‘The Traitors’ season 2 episode 5 recap: Phaedra confronts Parvati over ‘Housewives’ accusations [LIVE BLOG]

At the end of the fourth episode of “The Traitors,” Phaedra Parks confronted fellow traitor Parvati Shallow in the turret, addressing the fact that Parvati had just thrown the housewives under the bus at the latest banishment. With Phaedra and Parvati at odds and Dan Gheesling playing the middle, who will the traitors murder next and will the larger group banish another faithful or finally catch Dan, Parvati or Dan in the act?

Below, read our minute-by-minute “The Traitors” Season 2, Episode 5 recap/live blog of “A Killer Move” to find out what happened Thursday, January 25, 2024. Then be sure to sound off in the comments section about your favorite contestants on Peacock’s reality TV show, who annoys you the most and who you think will ultimately take home a cash prize of up to $250,000.

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Here are the cast members still in the game at the start of Episode 5:

Traitors:
Dan Gheesling (“Big Brother”)
Parvati Shallow (“Survivor”)
Phaedra Parks (“The Real Housewives of Atlanta”)

Faithfuls:
Carsten “Bergie” Bergersen (“Love Island USA”)
Chris “C.T.” Tamburello (“The Challenge”)
Janelle Pierzina (“Big Brother”)
John Bercow (UK Parliament)
Kevin Kreider (“Bling Empire”)
Mercedes “MJ” Javid (“Shahs of Sunset”)
Peter Weber (“The Bachelor”)
Sandra Diaz-Twine (“Survivor”)
Shereé Whitfield (“The Real Housewives of Atlanta”)
Tamra Judge (“The Real Housewives of Orange County”)
Trishelle Cannatella (“The Real World: Las Vegas”)

SEE‘Survivor’ deaths: Full list of castaways we’ve lost

Keep refreshing/reloading this “The Traitors” live blog for the most recent updates.

’00: “Previously on ‘The Traitors’!” With the blood of two mishandled banishments on his hands, Deontay Wilder quietly decided to exit the game. Meanwhile, Alan Cummings prepared the group for a funeral march that led to the death of Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu, who had been secretly poisoned by Parvati the previous night. Then, at the next Round Table, Parvati capitalized on a movement by Sandra Diaz-Twine to find blame in Larsa Pippen‘s game, sending yet another faithful out of the castle. So who will be leaving the game next? Let’s go!

’02: Picking up where we left off in the turret, Parvati got her chance to reply to Phaedra’s accusation that she was shining a light on her game by throwing the housewives under the bus in front of everyone. Parvati tried to explain that it was her strategy to “get Larsa out” and that she wasn’t sure if Phaedra’s reaction was real or acting. Phaedra was clear that it “pissed [her] off” and that she is “not an actress.” Parvati told Phaedra that she is “not throwing your name around” and “not trying to sabotage you in any way” before offering a blanket apology that Phaedra accepted. All Dan could think was that the tension between Parvati and Phaedra is something he can use to his advantage. When they got around to making their murderous decision, Parvati said that it would be best to let Phaedra make this decision since she had already took the reins with the poisoning of Ekin-Su. Phaedra considered both Sandra and Tamra as her main options to cause the most confusion.

’04: At the next morning’s breakfast, C.T. and Janelle were the first to arrive. In their alone time, C.T. said that he’s still focused on the housewives, but Janelle countered that she doesn’t think there’s “a strategy behind their voting at all.” Next to enter was Peter and John, with Peter telling this small group that he’s confident there’s at least one guy among the traitors and that it isn’t one of them three, leaving only Dan, Kevin and Bergie as options. He said his main suspicion among the guys is Dan. Next in was Kevin, then Bergie and Parvati, then Shereé and Dan, followed by MJ and Trishelle. Sandra, Tamra and Phaedra were the last three. When the door finally opened, Sandra and Phaedra entered, signaling that it was Tamra who had been murdered.

’09: In a flashback, we saw Phaedra make the decision to murder one of her “housewives sisters” because it would cause the most confusion and no one would suspect that given her loyalty she would ever murder another housewife. Separately, when Tamra received the letter that she was murdered, she tearfully hoped that it wasn’t Shereé or Phaedra who had done the deed.

