The Traitors Ireland: A tear-filled end to Sunday night

It was stomachs on the floor with the heaviest roundtable of the series so far. If you still need a moment, you're not the only one.

Here's how things played out during Sunday's episode.

***Warning: Spoilers for The Traitors Ireland episode seven below***

Carla gets her man

Sunday's show started with some diabolically good fun as sole-surviving Traitor Carla had to blackmail a Faithful to join her. And all the smart money that was on Pete - guilty as charged! - wasn't smart at all when Carla made her move...

"I picked Pauric O because I need to blackmail somebody that's strong, somebody that won't turn their back on me, and someone that I think can definitely get all the way to the final," explained Carla with that cheeky grin.

Decision made, Carla was beaming as she offered Pauric O the choice to go bad or go home - and a lad who had looked like he was about to take out a patent on righteousness at any moment was only too delighted to stay on in Slane Castle! "Sign me up, kid!" Pauric O said with a smile that eclipsed Carla's. "I have never been so happy in my life to be blackmailed!"

Bonhomie over, it was down to business, and a hit list of Ian, Sam, or Anna for murder.

"Do you wanna write a letter?" asked Carla. "I've written enough!"

Bromance devastation the morning after

As the Faithfuls and the bun-wearing tag team of Carla and Pauric O arrived for breakfast, it was heart-in-mouth time waiting to see if Anna, Ian, or Sam had been murdered overnight.

Ian arrived in the door. Then Anna - and it was so long to Sam, The Mission Master, who described himself as "gutted and disgusted". Just like the rest of us at home.

Stoic Pete did not take Sam's exit well. At all. In a primer for what was to come, he broke down.

"It was very upsetting," Pete said in his interview, still choked up with the speed of it all. "He was a good guy... Sam's the name of my son. I said, 'Sam's my adopted son in here'."

The feeling of impending doom was the Glenroe theme tune x 10.

Saints and Sinners

The great Groucho Marx quote "Those are my principles, and if you don't like them, well... I have others" came to mind during Sunday's mission.

Anna, Carla, DJ, Diego, and Donal were The Saints, and David, Ian, Janet, Kayleigh, Pauric O, Pete, and Seán C were the Sinners.

The mission itself felt a bit like Honours Maths come 10pm Sunday night with a Monday morning looming. Suffice it to say, the challenge involved the Sinners matching each other to their deadly sins - secretly chosen by button-pushing Traitor Pauric O - in a bid to win money for the prize pot.

The Saints, meanwhile, were treated to afternoon tea. With a catch.

"I think we're going to be offered a shield or cash," said Anna with eerie prescience.

The group resolved to stick together and take the money.

Or so it seemed...

Host Siobhán McSweeney then invited them all into the chapel individually and made them an offer. They could, if they fancied, spend €200 of the prize money on the QT and sleep soundly with a shield that night.

Anna said no as Siobhán chided her "boringly noble" stance.

Then Donal declined.

Then Carla declined.

Then DJ declined.

And so, it was down to Diego to complete a clear-conscience clean sweep.

"I think I'm gonna not take the shield..." he told Siobhán before delivering one of the best laughs in Traitors history.

"Ah, f*** it, I will take the shield!"

His comic timing was superb. "I knew I liked you!" whispered Siobhán.

The Sinners had made €2,000 during the mission before Diego's change of heart, so the prize pot ended up with €1,800.

Then came Shieldgate, the investigation to find out who had broken ranks, with all eyes on Diego.

That "massive drama" was soon put in the ha'penny place, mind, when the roundtable began...

Another good guy goes

Having drawn loads of heat in episode six after asking about a shield, it was all eyes on David once again, while fellow Faithful Janet's name was also tossed about because she didn't seem upset enough about Sam leaving.

Janet had a frank exchange of views with inquisitor Pete, explaining that she "came in this morning not feeling 100% myself" and warning him: "If I stand up there and say, 'I'm a Faithful', you're going to look like a horrible person."

Go, Janet!

Having softened Pete's cough in fringe-furious style, Janet seemed safe. Attention then turned to David, who toiled in vain to persuade his fellow Faithfuls that he was on their side.

And when he accidentally said "two other Traitors", well, there was absolutely no way back.

Kayleigh was in bits; Oscar-hunting Traitor Carla described it as "the s****est roundtable ever", and with the final vote Anna concluded: "I really, really hope more than anything that we are all right and you haven't been set up, because I don't think any of us would be able to take that. So please, be a Traitor."

All the Faithfuls voted for David, and Traitors Carla and Pauric O too.

Ever gracious, 'Big Dave' left the room a bigger man than when he sat down.

"I just want to say to everybody here, this has been the best thing I've ever done - apart from my husband and my kids!" he smiled. "Who I'm dying to see. I've had enough of this big, dysfunctional family. I want to get back to my real one."

"Just remember to keep your eyes open," David cautioned. "Because you haven't caught a Traitor - I'm a Faithful."

Cue devastation.

"You've banished a very good Faithful," said Siobhán. "Exactly what The Traitors wanted. I wonder who will bear the brunt of this collective decision?"

The game moves on

As Shieldgate rumbled on post-banishment - and Diego fronted it out - one name was coming into focus for the next roundtable.

"I think there's still an OG Traitor in there..." Seán C told Ian. "I think Aoife was the recruit."

"I'm thinking Carla," he continued, firming up Ian's theory that Aoife had been sending a message about Carla during her banishment in episode six.

As the clock struck 12, Seán C hugged Ian, who said: "Pay attention to Carla."

"Yeah, one of us has to take her out," replied Seán C.

"She's playing the game," said Ian.

"Intuitions on this one - f*** logic!" Seán C agreed by way of mic drop.

But will only one of them survive to fight the good fight?

'This game's called The Traitors, not The Faithfuls'

The night ended with "a twist for The Traitors": they will murder their next victim face-to-face.

"By murdering this person, we're hoping that it takes the eye completely off of me and Pauric because we're quite friendly," shared Carla as she warmed to the mayhem.

"They're probably one of the closest people I have in the castle. We get on really, really well," teased Pauric O.

"But this game's called The Traitors, not The Faithfuls."

"I think carnage is going to ensue - and I hope it does!" he laughed.

What an episode - and five more nights of this to go...

Speaking to RTÉ's Róisín Cullen recently, psychotherapist Dr Richard Hogan said that even viewers at home can forget that The Traitors is "all a bit of fun".

That was certainly the case going to bed on Sunday night.

The Traitors Ireland airs on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays.