The Traitors: New Blood Season 1, Episode 3, “The Traitors Are Watching,” makes Katie Fites the third Traitor after she and Xavier Scruggs both complete the death-warrant test. Xavier loses the recruitment and is murdered. The crypt mission earns only $15,000, because two pairs trade money for a shield and a clue. That clue, about two players battling to become a Traitor, leads the Round Table toward several theories, and Xavier’s old warning brings Katie’s name to the table. The episode ends before anyone votes.
The episode resolves the Accomplice contest that began with the Accomplice twist in Episode 1 and reached its death-warrant cliffhanger at the end of Episode 2. For the full season picture, see our The Traitors: New Blood season coverage.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Series | The Traitors: New Blood |
| Season | 1 (listed on Peacock as The Traitors Season 5, Episode 3) |
| Episode | 3 |
| Episode title | The Traitors Are Watching |
| Original air date | September 24, 2026 (NBC) |
| Streaming | Peacock |
| Runtime | 42 minutes |
| New Traitor | Katie Fites |
| Murdered | Xavier Scruggs (losing Accomplice) |
| Banished | None |
| Round Table vote | None (episode ends mid-discussion) |
| Mission money | $15,000 of a possible $30,000 |
| Prize pot | $65,000 |
| New shield | Clyde Moser |
| Mission clue | “Last night two players battled in plain sight to become a Traitor.” |
| Contestants remaining | 19 |
| Traitors | Joe Vanella, Tomica Adams, Katie Fites |
What Happened in The Traitors: New Blood Episode 3?
Katie and Xavier Both Complete the Death-Warrant Test
The episode opens at night, outside the castle. Katie and Xavier arrive for their meeting with Joe Vanella, Tomica Adams and Alan Cumming, and both have already found a death warrant.
Joe and Tomica reveal themselves as the Traitors. Neither Accomplice had suspected either of them.
Because both candidates succeeded, the test has no automatic loser. Arriving without a warrant would have meant death, but neither did. Joe and Tomica now have to choose which successful candidate joins them and which one dies.
Joe and Tomica Choose Katie Over Xavier
Each candidate makes a final pitch.
Katie presents herself as a team player. Xavier takes a riskier approach. He points out that he had already floated Katie’s name to Faithful players, and he argues that this makes her a dangerous recruit.
The argument backfires. Joe and Tomica see Xavier’s willingness to attack a potential teammate as “Traitor on Traitor behavior.” They also see Katie as well-liked among the wider group, which makes her more useful as a partner. They choose Katie.
Katie Becomes the Third Traitor as Xavier Is Murdered
Xavier is murdered face-to-face at the selection. He becomes the second murdered player of the season, after Kim Daily.
Katie puts on a green Traitor cloak and celebrates with her new partners: “We are going to do very, very bad things together.”
Xavier’s final confessional captures both surprise and disappointment: “Your boy is gone and it stings right in the heart.” He adds that he felt he was the stronger choice. In a later exit interview, he confirmed that he had deliberately tried to get Katie banished so he would be the only candidate left.
The decision leaves the Traitors with a trio. It also leaves something behind: Xavier’s earlier suspicion of Katie is still circulating in the castle, even though Xavier himself is gone.
Xavier’s Absence Puts Katie’s Name in Play at Breakfast
The rest of the castle learns about the murder when Xavier doesn’t arrive at breakfast. None of them saw the selection meeting.
Logan Smith remembers that Xavier had described Katie as having “nervous energy,” and he raises her name with other players. Ben McDonnell adds that Katie “would be the cutest little perfect Traitor.”
The audience and the players are working from very different information. Viewers know Xavier’s warning pointed at the right person. To the Faithful, his disappearance confirms nothing about whether he was right.
