The penultimate episode of The Traitors brings the battle between Peter Weber and Phaedra Parks to a head as three players leave the game — will Phaedra use Bravo loyalty to steal all the money?
Phaedra Parks has used all of her litigating experience to battle for her life in The Traitors, with the noise growing louder and louder each episode. Last week, it was down to either her or Peter Weber for Banishment. Could she survive?
Thus far, Phaedra has relied on the unwavering loyalty of her Bravo sisters in Shereé Whitfield, MJ Javid, and Kate Chastain. Then, after she forced/recruited Kate into Traitorhood, she only had two to really worry about. Would they still have her back?
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If she could keep them loyal, she was so close to the end game. But Peter wasn’t out of the woods yet, with three members of his “Peter Pals” still standing: himself, Trishelle Cannatella, and John Bercow.
The Banishment that was interrupted last week — awaiting only MJ’s vote to break the tie — was a pivotal turning point in the game, no matter what happened. If Phaedra gets Banished, it vindicates the “Peter Pals” again and strengthens their standing.
If Peter goes, where he’d reveal he was a Faithful, Phaedra would still be in trouble. In fact, her back is so up against the wall, it’s reminding us of Dan Gheesling and Parvati Shallow before her. This Season 2 batch of Faithfuls is no joke!
Banishment Shocker
The final vote from MJ saw her unable to completely abandon her loyalty to Phaedra, setting the stage for an explosive reaction when Peter revealed that he was both aggressive and a Faithful. Immediately, all eyes turned to Phaedra. DId they get it wrong?
Honestly, at this point, we weren’t sure how Phaedra could do anything to put suspicions off of her. The Peter pals had been on to her for a while now and they were getting eliminated one by one.
That night, in the turret, Kate gave her the choice of who to Murder, and already they were narrowing it down to the last of the Peter Pals, Trishelle and John. It’s a tough situation to be in, though, because there are no right answers.
If they target a Peter Pal, it only heightens suspicions of Phaedra. If they take out someone like Sandra Diaz-Twine or one of the Bravo-lebrities, they’re booting someone who’s been loyal to them and believing that Phaedra is not a Traitor. And with CT Tamburello flipping to target Phaedra at this Roundtable, Murdering him just looks personal.
Damned no matter what you do.
So the conclusion was to target the most eloquent speaker in the house in John. “We all get so many words in this castle, and John is way over his quota,” Kate quipped as they sealed his fate.
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Traitor Hustle
Immediately, Phaedra got to work trying to keep her allies loyal. The problem is that like Dan and Parvati before her, Phaedra didn’t really want to name any suspects … which is suspicions. How have you been in the house this long and you suspect no one?
Nevertheless, she was hustling to save her own skin. Things were so bleak, she was even having to hustle some of her closest Bravo friends and allies, including Shereé, with whom she shares a 30-year history.
As the day progressed and suspicions grew, Shereé decided she needed to have a one-on-one conversation with her firned and ask her point-blank. Of course, Phaedra denied it, but was Shereé buying it?
Sandra, too, wanted to believe Phaedra was innocent, but she wasn’t seeing as much fight as she expected. “I don’t know how much you can survive,” she told the Real Housewife.
“It’s frustrating to me because if you don’t defend yourself, they say, ‘Oh, she didn’t defend herself.’ If you do defend yourself, they say, ‘Oh, you’re getting too personal,'” Phaedra said, which is a pretty solid argument.
Sandra, though, wasn’t fully convinced. She was just playing it safe. “I love Phaedra, but she could be the biggest Traitor here,” Sandra said. “I feel that I was able to win Survivor twice because I made friends with the people that I needed to make friends with and that could possibly protect me, and that’s what I plan to do here.”
Even the ones who didn’t want to believe Phaedra was a Traitor were starting to realize she was probably their best bet.
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What Phaedra also didn’t know is that while she was fighting to keep her Bravo allies (and Sandra) close, she was half-losing the one she thought she had in the bag, with Traitor Kate noting, “She should have been smarter with her murders before I got here.” Kate was just recruited last week.
Nevertheless, Kate was doing her part to try and keep her ally safe, which was risky in itself. “I think you save Phaedra for the final day and you roll the dice on Sandra. Do you want to have that unsure feeling tonight at the Round Table or do you want to have it tomorrow when there’s $250,000 on the line?” Kate asked MJ and CT at one point.
By this point, though, CT was convinced and MJ was getting suspicious. Being the deciding vote in sending Peter home really rocked her perceptions of the game, and her faith in Phaedra. “The Bravo girls are loyal to each other, but you cannot look the other way and let your feelings of loyalty outside of this game get in your head.”
After John’s murder, Trishelle stood as the last of the Peter Pals — which feels appropriate to us, as she was the savviest of the bunch. “My entire group that I was working with, that were my friends in this game, every single person is gone,” she mused. “And I’m sure that’s because of Phaedra. Now I have to figure out how to convince Sheree, MJ, and Kate to vote against Phaedra.”
Luckily for her, she also had CT, her longtime friend from The Challenge, so she wasn’t truly the last. He was, though, the last man standing, which led to one of the night’s funniest lines.
“I do feel like I’m on a dating show,” he said, looking around at the six other players. “Girls, after today’s Mission, the winner gets to have a little One-on-One lunch with me.”
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Banishment, Again!
By the time the second Banishment came around, all eyes were on Phaedra. Because Sandra was seen being friendly with her, suspicions were getting raised about her, too. But could Kate sway anyone to take the chance on Sandra when so many were sure Phaedra was a sure thing?
As the vote came down, it was an absolute landslide against Phaedra, with reluctance and respect coming from most quarters. “It’s gonna kill me if you end up being a Traitor, but the signs are all there,” Sandra told her with her vote.
“I think you’ve been the best Traitor we’ve seen yet,” CT said with his, while Shereé and MJ expressed their love. It was particularly hard for Shereé because Phaedra had lied to her face, but that is the game.
Only Kate had a somewhat aggressive take, telling Phaedra. “In this game, you’re more selfish than skillful and it’s just not fun to play games with people who play that way.”
Upon her reveal at the end, Phaedra put the worries to rest. They finally got it right. She also hoped that none of them would take it personally, leaving with a smile and all of her fabulousness intact.
She said that she understood Kate’s parting aggression, but we’re not so sure it was smart. And wouldn’t you know, the woman who used her social savvy to win two seasons of Survivor seemed to pick up on it, too, immediately checking in with ate to see what that was all about.
Will the Faithful figure out Kate is the last Traitor and banish her? Can Kate go from latecomer to the show and late recruit to the Traitors to winner? The Traitors wraps it all up in its Season 2 finale, next Thursday at 9pm ET on Peacock.
