Two people were banished from the Scottish Highlands during the latest instalment of The Traitors on Friday, leaving fans completely gobsmacked

The Traitors fans couldn’t believe the result of the two exits on the show.

The show reached the halfway point of the series tonight with 10 of the Faithful either murdered or banished – and having caught just one solitary Traitor. But while they are proving astonishingly bad at discovering the enemies lurking in their midst, viewers have been lapping up the action.

BBC bosses were celebrating after new figures showed the series opener, which aired on New Year’s Day, has now been viewed by 9.1million viewers – making it the most watched Traitors episode of all time. Tonight’s episode saw model and beautician Livi Deane get murdered while bank risk manager Dan Bird was banished, adding to the group’s long tally of misses.

Dan, 33, had spearheaded many of the wrong calls and admitted that it felt “a bit embarrassing to be leaving at this point”. Having admitted that he played the game in a very particular way, possibly because he has autism, Dan said had learned much about himself that he would take forward into his life.

Dan Bird was banished from the castle ( 
Image:
PA)

Livi was also killed off ( 
Image:
BBC)

“I feel like I’m happy that I went out in a big explosion of emotion,” he said. “I’ve learnt so much about myself and my life – I think it has exposed a lot of really good strengths, but it’s also exposed a lot of weaknesses that I want to challenge in the rest of my life. Things like overthinking, trying to do too much. I think I did a lot of stuff in the game that I was really proud of, but I tried to do everything at once, so I just need to refine what I want to do in my life and focus on the things that are really important to me.”

Dan was ousted after lying over who he had gunked during Friday’s mission, in which the players get to win cash for their prize pot, which currently stands at £34,500. He said he’d enjoyed trying to influence how the whole game was played and didn’t mind the conflict – with one of his high points being the argument he’d had with Jake and Joe after the rowing boat mission. Dan added: “Initially I was quite disappointed to be a Faithful because it meant that I’d have a lot less control over the game. But then I thought one of my biggest strengths was that I can be authentic, and this gave me the opportunity for me to be fully me and not have to put on any kind of act.”

Livi, 26, left the castle at the start of last night’s show and claimed in her exit interview to have always known that her pal Linda Rands was a Traitor. Having learned once she was ousted that both Linda and Minah Shannon were pulling the strings in the castle, Livi insisted: “I did have a strategy which I kind of stuck to! I suspected Linda from day one, so I didn’t bring her up at the Round Table and I remained friends with her. We really got on, she was just amazing, and she was so caring with me but I also made friends with her so she wouldn’t murder me. That was my game plan from the start, to make friends with a Traitor.”

Fans have since taken to social media to share their reaction, with one writing: “Not Dan!!! #The Traitors.” A second penned: “And yet again what absolute idiots the faithful are. Dan didn’t help himself, but still. Keep on messing up clueless faithful.” “Right, Frankie out next please,” said a third.

The BBC One show continues on Wednesday, when viewers will discover whether Leon or Fozia is the next Faithful to be killed off.