The Traitors Australia is getting ready for a final bloodbath with only a handful of celebrities remaining in the manor — including two Traitors, Kirby Bentley and Rhys Nicholson.
Rhys is a relatively new member of the Turret, but Australian Survivor’s Kirby has been a treacherous Traitor since day one. Many fans online believe that Kirby is such an obvious Traitor that they think Faithfuls are simply bringing her to the end just to banish her. “Kirby is the most obvious of all Traitors, and that’s probably why they have chosen not to eliminate,” said one fan on The Traitors Australia’s Facebook group.
For viewers watching at home, Kirby’s identity as a Traitor has seemed rather obvious from the early days of the game. So what is the real reason that Kirby is seemingly sliding through this game despite consistent suspicion that she’s a Traitor?
Recently murdered Faithful, Luke Packham, told Chattr in an exclusive interview what viewers could be missing. “To be honest, I’ve very rarely had any suspicion on Kirby because my brother Josh had the suspicion on Kirby,” he said.
“Watching the show back, there’s a lot of other information on Kirby that I was never aware of. No one ever had those discussions with me and that’s one of my frustrations watching. I wish people had told me this information so I would maybe not have gone for Claudia [Bonifazio] — but it’s part of the show.”
Luke believes that contestants like Krissy Marsh and Tully Smyth both being sure that Kirby is a Traitor but largely keeping it to themselves meant that not everyone in the manor was aware of what was happening.
“Some people have information and they decide not to share it. They’re thinking that they’re going to be extra smart and conceal it, or they’re being protected by a Traitor, and they have their own ideas.
For me, I could only go off what my own knowledge I had at that stage of the game: I had very little on Rhys or Kirby, and I was always a lot more suss on Rhys than I was on Kirby.”
Luke added that both Tully and Krissy have the right to play The Traitors their own way. “From what I’ve watched and what you’ve watched, they’re starting to figure out that Kirby’s a Traitor. You’re wanting them to try and do something with it, start throwing the name out and rally the troops because that’s what I did. I used to rally the troops, but I want them to play the game I played, but it didn’t work for me,” he said.
“Hopefully, they’ll come up with a better strategy or follow that strategy and take Kirby out.”
The idea that Faithfuls are keeping Kirby around despite knowing she’s a likely Traitor is a theory Survivor’s Henry Nicholson also shared with Chattr. “There are a lot of smart players in that mansion, and some people want to keep Kirby close because that does act as a shield,” he said.
Luke reveals the ‘ruthless’ plan he had on The Traitors Australia
Luke told Chattr that he had a devious plan in store if Kirby had recruited him to become a Traitor instead of Rhys.
“I really thought I was going to be recruited. But when I actually thought about it deeply, it makes perfect sense not to, because I would have — without a shadow of doubt — gone in there the next day and taken Kirby out,” he admitted.
“I would have been a ruthless Traitor. I would not have batted with her. I would have taken her out and tried to play on my own as a Traitor. I think she knew that was my style of gameplay. I wasn’t afraid to do that, and I would have betrayed her that night. She played the right move in that moment because that’s what I would have done straight away.”
Now that would have been some thrilling TV! Luke added that by that stage, he had the trust of the Faithfuls, which meant that if he had led the banishment of Kirby, he would have sailed through to be the last man standing.
“I had more power at the round table at that stage of the game. I would have loved to have been turned at some stage because I had the power of the group, and if I was turned and I took out Kirby, I would have been back to still being the Oracle and maintained it to the end,” he said.
“That was how I was hoping it was going to turn out for me — and it didn’t.”
The Traitors airs Tuesday and Wednesday on Channel 10 and 10Play.
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