The Crypt Mission: Money, a Shield or a Clue
The main mission takes place at three crypts, which the contestants break into with a battering ram. Up to $30,000 is available. Each crypt offers a choice between cash and one of the other currencies of The Traitors’ game format: protection or information.
| Crypt | Entrants | Choice | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| First | Arisa Thomas, Morgan Cook | Money | $5,000; no advantage reported |
| Second | Tomica Adams, Clyde Moser | $10,000, or $5,000 plus a shield | $5,000 plus a shield for Clyde |
| Third | Michael Foote, Ben McDonnell | $15,000, or $5,000 plus Traitor information | $5,000 plus a clue |
The First Crypt
Arisa Thomas and Morgan Cook go in first and come out with $5,000. The episode does not show them gaining any advantage, although what happened in this crypt becomes a point of dispute later.
The Second Crypt
Tomica and Clyde Moser choose $5,000 plus a shield over $10,000. Clyde receives the shield, which protects him from the next murder.
The pairing matters because Tomica is a Traitor. She was present for the choice, so the Traitors know one player they cannot target that night.
The Third Crypt
Michael Foote and Ben face the biggest trade-off: $15,000, or $5,000 plus confidential Traitor information. They choose the information. The clue reads:
“Last night two players battled in plain sight to become a Traitor.”
It is the season’s first Traitor clue, and it describes the Katie–Xavier contest the audience has just watched.
Why the Group Earns Only $15,000
The three crypts each produce $5,000, for a total of $15,000 out of a possible $30,000. The shield costs the group a possible $5,000, and the clue costs a possible $10,000.
That brings the prize pot from $50,000 to $65,000. The mission is a group result rather than a team win. The question it leaves is whether protection and information were worth the money.
The Clue Changes the Round Table
The clue describes a real event, but it names nobody. The Faithful don’t know who the two players were, who won, whether the loser is dead, or whether the winner is now a Traitor. Several competing theories grow out of that gap.
Abby Opens With a Shield Accusation Against Arisa
Abby Lee opens the Round Table by accusing Arisa of taking a shield in the first crypt and not disclosing it. Morgan, Arisa’s crypt partner, cannot confirm the claim. The accusation remains unverified.
Michael and Ben then reveal the clue they chose instead of the extra money, which gives the table a second line of suspicion.
Niyyah Links the Clue to Arisa and Victor
Niyyah Hayes proposes that the “battle” in the clue was an earlier “truth test” between Arisa and Victor Vollbrechthausen.
Arisa acknowledges doing the test, calling it a “kitschy kind of test” meant to assess lying. She rejects the idea that it makes her a Traitor. Victor calls her decision to test him “weird.”
The interaction was real, but from the audience’s position, linking it to the clue is a misreading.
Kriste Connects the Clue to Xavier
Kriste Lewis offers a theory much closer to the truth: perhaps Xavier was one of the two competitors and died because he lost.
It is a notable moment coming from Kriste, whose accusation led to Madeline’s banishment in Episode 2. Her theory gets the mechanism right, but it doesn’t identify who won, and the episode does not show the room fully trusting her again.
Xavier’s Warning About Katie Reaches the Table
Joe asks whether anyone “had beef with Xavier.” Jay Vinnedge answers that Xavier had told several players he had a bad feeling about Katie. Logan, who raised the same warning at breakfast, is positioned to back it up.
That brings a real Traitor’s name into the Round Table for the first time. The episode establishes Joe’s question, not whether it helped or hurt Katie. Her name is now in the discussion, but nothing has been decided.
The Traitors: New Blood Episode 3 Ending Explained
What Happens
Before Logan can add to Xavier’s warning, Jay interrupts him. He announces that his body-language expertise might point to the person the group should banish. The episode cuts off there.
Episode 3 has no vote, no banishment, no role reveal and no new murder decision.
Why It Matters
For the first time, the Faithful have information tied directly to how the third Traitor was created. Kriste has come close to explaining it, and Katie’s name is on the table at the same moment.
What Is Unresolved
The Faithful have not acted on any of the three theories. Katie, Arisa and Victor are all part of the discussion, and Jay is about to make a case whose target the episode doesn’t reveal.
What Episode 4 Starts With
The Round Table picks up where it stopped, with Jay’s argument. The rest is covered in our The Traitors: New Blood Episode 4 recap.
