Seventh Traitors contestant to be banished says winning shield led to downfall

The latest contestant to be banished from The Traitors said he thinks winning a shield in Thursday’s challenge “led to my downfall”.

Sam, 34, was banished on the latest instalment of the BBC reality show, as his fellow contestants believed him to be the murderer in their midst after his suspicious behaviour during the day’s task.

The account manager has said he got “overwhelmed” and “frustrated” from the challenge the day before, and says he thinks his actions “looked weird” to the other players, leading to his departure from the show.

Sam was deemed suspicious during the day’s challenge, after he went for the only shield available to grant him protection from that night’s kill.

During his exit interview, he said: “That definitely led to my downfall, and I really thought going into that game that I could just handle everything and stay composed.

“I remember at that time being overwhelmed and still being frustrated by the previous challenge where we as a team sacrificed shields to build up the prize pot and the others didn’t.”

On Wednesday, seven players took shields during the challenge and did not disclose this to their teammates – causing the prize pot to plummet, and suspicions to grow.

Sam said: “I thought, ‘well, everyone’s prioritised themselves there so I need to prioritise myself now’ but I wish I could have just had a word with myself in that cabin in the woods and just took a minute to breathe.

“I hadn’t had protection yet and I just wanted to protect myself, but I know for everyone else that it did look weird.”

He went on to say he knew his time was up in the castle, and said: “There’s only so long you can fight for, and I think I swerved it a few times.

“I’m so happy I did it and I’m so happy I stayed in as long as I did, but I think it was my time to leave.”

The episode also saw builder Adam become the traitors’ latest murder victim.

Following his departure, the 34-year-old said: “I feel like I was done at that particular time.”

He added: “It was so exhausting trying to understand and read people and every little movement.”

Adam said he blamed fellow faithful James for his murder, after he revealed he took a shield in Wednesday’s challenge without telling the other contestants.

He said: “That’s 100% the reason why I got murdered. I knew it was James, he didn’t even have to tell me.

“I had the hump with him most of that day which probably made it very obvious that I didn’t have the shield.”

He went on to say his time on the show was “fantastic”, adding: “It was a great experience, and I loved every minute of it.”

The Traitors continues on BBC One and iPlayer on Friday at 8pm.