Faraaz is a ‘dark horse’ on The Traitors but it might be too late, claims psychologist

For most Traitors fans, Faraaz’s last-minute declaration that Rachel is a Traitor was a moment for celebration.

Finally, after weeks of blatant clues and other players sacrificing themselves, a Faithful has understood what had been sitting in front of their faces this whole time.

But, despite his challenge to the Traitors, the 22-year-old auditor’s chances of winning The Traitors final are still slim, according to psychologist Dr Rachael Molitor.

Speaking to Metro, the lecturer in psychology at Coventry University said: ‘He’s definitely my dark horse. He’s probably playing the best game now, which is a complete 180 from the start of the series.

‘We have to remember this is highly edited, but he didn’t really have much screen time from the very beginning. He wasn’t part of the main sort of popularity groups.

‘However, he’s been unexpected… I do think that he’s playing an excellent game now and we’re starting to hear from him, but whether people are starting to listen to him is a very different thing.’

The psychologist explained how in psychology people can talk a lot, but it’s whether they’re being listened to that is important.

‘At the moment he is now starting to speak, but it’s just whether people are going to give him that time of day because they are so blinkered into each of their own stories and ideas that they will probably be missing what he’s saying.’

Asked who she thinks will reign triumphant at the end, Dr Molitor added: ‘I think the Traitors are going to win this. I think they are because they’ve got out the Faithfuls who actually had a really good idea of who the Traitors were.

‘So unfortunately, all the really good people who were trying to work out who people were. They’re gone. And looking at the lineup at the moment. I don’t really think there is a faithful that doesn’t fully trust Rachel.’

Also speaking to Metro, body language expert Judi James on behalf of Paddy Power Games gave Senior TV Reporter Rebecca Cook her read on that Rachel and Faraaz face off at the end of Wednesday night’s episode.

‘Unlike Roxy, Faraaz wants to be right about naming Rachel as a Traitor, making the collusion aspect negligible,’ she said.

‘He offers her no exit, just watches her closely. Rachel uses soft power signals to try to quash his ‘attack’, rather than being pushed into an open denial or lie that might appear to elevate his position from the one of teenager versus parent.

‘A parent/child transaction wouldn’t see the parent openly defending themselves as power appropriate.’

Discussing Rachel’s ‘display of power’, Judi alleged that Rachel ‘does not feel threatened by him’ and returned a ‘masterclass’ facial expression with a lack of any real reaction.

‘She interrupts him to argue when he does start to explain, but only to flex her parent power muscles,’ Judi added.

‘When she immediately stops again to ‘allow’ him to speak, she has then registered control over the conversation.’

Despite her ‘legendary calmness’, according to Judi she did have one ‘very prominent tell’ that was hidden.

‘Even her scarily pitch-perfect body language display shows it can have a flaw here,’ she explained.

‘As she turns her gaze away from Faraaz, there is one very large swallow from her, like an internal gulp. A large swallow like this will often occur when we’re feeling anxious and when the fight or flight response is kicking in.

‘She got away with it here, but it shows that even her masterclass levels of body language can suffer a very small failure now and again.’

Earlier today, it was revealed that Traitors fans think they might have worked out Rachel’s ‘secret plot’ against Stephen.

This came after the turret two were deciding their penultimate murder when Rachel shared that she is facing serious suspicions from Faraaz.

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

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