Can Joanne McNally and the faithfuls turn things around as Celebrity Traitors heads for its finale?

LAST UPDATE | 29 Oct

THE CELEBRITY TRAITORS returns for its penultimate episode tonight, with Joanne McNally still in contention and the faithfuls in considerable need of a breakthrough.

Finding the traitors is proving difficult. Naming all three of them as the most trustworthy people in the castle, however, has gone remarkably well.

With the final airing on Friday, the remaining contestants little to no time left to work out where they have gone wrong.

Spoilers below for last week’s episodes.

Presenter Maya Jama, comedian James Acaster and YouTuber King Kenny head into the final week with an endorsement that could hardly have been more helpful.

During last Friday’s scarecrow-themed mission, the group selected the three traitors as their most trusted players, giving them control of a special power.

The reward was a dagger allowing its holder to cast two votes at the roundtable. They gave it to Kenny.

Kenny and singer Leigh-Anne pictured at breakfast in Friday's episode. BBC / Euan Cherry

For a group trying to identify the people secretly eliminating them, it was a fairly comprehensive own goal.

Jama appeared to recognise just how well things were going, asking: “Oh my gosh, have we completed this game already?”

Not quite. But the trio have good reason to feel confident.

Last week saw actor Ross Kemp and comedian Miranda Hart murdered, while model Jerry Hall was banished despite being a faithful. The remaining players then turned their attention towards two more faithfuls: McNally and actress Sharon Rooney, best known for her roles in television show My Mad Fat Diary and the Barbie movie.

The comedian, the only Irish contestant in this year’s line-up, has reached the final week, but her survival now rests with one of the people she is supposed to be catching.

Friday’s roundtable ended in a tie between McNally and Rooney. A second vote left Kenny holding the deciding double vote, before the credits arrived without revealing his choice.

Joanne McNally could be voted off tonight. BBC

Whichever woman leaves tonight, the faithfuls will have lost another of their own.

McNally’s difficult week included a clash with Hart over a theory involving movement on a floorboard during a blindfolded challenge. Hart suspected McNally; McNally, knowing she had not moved, became suspicious of Hart.

Neither was a traitor. Their disagreement nevertheless gave the real ones something useful to watch.

So, is a traitor victory inevitable?

According to the bookies, yes.

The trust placed in Jama, Acaster and Kenny makes them look well positioned. Once the pending banishment is resolved, three traitors and six faithfuls will remain, before any further overnight elimination.

Maya Jame, James Acaster and King Kenny pictured during Friday's episode. BBC

But being trusted also brings influence, and Kenny’s dagger has put his decision firmly in the spotlight. Whoever he chooses will leave and reveal that she was a faithful.

Whether that prompts anyone to reconsider their confidence in him is another question, given that everybody seems to like him.

The traitors also have to negotiate the endgame themselves. Getting close to the prize together does not guarantee they will remain loyal to one another, and three traitors have yet to win in an English-speaking version of the show.

A three-way traitor victory would not be unprecedented internationally though: Strictly judge Motsi Mabuse and fellow Traitors Mirja du Mont and Charlotte Würdig shared the prize in Germany’s celebrity edition last year.

For the faithfuls, the immediate challenge is simpler: look beyond the people already attracting suspicion and reconsider those who seem safely above it (there were some short conversations about Maya and James in Friday’s episode, but they’ll need to dig a bit deeper).

Other remaining players include Michael Sheen, James Blunt, Romesh Ranganathan, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Sebastian Croft. They still have an opportunity to change the direction of the game, provided their next breakthrough is rather better than identifying the entire traitor team as trustworthy.

The series began with 21 celebrities at Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands, competing for up to £100,000 for charity.

The Celebrity Traitors continues on BBC One at 8pm tonight, with the final airing at 8pm tomorrow, Friday 30 October.

Additional reporting from PA