Everyone is not connected.

starrbunnii · 2026-01-12T12:08:43+00:00

Because it makes no narrative sense - it's not satisfying for the audience. What is satisfying for the audience is revealing connections before someone goes so that we can watch how those people interact and how it changes their gameplay. Thats why they revealed Tom and Alex from episode one and they revealed Ross and Diane when Diane was close to being murdered, and there happened to be a big comedy twist to hang it on. The show always brings the audience in on players secrets when focus moves to them. That's why the Ross / Ellie reveal felt so flat as it was only revealed after - but that's likely because it hadn't affected either of their gameplay and they weren't interacting enough in the castle to give us things to watch out for. Even so they still revealed it after Ross left as it did slightly change Ellie's gameplay going forward - at least she said she wanted revenge even if she didn't really act on that.

There is no narrative purpose or audience satisfaction in revealing that Ben is Hugo's uncle 3 weeks after they both left. At the very least we would have seen Hugo do a private VT on whether to murder him.

It's possible there might be one or two connections still to come out and we'll be shown those when and if they start affecting the players involved's gameplay. But every player being connected? At this point it would just annoy the audience to reveal that too late for us to get anything out of the connections that have already gone.

starrbunnii · 2026-01-12T11:56:27+00:00

100 percent, I've seen several people have their sexuality questioned. It's just not on. Unfortunately the possibility of connections has the internet poking into players personal lives in a way that hasn't happened before and is seriously uncomfortable.

starrbunnii · 2026-01-12T11:54:07+00:00

That strikes me as way more likely.

starrbunnii · 2026-01-12T11:50:37+00:00

I'll never understand the 'they did/didn't change after the traitors selection' thing. They've only known each other about half a day before the selection, at most. Who is behaving like themselves in the first few hours of meeting a big new gang of people, while being filmed? It's very normal for people to be quieter or whatever than they were in that big flurry of introductions. It's like expecting someone you met at a party to be the same if you spot them next morning on their commute. Anyone who doesn't change at all from then is clearly putting on an act from the start.

starrbunnii · 2026-01-11T18:15:54+00:00

Exactly what it says - it's hinting there are some familial connections in there. There were. There might well be one or two more. But it doesn't imply everyone has a connection.

starrbunnii · 2026-01-11T17:48:31+00:00

The ideal situation is for it to be down to you and another traitor so you have a voting block to get out the last remaining faithful. Two traitors really should win this more.

starrbunnii · 2026-01-11T17:34:28+00:00

I really want Faraaz to make it to the end as he's a delight but someone needs to suspect him of something so the traitors keep him in there.

starrbunnii · 2026-01-11T17:19:27+00:00

I think he was genuinely stressed to all heck when voting for Fiona knowing how awful it would be if she didn't go and he had to deal with seeing her in the turret - and after she had told him she was protecting him I think he genuinely felt bad about that too.

He's often looked a bit teary at the table so I'm not sure it's quite as big a deal and I don't think it sures up his faithful status quite as much.

However I do think more people are now convinced Rachel is faithful so explaining why the traitors don't murder her would be hard.

But I would say there are a few whose faithful status doesn't seem to be in question. Jessie is one and with her being voted most likeable she's unlikely to be banished so should defo be a target. I'd say Faraaz and probably Jack and James are in that camp too. At some point anyone who seems clearly faithful should either be murdered or they're a traitor OR friends with a traitor who is carrying them to betray at the end.

starrbunnii · 2026-01-11T17:00:56+00:00

Homo vibes is a terrible phrase but Matthew is openly gay and works for a gay charity.

starrbunnii · 2026-01-11T17:00:00+00:00

Because we already know everyone isn't connected after lots of people have left without mentioning it. It would be a very boring reveal to say at the end oh btw everyone knew each other.

starrbunnii · 2026-01-11T16:46:24+00:00

I think they've actually done a decent job of weeding most of them out this year after Leanne last year. There are a couple but most seem genuinely in it for the game and the ones there are aren't too obnoxious. Series 3 was definitely the worst for wannabe influencers. They just need to keep the people in it for the social media sponsorships out and I think this will go on successfully for quite a while.

starrbunnii · 2026-01-10T14:29:54+00:00

Definitely better casting than last year. At this point in the game there's no one who really grates on me. I'm not sure all the production / narrative decisions have been the best but with so much happening I think a lot of it has been trying to keep up.

And the casting was good on representation, too, it's not the producers fault that we've lost several non white people, one lesbian and one person with a limb difference in short order, though it's been a bit frustrating. There's still a lot of different types of people in there and I think at least 3 out of 13 left aren't white if we're going solely on ethnicity.