Game State After Episode 3
| Category | Status |
|---|---|
| Players remaining | 19 |
| Traitors | Joe Vanella, Tomica Adams, Katie Fites |
| Faithful | 16 |
| Murdered in Episode 3 | Xavier Scruggs |
| Banished in Episode 3 | None |
| Earlier eliminations | Kim Daily (murdered Episode 1, revealed Episode 2), Madeline Kostopulos (banished, Episode 2) |
| Mission money | $15,000 |
| Prize pot | $65,000 |
| Traitor-banishment bonus earned | $0 |
| New shield | Clyde Moser |
| Under discussion | Katie Fites, Arisa Thomas, Victor Vollbrechthausen |
What Episode 3 Changes for the Season
The Traitors are now a trio. Katie joins as someone Joe and Tomica see as well-liked, and they have removed the candidate they viewed as a risk to his own teammates.
Xavier’s warning outlives him. His suspicion of Katie was part of why he lost the recruitment, and it is now circulating without him.
The Faithful finally have a clue. Michael and Ben gave up a possible $10,000 for it, and it describes a real event the group has not yet decoded.
The pot grows slowly. At $65,000, the group has banked less than half of what was on offer in this mission. It has still earned nothing from banishing Traitors.
Suspicion is split three ways. Arisa, Victor and Katie are all part of the discussion, which leaves the Faithful without a single agreed target going into the vote.
Every recap from the season is collected in the The Traitors: New Blood episode guide.
Key Contestants in Episode 3
| Contestant | Episode 3 role | Key Episode 3 moment |
|---|---|---|
| Katie Fites | New Traitor | Wins the recruitment and takes the green cloak |
| Xavier Scruggs | Faithful Accomplice; murdered | Loses the recruitment after pitching his attacks on Katie |
| Joe Vanella | Traitor | Chooses Katie; asks who “had beef with Xavier” |
| Tomica Adams | Traitor | Chooses Katie; enters the second crypt with Clyde |
| Jay Vinnedge | Faithful | Reports Xavier’s warning; delivers the cliffhanger |
| Logan Smith | Faithful | Raises Xavier’s warning about Katie |
| Michael Foote | Faithful | Chooses the clue and reveals it |
| Ben McDonnell | Faithful | Chooses the clue; questions whether Katie could be a Traitor |
| Kriste Lewis | Faithful | Suggests Xavier lost a battle to become a Traitor |
| Niyyah Hayes | Faithful | Links the clue to the Arisa–Victor truth test |
| Arisa Thomas | Faithful | Enters the first crypt; faces the shield accusation |
| Victor Vollbrechthausen | Faithful | Questions why Arisa tested him |
| Clyde Moser | Faithful | Wins the new shield |
| Abby Lee | Faithful | Accuses Arisa of hiding a shield |
| Morgan Cook | Faithful | Cannot confirm Abby’s accusation |
Profiles for every player are on our The Traitors: New Blood cast page.
Where to Watch The Traitors: New Blood Episode 3
Episode 3 aired on NBC on September 24, 2026, as the first of two episodes that night. It streams on Peacock, where it is listed as The Traitors Season 5, Episode 3, with a 42-minute runtime.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who became the third Traitor in The Traitors: New Blood Episode 3?
Katie Fites. Joe and Tomica chose her over Xavier Scruggs after both completed the death-warrant test.
What happened to Xavier Scruggs in Episode 3?
Xavier lost the recruitment and was murdered at the selection meeting.
How much money did the contestants win in Episode 3?
$15,000, which brought the prize pot to $65,000.
Who got the shield in Episode 3?
Clyde Moser, after he and Tomica chose the $5,000-and-shield option in the second crypt.
What was the clue in Episode 3?
Michael Foote and Ben McDonnell received a clue stating that two players had battled in plain sight to become a Traitor.
Was anyone banished in Episode 3?
No. The episode ends before the Round Table vote.
Who was suspected at the end of Episode 3?
Arisa Thomas, Victor Vollbrechthausen and Katie Fites were all part of the competing Round Table theories.
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