The Traitors: New Blood Recap: The Fruit Toss of Doom

The Traitors New Blood
A Murder of Necessity
Season 1 Episode 6
Editor’s Rating ★★★★
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If you’re wondering why The Traitors: New Blood seems much more rushed than a typical American Traitors season, it’s because it is! We are losing 18-28 minutes per week due to the shift from Peacock to NBC, and I am grumpy about it. This is why I don’t feel like I understand the ties between the players and why the annoying ones take up so much space! Did it take my sister-in-law mentioning this for me to realize it? Yes. I’m the youngest child; I just go along with things.

That being said, I did like this week’s episode the most so far, even though the challenge was rushed. We got more conversations between players, and the Traitors are in danger for the first time. But let’s pick up where we left off last week: who did the Traitors murder in plain sight through fruit tossing? Will it be Joe, Clyde, Niyyah, or Mark? 

NIYYAH. It’s Niyyah. I was faked out and definitely thought it was going to be Clyde. Before her murder is announced by Alan, Joe, who is next to Niyyah in the coffins, tells her he loves her and is sorry, but he had to sacrifice a Faithful. Niyyah cries. They light her tombstone on FIRE. This show understands the human need for drama, and that’s why it keeps winning Emmys. Niyyah tells the camera that she never would have done that to someone. What! Niyyah! It’s the whole point of the game that you presumably spent a lot of time interviewing for after applying to be on it. But I’m sure being selected for murder while you’re lying in a coffin is not the most fun experience.

I want to talk about something related to Niyyah’s murder, and that is that, in the year 2026 and on Alan Cumming’s show, the influencer contestants continue to murder/vote out all the Black people? What the actual fuck is going on here? (Racism.) We’ve had eight murder/banishments and four have been Black players. There were seven Black players total, so three left, and one is a Traitor, so she will not be murdered. Twenty-two players. The Black contestants represent 32 percent of the cast, and they have been 50 percent of those kicked off. I JUST DON’T LIKE IT. Meanwhile, Victor is somehow still here?

Victor is excitedly giggling to himself because he’s Victor, and that’s a very Victor thing to do. He tells Morgan and Mark about his fruit theory and how he thinks that Tomica is a Traitor. I know this was really well-spotted of him, and it’s impressive that he has identified both Tomica and Joe as sus, but I also do not like him, and I want him voted off. I want Tomica and Joe to win. Katie said her coat is chinchilla, so she is now dead to me (have you SEEN a chinchilla?). Anyway, Mark and Morgan seem dubious of the fruit theory. Great. Never believe Victor. Meanwhile, Katie’s out here trying to get people to vote for Michael at the roundtable in order to thwart Victor’s plans to get Tomica out. Abby L. is very sure it’s Wyatt, but she is once again very wrong.

Before the roundtable, though, we have the mission. The players will be split into two groups. One group goes to the “castle laboratory” and finds heads of former players in jars. They power up the player’s head, hear their final words/screams, and lower the heads to the other group outside while telling them what sounds the head made. The second group then needs to run to the graveyard and match the head with the scream issuing from the grave. I don’t know why this mission sounded excessively complicated to me. 

Morgan tells us they picked Maura’s head first because “I think she’s really pretty.” Touché. That comment was fine, of course, but then Victor is insistent that he gets to carry the head because it’s Maura. Hey, did you know that Victor likes girls? We do get to hear Maura say “Trai’or” again, which is nice. The other heads are Bob the Drag Queen, Phaedra, and Boston Rob. The players win the entire $20,000, and Kriste is falsely optimistic that they can finally get a Traitor. 

During pre-roundtable chatting time, Ben and Clyde are very “we HAVE to get a Traitor tonight.” Yeah, guys. Just like every roundtable. That’s the whole point. Is it ever like, “I dunno, let’s not really try this time”? I mean, I don’t know what goes on off-camera, so it could happen, but based on the crying every time, it seems like no. It’s giving “Okay, but for me, it’s really important that we get a Traitor out.” Which reminds me that a friend’s friend once said about the Titanic, “For me, the saddest part was all the people dying.” This happened in like 2012, and I still bring it up. 

At the roundtable, we hear Shane speak! He asks if anyone witnessed anything suspicious during the murder in plain sight. Victor obviously raises his hand and starts going off about fruit. Tomica counters his accusation by saying she was getting an apple from the fridge and asked if anyone wanted any fruit. Joe exclaims that there are no apples in the fridge like he’s making some triumphant point in a courtroom. No one is into the fruit theory, which is hilarious since it’s 100 percent correct. But Victor sucks, so here we are. 

Abby L. throws out Wyatt’s name, and Katie throws out Michael’s. People really grab onto the Michael thing, possibly because Katie was talking this idea up during pre-roundtable chatting time. Ben and Clyde both say they think it could be Michael. Michael makes a really heartbreaking point about never seeming nervous because of how much he was bullied as a gay kid, aghhhh, let’s please go back to shots of Alan’s ridiculous outfits. 

The votes go: Michael (Victor), Ben (Michael), Joe (Wyatt), Wyatt (Michael), Jay (Victor), Abby L (Wyatt), Morgan (Michael), Shane (Michael), Kriste (Wyatt), Mark (Michael), Tomica (Victor), Katie (Michael), Victor (Tomica), Abbey B (Michael), and then she makes some squeaky sounds while trying to talk because she’s so sad about voting for him, Clyde (Michael). 

Michael tells them all that he’ll see them in court, because he’s a Faithful. Everyone but Victor is crushed. Victor is just like “hehehe.” He’s very sure that it’s Tomica and Joe, which again, is so surprisingly correct, but I don’t want anyone to believe him. He thinks he’s going to get murdered, and Tomica wants to kill him during Traitor discussion in the turret, but look. You and I know there’s no way they’re going to murder Victor after he kept throwing out Tomica and Joe’s names. I could see them killing Jay, since he voted for Victor and that would throw suspicion on Victor. It would also please me, for lo, Jay also sucks. We will find out next week! 

You Have My Vote

Who would I vote for on Traitors? It’s hard to judge what one would do without having the insider knowledge, because who knows the full context of what’s happening in that castle, but based on what’s presented, here are my picks:

No Insider Knowledge: I am easily swayed and would definitely have gone with the group and voted for Michael this week. He would have been a great Traitor.

Yes Insider Knowledge: VICTOR, still Victor.