor publicly accused her of being a Traitor<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Following Reece’s murder in an awkward turret encounter for the traitorous trio, Rachel led her fellow players in a crusade against Fiona \u2014 but Harriet read right through her act.<\/p>\n

\"harriet<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

Related: Best streaming services<\/a><\/p>\n

Fiona may have been banished, yet Harriet isn’t letting Rachel off the hook after spotting some questionable behaviour on her part.<\/p>\n

“Fiona has been well and truly hung out to dry by Rachel,” Harriet told the cameras, proving once again she’s right on the money.<\/p>\n

“I feel that that was a question of Traitor on Traitor tonight,” the crime novelist continued, before declaring: “Rachel is my number one suspect and the person I will be keeping my eye on.”<\/p>\n

After voting for Fiona in last night’s roundtable, a teary-eyed Stephen also needs to sleep with one eye open. Jessie, who firmly believes he’s a Traitor, isn’t letting her theory die down and has figured out what could lead the Faithfuls to victory.
<\/p>\n

\"stephen<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

“We do need to look at who did vote [to banish Fiona] because I expect that a Traitor did just hop on that,” Jessie told the group.
<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Harriet and her team discussed their strategies after winning a challenge earlier in the day and being given the chance to talk to the Traitors. Harriet, Matthew and Rachel could each ask the Traitors two questions, in a nerve-racking exercise for Rachel.<\/p>\n

“This is stressful enough as a Faitfhul. Dear god, as a Traitor, this must be hell,” Harriet said, clearly trying to stir the pot with Rachel.<\/p>\n

With two Faithfuls closely watching the sole two remaining Traitors, one might ask why Jessie and Harriet haven’t joined forces just yet. <\/p>\n

Both relatively quiet but determined players, the two women have quickly earned ‘favourite’ status on social media, with fans of the show labelling them “queens”.<\/p>\n

\"jessie<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

“I’m hoping Harriet and Jessie win this thing and take everyone else down,” one viewer wrote<\/a> on Twitter\/X, while another fan urged them to just have a chat.<\/p>\n

“They would legit have the full trio if Jessie & Harriet just had a conversation,” they wrote<\/a> before Fiona’s banishment, as a third person praised<\/a> Harriet as “a genius”.<\/p>\n

“Okay so Harriet and Jessie just need to form an alliance now because between them they’ve got all the Traitors snuffed out,” someone else noted<\/a>, as a fifth person offered<\/a>: “I need Harriet and Jessie to team up more (and win!)”
<\/p>\n

With Fiona \u2014 one of Harriet’s suspects alongside Rachel \u2014 now gone, the novelist has proved to the group that she’s on the right path to uncloak the other Traitors.<\/p>\n

\"rachel<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

Related: When is The Traitors on next? Release schedule explained, plus everyone’s odds of winning<\/a><\/p>\n

As we’re heading into week 3 of the game, loyalties are being tested and it may not be too long before Harriet convinces the rest of the group that Rachel is not to be trusted. <\/p>\n

For her part, Jessie’s suspicions against Stephen haven’t been proved wrong, which means she could argue her case with the other Faithfuls \u2014 if she survives the next murder, that is.<\/p>\n

In his meeting with the Traitors, Matthew made Rachel and Stephen a bold last-minute proposal, asking them to kill Jessie and recruit him.<\/p>\n

“I’m taking a massive risk here,” he told producers, explaining he wished to join the dark side to buy himself some time in the game.<\/p>\n

The episode ended on a cliffhanger after Stephen and Rachel scribbled their answer on an envelope. <\/p>\n

If they choose to go along with Matthew’s plan and murder Jessie, she’d be proven right and her main suspect, Stephen, could be the next one to leave the castle.<\/p>\n

The Traitors<\/a> airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.<\/p>\n

You can see when it’s on next here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The new edition of Living Legends, celebrating music icon Dolly Parton, is here! Buy Dolly at 80 in newsagents or online<\/a>, priced at just \u00a38.99.
<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Reporter, Digital Spy<\/p>\n

Stefania is a freelance writer specialising in TV and movies. After graduating from City University, London, she covered LGBTQ+ news and pursued a career in entertainment journalism, with her work appearing in outlets including Little White Lies, The Skinny, Radio Times<\/a> and Digital Spy<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her beats are horror films and period dramas, especially if fronted by queer women. She can argue why Scream is the best slasher in four languages (and a half).\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Traitors may be in for a shocking shake-up as two of the most perceptive Faithfuls are only…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239555,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1105,121419,1107,93,61,60,1135,121418,282],"class_list":{"0":"post-239554","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-content-type-news","9":"tag-contentid-2972dc29-dbc1-4413-a4de-ea5e1f2fb1b7","10":"tag-displaytype-standard-article","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-locale-gb","15":"tag-shorttitle-how-harriet-and-jessie-are-hunting-the-traitors","16":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}