The Traitors Recap: Did #Fruitgate Serve Up The Season's First Banished Traitor?

Who knew a simple piece of fruit could be as deadly as Lisa Rinna's sparkly amulet? 

When Thursday's "The Traitors" kicks off, #fruitgate is still top of mind for Victor and the traitors, themselves. In the turret, Victor's the main topic of discussion, but Tomica, Joe, and Katie all know that killing Vic now would bring far too much heat on them. So they do what any willing and able troupe of traitors must do: Feed into the chaos by choosing to off the most faithful faithful there is! The short list: Mark, Wyatt, and Kriste. Unfortunately for Mark, he's had his last share of Scottish smoked salmon, and is the next to have his photo smashed to smithereens by Mr. Alan Cumming. Oh, well! 

A fancy new power is up for grabs at the challenge, which sees the players tearing into scarecrows to collect bags of gold. The person to collect the most cash wins the power, but they won't know how much gold is in each sack until they hit the roundtable. Plus, four black hearts are stashed inside the scarecrows. If a black heart is placed inside a player's barrel, that person becomes ineligible to win the power — sorry Morgan, Katie, Victor, and Wyatt! And Victor? He's P.O.'d! But he still plans on bringing the heat come the next banishment. 

At the roundtable, Alan reminds the players that someone secured a power "more potent than anything we've seen around the roundtable before." He's going to spill the details, but first: They must banish! 

Kriste accuses Abby L. of being a traitor, citing Abby's (wrong) accusations of Arisa and Sherry. Abby L. counters by accusing Wyatt! Her "evidence": His inconsistency between saying he had a foolproof traitor strategy and not delivering a good answer when she asked him about it. (Grasping at straws much?) Eyes soon turn toward Victor, who is shocked that everyone keeps eyeing him. No one seems to care about his evidence, he says. Jay says Victor feels "distracty," which makes everyone suspicious. (Am I insanely entertained by how all of these clueless players are consistently ignoring the only guy with a correct theory? Why, yes. Yes, I am.)

Victor isn't going down without a fight though. He repeats his suspicions about Joe and Tomica, especially Joe walking around with an apple. Victor says Joe didn't even take a bite of the apple, to which multiple players confirm that he did. "You guys, the fruit shall set you free," Victor replies. And listen, #fruitgate was sloppy af, and kudos to Victor for both recognizing that a murder in plain sight was happening and clocking that it had something to do with the fruit. Impressive! 

Victor then turns to Tomica, asking her, "Why did you tell me Katie?" Tomica insists she said, "Kriste." After Victor says she's lying, Tomica claims that if she said "Katie" she misspoke. (Rookie move, traitor! Cirie Fields and Rob Rausch would've never.)  

When Alan calls for silence and makes the group vote, it's Victor who receives the most votes. But just as he's called up to the Circle of Truth, Alan pulls a fast one. That power he was teasing? It's called the Power of the Pardon. And its beholder can overturn the results of the roundtable, either ending Victor's journey or allowing him to continue. But just as Alan is about to reveal who that person is, the episode ends on a (very frustrating) cliffhanger. 

Who do you hope has the Pardon, and do you think Victor will be saved? Sound off in the comments!