Explosive bust-ups, secret relationships and extreme reactions: The Traitors’ best moments

Spoiler warning: This contains juicy details of series four of The Traitors UK

This series of The Traitors has featured some of the most explosive scenes the show has ever seen: dramatic twists, Oscar-ready reactions and plenty of skilful skullduggery.

Following the climax of series four on Friday, have a look back at some of the most memorable moments this year.

The big twist at the start of this series was the addition of a red cloak alongside the traitors’ usual green. The red hood was worn by the secret traitor, whose identity was initially unknown to both the viewers and the other traitors.

Producers wanted to put viewers in the faithfuls’ shoes and see if they could spot a traitor – and the viewers were, on the whole, just as clueless as the faithful normally are.

The secret traitor’s identity was revealed after just four episodes. When traitor Hugo was banished, the secret traitor took his place in the turret – and when they pulled back their red hood, it was Fiona underneath.

In the end, the whole ruse felt like a bit of an anticlimax, but it did at least add extra spice to the start of the series.

Fiona admitted she was “drunk on power”, and her uncloaking set off a chain of events that unleashed havoc.

Fiona – sweet, bubbly, harmless Fiona – turned out to be one of the biggest chaos-mongers the show has ever seen. Shortly after she joined her fellow traitors in the turret, she was declaring war on one of them.

When Rachel decided to reveal to the group that banished faithful Amanda had confided in her she was a former detective, Fiona took umbrage at Rachel’s tactics, accused her of lying, and attempted to out her as a traitor.

The traitors’ next turret summit was deliciously awkward, as Rachel and Fiona gave each other evil looks for what felt like five minutes as Stephen watched on, agog.

“Are we going to discuss?” he ventured nervously.

“I didn’t start it,” retorted a livid Rachel.

Fiona’s high-risk strategy backfired spectacularly, and the cast ended up siding with Rachel.

After being banished, Fiona admitted she didn’t think Rachel had been lying about Amanda after all, and called herself a “plonker”.

Harriet didn’t mince her words when she won the opportunity to speak directly to the traitors, who were hidden away in the church confessional.

“If my voice is shaking it is not through nerves, it’s through anger that you have taken me for such a fool,” she said.

“I think we all know that the gig is up for Rachel,” she went on, revealing she’d rumbled one of the traitors.

“I bet you wish you’d killed me when you had the chance,” the former barrister said before turning on her heel, one of her trademark scarves slung over her shoulder.

“She’s scaring the life out of me,” whispered Rachel in the confessional booth.

The following morning, Harriet commanded the breakfast room with similarly high drama.

“I was not going to allow a day of any further machinating and web-weaving around me because I’ve had enough,” she declared, before telling Rachel in front of everyone: “I’m onto you.”

“Where has this come from?” Rachel asked innocently.

“The benefit is to set the cat among the pigeons,” Harriet boomed in conclusion, leaving the rest of the diners speechless.

But, as with Fiona, the faithful perhaps felt the theatrics were too over the top, took Rachel’s side, and dumped Harriet.

Celebrity Traitor Alan Carr’s giggling may have felt like a potential giveaway, but Stephen’s poker-face struggles have been even more amusing to watch.

Fans have been delighting in his expressive range, with his wide eyes, blushing cheeks and gaping jaw regularly stealing the show, and memes spreading across social media in tribute.

Stephen jumped out of his skin when a ghoulish hand shot out of a grave during one of the missions – much to Claudia’s delight. And when Roxy asked him directly if he was a traitor, his awkward laugh (followed by: “All I can say is I’m not a traitor”) had strong echoes of Carr’s nervous bluffs in The Celebrity Traitors.

Stephen’s reactions may not have aroused suspicion, but Hugo’s did.

At the start of episode three, the contestants discovered Ben had been murdered.

In a desperate attempt to cover his tracks, traitor Hugo hammed up the amateur dramatics over breakfast when he called for the group’s attention and asked the others to “take a moment” for “that senior gentleman”.

With a disgusted shake of his head, he added: “Whoever has done that is beyond mean.”

