The Traitors: A clue from Claudia Winkleman in series one might explain ‘rail replacement’ twist

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Series 1 and 3 of The Traitors.

The hugely popular game of backstabbing and deceit that is The Traitors burst back onto our screens on New Year’s Day, and with a shock twist - which saw three contestants forced by Claudia Winkleman to ‘leave’ the gameshow before even getting to the iconic Scottish castle.

Ex-British diplomat, Alexander, community development manager, Fozia, and market trader and landscaper, Jack, all opted to get off the steam train taking them to the stunning location.

It came after the players were told there was only space for 22 contestants in the game (as opposed to the 25 on the train) and a strong £10,000 sum for their prize pot would lose £1,000 for every minute that they spent hesitating over who should go.

With £7,000 banked and the train three players lighter, viewers of the latest series have since been distracted by traitor-on-traitor action with Minah turning on Armani, the end of sister pairing Armani and Maia, and business director, Charlotte, adopting a Welsh accent to try and win over fellow faithfuls.

Except, at the end of Wednesday’s episode, after remaining traitors Minah and Linda pondered who would be murdered next out of Freddie, Maia, and Charlotte, we were shown two masked figures directing a horse-drawn carriage to the castle, with “rail replacement” emblazoned on the side of it.

And this has led fans to speculate as to whether the aforementioned trio abandoned en-route to the castle may now be entering the game for real:

Others remarked that it was probably the most excited they’ve been for a rail replacement vehicle, given they are usually an unwelcome sight for train passengers whose journeys have been scuppered by planned engineering works:

But while we now have to wait until Wednesday to find out what the rail replacement is all about, an episode from Series 1 might confirm Alexander, Fozia and Jack’s return.

After the very first episode of The Traitors saw Winkleman ask the players to organise themselves from most to least likely to win, with the Strictly presenter taking Kieran and Amos at their word and seemingly booting them off the show.

However, come episode five, after the team took part in the day’s mission, two masked individuals revealed themselves as Kieran and Amos.

Winkleman explained: “Kieran and Amos did not leave the game on day one. You can only leave The Traitors if you are murdered or banished.”

And seeing as the three train passengers did not suffer either fate, can we expect to see their return next week?

Only time will tell…

Elsewhere, an under fire Kasim – a doctor who is suspected of being a traitor when he is actually a faithful – snapped back at comments made by Jake, a fellow faithful.

The latter said: “You, Kas, I feel like you are smart, you are calculated. You know, you save lives during the day, you’re killing at night, it just makes sense.”

Kas later replied: “If the fact that you’re voting for me is ‘cause I’m a nice person or, ‘because I’m a doctor, it makes sense’… The fact that I have a job is not a reason to vote for me.”

Jake intervened: “I didn’t say that, but alright.”

Kasim continued: “No, that is what… Literally, you just said, ‘the doctor thing makes sense. You save lives during the day, you kill people at night.

“So you’re basically calling me, like, Harold Shipman, or something?”

With one Twitter/X account noting fans of The Traitors in other countries may have to head to Google to learn more about rail replacement buses and Shipman, for their benefit, the latter – also dubbed “Doctor Death” - was a doctor convicted of murdering 15 patients through lethal injections, and thought to have killed more than 200 patients between 1975 and 1998.

Kasim’s remarks were met with shock and disapproval from others at the round table, with fellow Faithful Alex commenting: “That’s a bit loaded, mate.”

The reality gameshow continues Wednesday at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer, with the past three episodes available on-demand.

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