’10: Back in the breakfast room, the group analyzed the decision to murder Tamra with the conclusion that it was done just to sow confusion because there was no other reason to do it. When Alan arrived, he teased that a “treat” would be arriving at the castle later, promising to “turn this game upside down.” In the meantime, he asked that they meet him outside for the start of their next mission. At the table, C.T. asked Dan for an opinion on the state of the game, but Dan tip-toed around the question once again. John, Peter and Janelle all put their heads together to whisper that they believe Dan must be a traitor because he refuses to show his cards whatsoever. In a confessional, Peter said that Dan is “laying super low,” which is exactly how he would have played as a traitor. He also suspects C.T. and Parvati may be traitors.

’13: After breakfast, Kevin told C.T. that he’s prepared to put Janelle “on the banishing table” in the next cycle because she keeps avoiding having her name in the mix. With Dan in the room, too, he adds that Janelle helped spearhead the move against Larsa as well and that it’s “worth exploring” to put Janelle on the spot. In another room, Janelle told Trishelle and Bergie that Dan is “so obvious” as someone they should go after because he refuses to say a name to anyone else. Later, in a private conversation outside, Dan attempts to get in good with Janelle and John by telling him that he’s “getting one piece” closer to figuring the game out.

’15: For their next mission, worth a possible $15,000 in the prize pot, Alan had them divide themselves into two groups, one that would play inside and another that would play outside. He added that only the group playing outside will have the opportunity to win a shield from the next murder. In the decision of who would play outside, arguments were made for the players that think they deserve to compete for a shield. Eventually Dan and C.T. stepped back to volunteer to play inside and the group was able to split in two. Inside with Dan and C.T. would be Sandra, MJ, Parvati, and Phaedra and outside would be Peter, Janelle, Trishelle, Bergie, Kevin and Shereé. Among the groups playing outside, they had to divide into three groups of pairs so that they could spread across the castle grounds in order to find bird calls to communicate to the group inside the castle for correct identification of stuffed bird statues around the castle. Among the bird stations outside would be a single “Shield Bird” that one pair could earn for safety.

’19: With only 20 minutes on the clock, all three pairs started on their hunt with thoughts of making their way to the shield as quickly as possible. But first, Trishelle and Bergie were able to successfully communicate the first bird call to the house and earn $2500. Next, they were the first to find the “Shield Bird” and successfully claimed the shield for themselves by communicating the call to the players inside. By the end of the 20 minutes, Janelle and Peter earned $2500 more while Kevin and Shereé correctly communicated calls twice to earn $5000, totaling $10,000 for the pot overall.

’27: As the larger group assembled in the castle for the final results, Peter and Janelle whispered to the other outside players a plan to not reveal any information about who won the shield. This was devised by Peter in order to keep the information about where the shield is to their group, hoping that the traitors would incorrectly target a shielded player and miss on a kill overnight. They stuck to this “tactical decision” when Alan asked and though Dan realized what the group must be doing, he saw it as an opportunity to magnify Janelle’s selfishness and use it to his advantage.

’30: Fully trusting Trishelle and Bergie, Peter wanted to set a trap by lying to his suspects (C.T., Dan and Parvati) that he and Janelle won the shields. With this and the anticipation that the next target is Bergie, who is shielded, he could be able to solidify that one of those three is a traitor if the kill is blocked.

’31: Meanwhile, Kevin was still set on targeting Janelle at the next banishment, even saying to her directly that he’s hesitant to follow her way of thinking toward Dan this time because following Janelle in the past has resulted in faithfuls being banished. Shereé and MJ left that conversation to pull Sandra and Dan aside to let Dan know that Janelle is “gunning for Dan hard” because he never gives an opinion. Dan responded by saying that Janelle is throwing him under the bus “for no reason” and it’s “Larsa all over again.” Parvati was surprised when Dan disclosed to her that Janelle is coming for him and so they knew that they’d need to take Janelle out next.

’34: Prior to the start of the next Round Table, Kate Chastain from “Below Deck” and “The Traitors” season 1 entered the castle and learned via letter that she’d be joining the game as a faithful with a personal plan to “f*ck up some sh*t.”

’36: Alan signaled to the original group that they’d be a joined by a new player by bringing in a new chair and setting it at the Round Table and declaring that “a tsunami” is headed their way. Enter: Kate. With the cautionary statement that Kate is now part of the game and “could be a faithful or a traitor,” Kate took her seat and officially joined the group for their next banishment.

’39: Kevin was the first to speak up, asking for space to “state [his] case without being interrupted.” He wanted everyone to listen to him to why he was putting Janelle’s name on the table as a traitor, pointing out her pattern of throwing out names and them getting banished, and even when heat falls on her the next morning, Janelle somehow is off the table by the end of the day. Janelle countered by admitting to her wrongs. Bergie backed her up by saying that if Janelle was a traitor there’s no way she’d be throwing out names as freely as she is. He said the traitors are keeping her because she “causes a lot of chaos.” In her defense, Janelle threw out Dan’s name as a traitor and C.T. has someone that is “either a traitor or working with a traitor” and Sandra as another traitor.

