The Traitors Recap: Thin Ice

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Rob casually greets Eric with “Sup, playa,” and then drops a bombshell: he’s a Traitor and wants Eric to join him. Faced with this unexpected request – and the alternative being something terrible – Eric agrees to become a Traitor as well. This means they now need to choose someone to eliminate, and their options are Natalie, Dorinda, and Stephen.

Before the results are announced at breakfast—where Mark shows up looking like he stepped out of Peaky Blinders—everyone discusses who they think the Traitor is. Suspicion is quickly falling on Johnny, especially since Candiace strongly encouraged him to receive a shield last week. If Johnny is the Traitor, the question is who he brought in as his accomplice, and Tara immediately becomes the prime suspect by quickly defending him when she joins the group. Johnny, meanwhile, seems to realize he’s in trouble, and his energy and even his hair seem to have lost their spark.

I was shocked when Dorinda Medley—who had just returned to the show—was unexpectedly written off. It felt like a confusing twist! But good things are happening too—E! and Bad Bunny have a new project in the works. This all comes quickly after Dorinda was cast to replace Jill Zarin on The Golden Life, so she won’t be off-screen for long. I just wish they’d have let her enjoy a martini or two before her final scene.

It’s amusing how the episodes featuring Johnny and Tara aired at the same time as the Winter Olympics – a great bit of promotion for Peacock! More importantly, it was good to finally see them working together. While keeping their distance was a strategic move, they’re much more engaging as a team, and it was a relief to see Tara support Johnny when he needed it. She not only warned him about the gossip but also tried to shift the focus onto Stephen. However, Tara’s past tendency to misread the game weakens her claims, and Kristen quickly dismissed her suspicions about Stephen. Things got even more complicated when Kristen voiced her own doubts about Tara. It seems like everyone is questioning each other – first the Real Housewives, and now the figure skaters!

Alan welcomed the group to a new challenge, sporting a freshly dyed hairstyle for a gender reveal. The task involved answering questions about what the Traitors were thinking, but with a twist: the Traitors had to secretly leave their creaky boxes to submit their answers. The group could earn money if they correctly predicted how the Traitors would respond. Rob and Eric quickly decided to use Tara as the answer to every question, hoping to prevent the Faithful players from learning anything new about the Traitors’ identities. They relentlessly pushed for Tara’s name, prioritizing strategy over potential earnings, until the rest of the group caught on and joined in to win some money. Tara and Johnny, however, didn’t seem to get the message and didn’t participate.

At the end of the round, the Traitors had to choose four players to target for elimination, and they selected Natalie, Tara, Kristen, and Johnny, who were then isolated. Rob and Eric hoped this would make the others suspect one of those four was a Traitor, specifically trying to frame Johnny. However, their plan may have failed, as Natalie saw how upset Johnny was on the way back and started to believe he wasn’t a Traitor after all.

Returning to the castle and realizing they were both in a difficult situation, Johnny and Tara decided to stop working separately and start cooperating. They were done hiding their close friendship and promised to work together, determined to face whatever came next as a team. Tara immediately took the lead, declaring that she was a Faithful and confidently vouching for Johnny as well. This surprised Maura, who wondered how Tara could speak for Johnny, so they explained their strong bond to everyone, including Mark. Mark, who apparently had never watched the Olympics, was particularly shocked to learn they were best friends who completely trusted each other.

The group quickly turned their attention to Stephen, questioning his recent private meeting with Candiace and pointing out his withdrawn behavior. Natalie reminded everyone about Lisa giving him all of her gold during a previous challenge, which seemed odd to many. In a game often decided by gut feelings, these two specific points were enough to seal Stephen’s fate. Johnny and Tara working together also helped, dividing the votes that weren’t for Stephen. This alliance could be a smart move for them going forward, potentially preventing either of them from gaining enough votes to stay in the game – especially if the show wants to keep them around for the duration of the Olympics.

Now that Stephen is out, the Traitors need to decide who to eliminate: Johnny, Kristen, Natalie, or Tara. For the sake of the show, they have to pretend all four are equally likely, but it would be a mistake to target Johnny or Tara. Everyone already suspects them, and keeping them around would buy the Traitors more time. A smarter move would be to eliminate Kristen. She’s already shown she’s willing to accuse others – she told Tara she suspects her, and then questioned Eric’s silence and voiced her suspicions to Rob and Mark, even saying they should look at Eric if she’s murdered.

Allowing Kristen to stay in the game could relieve pressure on Eric, but Rob now has the power to repeat his previous actions, potentially framing Eric for Kristen’s death. He could then orchestrate banishments for Tara and Johnny at upcoming roundtables and manipulate Mark by reminding him of Kristen’s warning about eliminating a fellow traitor to avoid sharing the prize money. However, as the players scheme, things rarely go as planned, and anything can happen.

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2026-02-13 07:55