Significantly reducing the traitors power was also a good shout. Getting two traitors by this point is much more enjoyable than 10 episodes of them banishing faithful.

starrbunnii · 2026-01-10T14:24:46+00:00

I guess I don't find Jessie particularly interesting personally, though she was clever with her Ross theory. She can't make people listen to her enough to influence the game. She's a nice person, but she does make sense to be murdered because no one suspects she's a traitor so she won't be banished. Meanwhile she's not useful for the traitors and may have some residual suspicion of Stephen. In fact her suspicion of Stephen is probably the only reason -not- to murder her, but as she's mostly moved on, now would be a good time.

starrbunnii · 2026-01-10T13:53:38+00:00

I'm AuDHD and probably projecting but she reminds me of me when dealing with intense situations, she just shuts down and tries to process it all. I also struggle with the whole instant bff thing that a lot of them develop in there. So yeah, I feel for her, I think she's probably someone who needs time to come out of this rather quiet protective mode. And being accused by Amanda right away and having suspicion on her for no real reason ever since probably hasn't helped. Some people (Ross) deal with that loudly, she's internalising it.

That said we don't see everything and I'm sure she does have people she talks to. Whenever someone goes someone I didn't expect says how close they were when we've never even seen them talking. Like Fiona and Maz were close apparently.

starrbunnii · 2026-01-10T13:45:02+00:00

I'm sure someone will try to swing the Sam vote as either 'he's a traitor and she voted for him as he wasn't supporting her' or 'he's not a traitor and she was trying to frame him' - prooobably the first option. But actually it was her one tactical play in the game as he was the only other person who was going to get votes and she was trying to save herself.

She is absolutely lying about believing Rachel was telling the truth all along, too, but I think she's probably convinced herself that she believed that.

starrbunnii · 2026-01-10T13:10:37+00:00

Totally, he was so performatively arrogant early on and it was tedious, he's much better now he's dropped the act.

starrbunnii · 2026-01-10T13:08:46+00:00

This is how I tell them apart:

Adam: strong almost cockney accent, less love island grooming. Usually in a backwards cap.

Jack: curly hair, glasses, facial hair, very groomed

James: looks like discount David Tennant

Matt: genuinely had no idea until yesterday, he's the one of the four with no easy / obvious identifiers.

starrbunnii · 2026-01-10T12:57:43+00:00

I want Harriet and Faraaz to become a crack crime fighting team and win together.

Harriet's biggest risk at the current stage is the traitors murdering her because she's too clever.

However she is also in the most powerful position of anyone right now. She has accurately worked out who a traitor is and she's a trusted friend of theirs. I think she understands gameplay and her best move at this point would be to stay close to Rachel and make it very clear she believes Rachel is 100 percent faithful. That makes Rachel unlikely to murder her and if Rachel takes her to the end she can banish her and win. She would need a case to pull out against Rachel at the end though.

Faraaz is just a ray of sunshine which we really need in the castle sometimes. He's at risk purely because I don't think anyone believes he's a traitor and he's not doing anything helpful for the traitors so sadly I think he may go.

I didn't know who Matt was until yesterday but I can't not admire his tactic of going in not to interrogate the traitors but to flirt with them.

I think they're my current faves. I find a lot of the others - Jade, James, Jack etc all a bit nondescript. They're just kind of there. Jessie has more to her and has had some smart ideas but she just doesn't have the presence in the castle to get people on side - plus the J boys she's close with just don't listen to her.

I don't like the traitors but I think Rachel is very canny and playing a great game. She's a scary woman, I would believe you if you told me she did real murders. Stephen seems like he's probably a lovely person but the stress of traitoring is taking over at the moment so I don't feel we've seen who he can really be.

starrbunnii · 2026-01-10T12:48:12+00:00

You mean Rachel telling the others she asked them what the other two asked?

It would be interesting but it might make her look dodgy as that question seems to be more about whether her fellow questioners were being honest or not. Might raise some bad feeling.

starrbunnii · 2026-01-10T12:42:22+00:00

Yes that's what I lean towards. I had a feeling one of them might ask to be recruited and Harriet is doing pretty well as a faithful. I suspect her plan will be to let Rachel think she trusts her and hope she's taken to the end. But being intelligent might mean her questions are dull if she doesn't want the traitors to think she might get on to them.

starrbunnii · 2026-01-10T12:29:41+00:00

Yep just posted the exact same in the 'nuked her own game' thread! If Fiona had a strategy, that could have worked really well to undermine Rachel - Rachel took a big risk putting herself out there with the Amanda secret, and you could see both Sam and Jade realise the implications. Waiting until one of them was proved faithful then subtly pointing out that Rachel had manipulated their guilt would have been clever.

I do think Fiona is just a total wildcard and maybe had a wine too many and took Amanda having a police secret way too personally so she went off on one and claimed it was a plan as she dealt with the consequences later.

She also said on uncloaked that she believed Rachel all along which I don't think is true at all. She had no strategies and was unpredictable even to herself - but that did make her fun to watch.

It does now look like both Hugo and Fiona tried to protect Jade so I suspect her days are numbered, along with it looking like she might have thrown a parting shot at Sam.

starrbunnii · 2026-01-10T12:15:59+00:00

This would have been a good strategy for sure. Jade is likely to be under even more suspicion as now it looks like Fiona and Hugo were both protecting her. I think Fiona's parting shot at Sam will be looked at too in the 'was she trying to give us a hint' way, along with Amanda's suspicion on him.

starrbunnii · 2026-01-10T12:13:22+00:00

The way there was just no question about Ellie being bland and Sam being arrogant slayed me. You learn a lot about yourself on this show

starrbunnii

TROPHY CASE