People think this is the cunning reason Harriet went on The Traitors in the first place

The real mystery of last nights’ episode of The Traitors was Harriet Tyce’s sudden, chaotic downfall.

The Edinburgh-born barrister-turned-novelist was playing a blinder, until she wasn’t. After her dramatic banishment in Wednesday’s episode, people are convinced her kamikaze gameplay wasn’t a mistake at all, but a genius move to sell more copies of her psychological thrillers.

BBC

Harriet’s book sales have gone up a whopping 96% since The Traitors started airing in January. According to The Bookseller, sales of her novels have skyrocketed as she became a favorite on the show. Sales of A Lesson in Cruelty have shot up from an average of 181 copies to 354, and The Lies You Told recorded 263 copies in the first week of January, a 93.4% increase from the week before.

With her new novel Witch Trial set to hit shelves next month, we’re smelling a very expensive, very effective PR stunt. As one TikTok commenter put it: “Well, it worked. I’m currently reading Blood Orange.”

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The theory gained traction because of just how weird Harriet’s final 24 hours in the castle were. We went from watching a woman strategically plan her cross-examinations to someone having a full-blown, unhinged rant against Rachel at breakfast.

BBC

Harriet has been smart, patient, and arguably one of the strongest players. We saw her clinical takedown of Hugo earlier in the series, so she knows how to build a case. So why did she attack at beakfast? Telling Rachel she was coming for her gave Rachel hours to prepare a defense. Her “proof” against Rachel was flimsy at best, and her attitude at the round table turned the group against her, overshadowing any actual points she was trying to make.

The moment Harriet claimed she was “sacrificing herself to prove a point” was the nail in the coffin for viewers. If she’s a Faithful, getting yourself banished proves nothing except that the Traitors now have one less person to worry about.

It felt out of character, out of place, and, frankly, like someone who had a 10am meeting with their publisher and needed to get to a London bookstore ASAP.

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There’s also the “rich author” factor. Some people pointed out that as a successful novelist and former barrister, Harriet probably isn’t losing sleep over a split of the prize pot. If she was fed up with the paranoia, going out in a blaze of glory right before her book launch is a pretty iconic exit strategy.

Between her, Hugo, and Amanda, the UK justice system isn’t exactly looking like a well-oiled machine right now, but Harriet’s Amazon ranking certainly is.

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Featured image credit: BBC, Instagram