Who else is eagerly anticipating the reunion special of The Traitors? The special is still weeks away from airing, but the drama between Danielle, Boston Rob, Carolyn, and Bob the Drag Queen has already captivated many. The tension and animosity among them have reached new heights, especially after Boston Rob’s elimination. It will be fascinating to see how their relationships unfold in the upcoming episode.

At the beginning of Season 3 Episode 7, it was hard to support the Traitors considering how fragmented and demotivated they seemed. Their lack of cohesion was evident, with moments like Danielle’s indifferent response to Carolyn’s question about choosing a Faithful to eliminate. Danielle’s personal attachments and vindictive behavior have been off-putting, leading to Carolyn expressing her desire to get rid of Danielle.

In a tense moment in the turret, Boston Rob expresses his frustration to Danielle as she opposes their decisions regarding the Faithfuls. Eventually, they agree to eliminate Derrick based on Rob’s persuasion that Derrick poses a significant threat. Derrick, upon learning of his fate, maintains a surprisingly positive outlook, acknowledging the logic behind his elimination. This turn of events adds another layer of complexity to the dynamics within the group.

At breakfast though, Danielle is bereft – for once, her tears don’t seem like overacting, and yet they have never felt more misplaced. Danielle, don’t you want to win this thing?? (She’s so emotional that Ciara Miller feels the need to point out later, “Derrick didn’t really die.”)

“Damn, dude, someone’s really trying to f—ing frame me,” Rob says at breakfast, expertly trying to deflect responsibility for this thing, but Tom Sandoval is starting to sniff out Rob’s sus…and for the first time, his suspicions are correct. What I think is truly amazing though is the fact that Tom is taken so unseriously in this house that he’s practically a ghost. I mean, I think Dylan and Rob literally walked through him in this scene without noticing him?

In what’s probably my favorite eulogy thus far, Alan Cumming enters the breakfast room and declares, “Ahhh, Derrick with two Rs. R-R-I-P.” I laughed.

This week’s challenge, a highbrow-lowbrow meeting of Fear Factor and Boda de Sangre requires the remaining 12 contestants to pair off, wearing their finest wedding garb (Rob actually put on a tux which I assume he only ever wears on truly formal occasions like when the Pats are in the Super Bowl, while Dylan Efron’s black and red suit hails from the David S. Pumpkins Menswear Collection), and the pairs go head to head, forced to hold hands while their hands are locked inside clear boxes that are slowly filled with centipedes, scorpions and other critters. If either player flinches and breaks the seal of their handshake, they’re eliminated and will not be eligible for a shield. Within seconds, Chrishell Stause and Dolores Catania are eliminated when Chrishell jumps, breaking the seal.

To Rob’s credit, he really tries to keep his partner Ciara Miller calm as she freaks out, trying to bond with her about both being Capricorns and their mutual love of veal parm. But when bucket upon bucket of mealworms, crickets and cockroaches are dumped on their heads, it’s a game-changer not just for them for for all the contestants.

And then come the snakes, wrapped around the shoulders of the remaining contestants, most of whom keep their eyes closed to remain oblivious to the terrors enrobing their bodies. From the sidelines you can tell Chrishell and Dolores have never been so happy to lose something, and Alan Cumming has perhaps never laughed harder at anything in his life. At the end of the challenge, Rob and Ciara, Danielle and Britney, and Ivar and Sam all receive shields, leaving Chrishell and Dolores, Carolyn and Gabby, and Tom and Dylan vulnerable to elimination.

At the round table, Britney is the prime target, all thanks to the crumbs of sus that Rob’s been dropping. (Once again, after Rob mentions Britney, Danielle takes issue with a person Rob’s trying to get rid of because for some reason she doesn’t want to win this). Britney realizes she’s a target though and plans to direct her energy at Rob, and the entire Round Table is essentially Rob laying out his case for Britney’s guilt while Britney and Tom gun for Rob.

In the end, a supermajority – including Danielle and Carolyn – vote for Rob, and when he enters the Circle of Truth, he doesn’t need to draw things out, he simply reveals, in his calm Boston Rob voice, “I am and always have been, since the very beginning, a Traitor.” The entire place erupts in cheers, save for one person, Ciara, who has always believed in Rob this whole time.

In his confessional, Rob admits that he would have remained loyal to Carolyn had he remained in the game, but as for Danielle, “I think she’s a bad Traitor, a bad game player, just bad all around.”

After Rob is banished, Alan reveals that the Faithfuls without a shield this week will head to the castle’s chapel where one of them will meet their fate… and meet the Traitors in person. Because this week’s murder will be face to face. Gabby, Tom, Dylan, Chrishell and Dolores enter the chapel one by one and make their pleas to stay in the game, one of them will confront Danielle and Carolyn in the flesh, but we’ll have to wait till next week to see which Faithful will have the pleasure.

Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Massachusetts. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.