’40: Sandra was surprised that Janelle was all of a sudden throwing her under the bus despite them working alongside one another all season. Sandra pivoted it back to Janelle by calling her a traitor. C.T. was also surprised that Janelle was throwing his name out simply because she has heat on her. At that point, John joined Janelle’s side and said that he also thinks Dan is a traitor because his manner is “inconsistent.” Kevin spoke up again, declaring that John wants to accuse him of being a traitor because he’s an actor even though he’s a politician and acting is also part of his trade. Peter added his name to the mix that sees “red flags” against Dan.

’42: Dan defended himself by saying again that he likes to play games by sitting back and he’s still not prepared to say a name. Janelle came back at him more aggressively, insisting that him refusing to engage in accusation is “acting like a traitor.” Trishelle added that Dan “doesn’t talk game” with anyone and that means even if he’s faithful he’s not helping the group find traitors. At that point, everyone wanted Dan to say “one name at least.” Pushed to do it, Dan said Janelle’s name because he’s been “blinded by [his] friendship” with her. He said he “can’t trust you anymore and I can’t move forward with you in this game.”

’46: Alan began the roll call of votes with MJ who voted for Janelle because of the “red flags” being “so crazy to avoid.” The next votes that followed were Phaedra for Janelle and Sandra for Janelle. Sandra said that she thinks Janelle was the last one recruited and “that’s why you switched up on us.” At that point, Janelle leaned heavily into her suspicion of Sandra and the two of them volleyed “you’re a traitor” back at one another a few times and a couple “f*ck offs.” Moving on, the votes concluded with: Peter for Dan, John for Dan, Janelle for Dan, Parvati for Janelle, Kevin for Janelle, Trishelle for Dan, Dan for Janelle, C.T. for Janelle, and Shereé for Janelle. Though their votes didn’t matter with the majority already on Janelle, Bergie voted for Dan and Kate voted for Janelle.

’51: In her exit declaration, Janelle told the group that “just like in ‘Big Brother’ I was loyal and I was honest.” She left with an iconic, “I’m a faithful, you idiots!” Instant reactions came from Bergie who screamed to the room that they’re trusting the traitors and Shereé who said she voted “on her actions.” When MJ said “wow,” Bergie replied, “for some people,” insinuating that some of the people at the table have not been fooled as easily as the majority. Before they left, MJ admitted to her mistake and Kevin acknowledged that he led her and others down the Janelle route and so it’s his mistake. Dan said that there are no hard feelings against anyone that voted for him.

’53: Following the banishment, a group of players wanted Dan to “speak up” again and Bergie gave him “one shot tomorrow.” The group needed Dan to take a stronger stance among the faithful and participate in the accusations or they’d pull the trigger on him. Meanwhile, Kate found it to be “comedy” that this cast had yet to banish a single traitor from the game.

’54: Outside, Peter told Kevin, Bergie and John his plan to tell C.T., Dan and Parvati that he and Janelle got the shield in order to create a cover of protection and hoping that they murder Trishelle or Bergie in order to stop the kill. The guys understood that if there isn’t a kill in the morning then one of Peter’s three has to be a traitor because they fell into the trap.

’56: In the turret, Dan wanted to persuade Parvati and Phaedra to let them murder the player of his choice this time because he wanted to play more aggressively. Phaedra said that Dan has “got to be ready” because he’s “still on the hot seat” and emphasized that he needs to be more vocal. Dan refused to even give them a name because he wanted to “sleep on it.” They were shocked that he wouldn’t even tell them, but were willing to let him make the murder call. Parvati said that Peter told her “in confidence” that he and Janelle got the shield, leading to Dan saying Peter told him the same thing, “meaning he’s lying.” Parvati knew that Peter was trying to “sniff us out” and they should “be safe” by picking someone that wasn’t in the outside group. But Dan countered that Peter “isn’t that savvy” and he “needs this murder.” He acknowledged that it would be “rolling the dice, but we have to take out Bergie.” Parvati said John would be a safer vote, but Phaedra thought that John could be convinced away from Dan with the right narrative. Dan insisted that it has to be Bergie because he’s “confident Bergie doesn’t have a shield.” Naturally, the episode ended before we learned of the group’s final decision. Until next week!

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