The final episode of this season of The Traitors opens in the turret, where Kate is the final traitor, deciding who to murder. She’s considering Shereé. Murdering her, Kate reasons, would clear her own name, because people might think a Bravolebrity wouldn’t murder another Bravolebrity. She’s also considering Trishelle, because Trishelle seems more likely to be suspicious of Kate.

At breakfast the next morning, CT seems convinced that Kate is a traitor, largely because of how weirdly she acted when Phaedra went home. I can’t help but agree with her; we knew Kate calling Phaedra’s game “selfish”, as she was banished, would raise some eyebrows! Sandra agrees with CT. MJ, on the other hand, thinks Sandra is the traitor, because she’d be so good at it. Sandra would be such a good traitor, but as we know, she isn’t.

Finally, Trishelle walks into breakfast, meaning Sheree was murdered. A confessional with Sheree (before she was murdered) reveals that she was confident Kate was a traitor, so maybe this was great for Kate’s game! She can position this as further evidence that Sandra is a traitor. After all, the players saw Sandra turn on her closest ally — Phaedra — in the last episode. Who’s to say she couldn’t flip on her second closest?

For the final challenge, everyone gets into a helicopter and is dropped off on a cliff. From there, they will have to make it through the cliffside, completing detours for prize money as they go along, onto the ship in the middle of the ocean. To win, they all have to make it back onto the ship, in sixty minutes.

The challenge seems extremely grueling, and CT is really carrying everyone. The challenge ends with each player having to belay themselves down a huge cliff, which looks absolutely terrifying! Kate in particular is so scared, and it’s kind of inspiring to watch her do it anyway. CT, like always, is cheering for everyone.

It seems like they’re about to make their way to the ship, once and for all, but there’s one last detour! It involves going into a cave in water, which is personally, my biggest nightmare. CT goes (of course), accompanied by Sandra. It’s wild to watch Sandra doing this awful challenge when she’s known on Survivor for not really caring for physical challenges. But money is a big motivator!

Finally, on the ship, I have to hand it to MJ for really putting her all into it, alongside a competitor from, literally, The Challenge. The competitors successfully complete the challenge and earn $50k, bringing the total prize pot to $204k!

In the car, CT straight up asks Kate if she’s a traitor — it comes as a shock to me! Kate, to her credit, somehow manages to keep her cool and act justifiably offended. She is really not giving up, even when it seems like the majority of folks — Sandra, CT and Trishelle — are very convinced it’s her.

Back at the house, Sandra seems so confident Kate is a traitor. But then Kate tells Sandra that, actually, CT was gunning for Sandra. Obviously this isn’t true! And I can’t tell if Sandra believes her. I have to imagine that as a two-time Survivor winner, Sandra’s lie detector should be pretty strong. But Sandra seems swayed, so much so that she is telling Kate that they should work together, with MJ, to vote out CT. Perhaps Sandra wants to get CT out and then Kate, so that she splits the prize money with fewer people.

Finally, we’re at the very last roundtable of the game. Kate tries to defend how she called Phaedra’s game selfish at last night’s roundtable, and honestly, she’s selling it well. But is she selling it well enough?

Sandra is articulating the strategy that I’ve thought she was playing the whole time: She thought either Phaedra or Sheree was a traitor, so she wanted to stay close to them. She thought at least one of them was her “traitor angel”, and boy, was she right! The problem, however, is that Sandra and Phaedra were so close that folks now think Sandra must be a traitor, precisely because of that closeness.

Somehow, Sandra and CT, who seemed so aligned at the start of this episode, seem to be against each other. Trishelle, CT and Sandra’s plan falling apart is a great example of how in games like this, if you make a plan too early, there’s time for it to disintegrate. So there can be an advantage to waiting to make an actual plan, so that others (like Kate) don’t have time to break it apart. I have a feeling Trishelle is going to vote Sandra which would honestly be embarrassing.

When the votes come in, MJ, Kate, Trishelle and CT all vote for Sandra. And I have to admit, this hurts! If I’m being generous, maybe Trishelle and CT’s thinking is that they’re confident Kate is a traitor, and Sandra might be. So there’s really no reason to NOT vote Sandra out right now, because they can vote Kate out after and split the money with fewer people. At this point, they all must know Kate is the traitor, right? I have to hand it to Kate — apparently she has sewn enough chaos to last another day.

At this point in the episode, I have this weird sinking feeling that MJ, Trishelle, and CT are gonna vote Kate out. And then Trishelle and CT will be like well, why not vote out MJ too? Then we get more money. And poor MJ will complete her arc as the pawn that tried so hard to be more in this game.

At the Fire of Truth (lol), a.k.a. the final opportunity in the game to banish a traitor, each of the four people will choose whether to banish again or end the game. Kate honestly should vote banish again because all the others certainly will, because they literally know a traitor is still there. If she votes to end the game now, doesn’t that literally prove she’s a traitor?

Well, Kate does vote to end the game! Trishelle votes to banish again, as does CT, as does MJ. Kate votes Trishelle, and MJ, CT and Trishelle all vote Kate. Kate goes home. In the briefest of moments, CT winks at Trishelle and I just know it, they’re gonna get MJ out, too. They’re from The Challenge, after all, a show known for ruthlessness. In The Challenge, usually, the first two people to finish win. In The Traitors, the lowest number of people that could win is two. To win the most money, you want to be at the end with just one person. You want two. Not three. Two.

CT’s face keeps oscillating between sad and pleased with himself, and that’s how I know he’s getting rid of MJ. Trishelle chooses to banish again, and so does CT. Poor MJ looks like a little kid whose parents just left her on the side of the street in the middle of nowhere. MJ’s arc feels tragic because somehow, no one in this game gave her the loyalty she so freely granted them.

It’s painful to watch MJ torture herself over a vote that doesn’t matter. She whimpers, “I don’t know what I did,” and it feels bad.

CT votes for MJ. MJ votes for Trishelle. And somehow, Trishelle votes for CT. I’m sorry, I have no idea why she did that. What is the strategy there? Trishelle has been somewhat baffling to watch this whole time, and this feels no different.

So now they all have to vote again, but this time they plead their cases, which is just hard to watch.

I have to imagine Trishelle will now switch her vote to MJ. It seems so clear that this moment is about CT trying to convince Trishelle to side with him. Trishelle brings up the sacrifice where he picked John over her, and it’s clear she is still hurt from that. CT now has tears in his eyes and I just have a feeling that deep down, he knows MJ is a faithful. He just wants the most money.

CT votes for MJ again. MJ votes for Trishelle again. And Trishelle votes for MJ. The cynical side of me that remembers how quickly and ferociously Trishelle turned on Peppermint wonders if Trishelle only voted for CT, at first, because she wanted CT to prostrate himself on the floor for her. Perhaps Trishelle needed to tell herself she thought he was a traitor, to justify voting for him, but really, she just wanted him to reassure her one last time. Poor MJ was caught in the crosshairs. CT and Trishelle played strong, strategic games, but this win doesn’t feel good.

This was a very weird ending to the season, in my opinion! What did you think?

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!