{"id":245221,"date":"2026-01-15T01:20:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T01:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/245221\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T01:20:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T01:20:15","slug":"why-the-traitors-rachel-and-stephen-just-proved-theyre-about-to-be-replaced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/245221\/","title":{"rendered":"Why The Traitors’ Rachel and Stephen just proved they\u2019re about to be \u201creplaced\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wow. We knew the next episode of The Traitors<\/a> was going to be a dramatic (see also: stressful) one, but did we foresee the smartest Faithful in the game being banished? Er, not quite. \u201cThis is the biggest twist\u201d, exclaimed the contestants \u2013 too right! And while the idea of Traitors Rachel and Stephen\u2019s biggest threat no longer gracing the castle with her presence might initially seem like the best thing that could have happened to them, it\u2019s actually far from it. In fact, the pair just proved they\u2019re moments away from being replaced. <\/p>\n

If you were watching carefully, you\u2019ll have noticed that the pair\u2019s weak spots are really starting to show. While it appeared as though Stephen was regaining control after a rather shaky start, it now looks like he hasn\u2019t learnt much at all during his time in the castle. Oh Stephen! As for Rachel<\/a>, the nerves seem to be getting the better of her… fast. With a murder to commit that will seal the pair’s fates, we’re calling it: they’re about to be packing their bags. Here\u2019s why their days (or should we say, hours) are numbered. <\/p>\n

The Traitors are terrified \"tx<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

While Rachel has easily earned herself the \u201cmost likely to win badge\u201d over the course of the first six episodes, things took a serious turn in episode 7. And it all started during the confessional. Harriet had the opportunity to put two questions to Traitors Rachel and Stephen and what did she do? She outed Rachel as a Traitor. While Rachel has always held her nerve in previous episodes, this time was different. \u201cShe\u2019s scaring the life out of me\u201d, Rachel told Stephen, who looked equally petrified. And that was just the beginning. <\/p>\n

They\u2019ve become codependent\"tx<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m done\u201d, Rachel continued in the immediate aftermath of Harriet\u2019s speech. \u201cI feel really uneasy at the minute. This is the strongest attack on anybody since this game started\u201d. Did Stephen help the situation? Not exactly. \u201cI can\u2019t do this without you\u201d, he said, as if it was already over for Rachel. And the truth is, from what we\u2019ve seen from Stephen\u2019s game so far, we believe him. It looks like it’ll be goodbye to them both. <\/p>\n

Rachel is somewhat despondent \"tx<\/p>\n

Photographer:\/\/BBC<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever she says, she says,\u201d Rachel told a group of Faithfuls when discussing Harriet\u2019s plan to banish her at the round table. \u201cI\u2019ll just have to sit and take it.\u201d A far cry from her previously confident \u2013 slightly cocky, even \u2013 behaviour, it seemed Rachel had lost all hope of surviving. Even when Harriet did bring her name up at the round table, Rachel\u2019s defense lacked the passion we\u2019ve seen in previous episodes. \u201cThat was a lot\u201d, she said. \u201cI trusted you because I like you and I thought you were my friend in here.\u201d Come on Rachel, we all know no one is your friend in The Traitors!<\/p>\n

They made a fatal decision to murder \"tx<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

Then came the fateful meeting in the turret, when Claudia Winkleman gave the pair a choice: to murder or to recruit. The sensible decision might have been to recruit – they did a \u201cdeal\u201d with Matthew in the turret to eventually recruit him, why not do it now, particularly given several players have shields and they can\u2019t be sure which ones. But instead? They decided to murder. It would suggest they\u2019ll still see the deal with Matthew through and murder Jessie first before recruiting him \u2013 but hang on, Jessie\u2019s the one person they\u2019ve got who thinks Stephen is a Faithful (remember the library theory?). And she\u2019s got a shield. Oh dear\u2026 <\/p>\n

Matthew is about to blow everything up \"tx<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

Regardless of what decision Rachel and Stephen make, Matthew has got the pair in a trap. He\u2019s already keeping his cards close to his chest by not revealing to his fellow Faithfuls what question he asked the Traitors, which suggests he\u2019s waiting and watching to see what Rachel and Stephen do with his plea deal before potentially dropping a bomb. And if they do follow his wishes and recruit him? Judging by Matthew\u2019s behaviour so far, he\u2019ll turn against them just as quickly as he turned against his fellow Faithfuls. Oh the suspense! <\/p>\n

READ MORE ABOUT THE TRAITORS HERE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wow. We knew the next episode of The Traitors was going to be a dramatic (see also: stressful)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,6568,123509,123508,282],"class_list":{"0":"post-245221","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-the-traitors","12":"tag-the-traitors-rachel","13":"tag-the-traitors-series-4","14":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245221","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=245221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}