The faithful felt Hugo doth protest too much, and voted him out at the next opportunity, making the barrister their first traitor scalp.

There was more than one secret connection between the contestants this time.

Roxy told viewers (but not the rest of the cast) in the first episode: “Judy seems lovely, but I’m bound to say that… considering she’s my mum.”

She did let slip the relationship when she shouted “stop, Mum!” while the group was frantically paddling a canoe in the first mission – but no-one picked up on it.

Meanwhile, Ross seemingly introduced himself to Ellie on the train on the way to the castle, telling her: “I live and work in London, what about yourself?” They both appeared amazed by the coincidence when she replied: “Yeah, I also live in London!”

But upon being banished in episode nine, Ellie revealed to her fellow contestants that she and Ross were in a relationship, to shocked looks all round.

“No game chat, just Ellie and Ross chat! Gossip! Ooh!” James said gleefully as the surviving players settled down for the dinner party that followed.

Those weren’t the only connections, though. It turned out Ross and Netty also knew each other through a mutual friend but hadn’t seen each other for 10 years – though that link wasn’t planned by producers.

While the traitors murder most nights, they do sometimes also have the option to recruit.

During one episode, hitherto faithful Northern Irishman Matt was given the chance to speak to traitors Stephen and Rachel, who were hidden in a confession booth.

But instead of trying to find out who the traitors were, Matt shocked viewers by laying his cards on the table.

“I’m taking a massive risk here,” he told them through a wall. “I want to know that there is some trust.”

Attempting to make a deal with the devil, Matt implored the traitors to murder his fellow faithful, Jessie, and then recruit him to the dark side.

“So my question is, do we have a deal?”

Rachel and Stephen said yes but, ultimately, never recruited another traitor…

There was a twist on the idea of murdering in plain sight when the traitors were asked to draw up a nine-strong shortlist for murder by putting red-ink fingerprints next to cast members’ pictures on a “family tree”.

Rachel and Stephen huddled around the illustration in the castle foyer with faithful Reece, under the pretence of translating its Latin inscription, before the two traitors asked Reece to make himself scarce.

Remarkably, this didn’t make Reece suspicious, even when the group later discovered the “bloody” fingerprints on the picture.

Jessie saying “night night” and giving a salute to an empty suit of armour on her way out of the castle one evening was perhaps the epitome of her brilliant eccentricity.

She was also one of the best faithfuls, continually and correctly on Stephen’s trail, only to be mostly ignored by the rest.

She was still enough of a threat for Stephen to pull the metaphorical trigger… but underestimated enough for her murder not to point back to him.

Could this be the most indecisive bunch of faithfuls in Traitors history? To fail to come to a consensus at one round table is unfortunate. But to reach a deadlock twice – some might call that criminal.

The first time the chests of chance were wheeled out to settle a banishment vote was back in episode five, when contestants couldn’t decide whether to evict Reece or Amanda. Lady Luck decided Amanda’s time was up.

The second impasse came at a much more dangerous time. With just one episode to go, Rachel was finally in the firing line, alongside James, despite strenuous efforts that led him to collapse and vomit during that day’s mission.

Viewers were left in the dark over which of the two had selected the chest containing the shield that would allow them to stay in the game.

Ultimately, fortune fell on the side of Rachel, while James was sent packing.

Claudia described Rachel and Stephen as “totally faithful to each other” and “like Bonnie and Clyde” when discussing their win on Uncloaked.

Nothing cemented their bond more than the closing shot of the finale, when the winning pair shouted “we are the traitors” after netting the prize together.

They worked together until the end, plotting together to vote out Jade, Faraaz and then Jack to secure the win as a pair at the end game.

Their commitment to each other was one of the most heartwarming parts of the show and despite watching them plot, banish and murder for the last three weeks, the fact they kept their promise to never write each other’s names on their tablets at the round table or stab each other in the back was commendable.

They become the first winners of the UK version of the show to win as a pair of traitors, which is even more impressive when you remember that they were chosen as traitors on day one.