Murder Mystery Party: Devon

**Murder Mystery Party: Devon** is the first season of the British/Irish competitive Reality TV show that takes inspiration from *Whodunnit? (2013)* and *The Traitors (2023)*. Donnchadh wanted to incorporate the best elements of each along with his own ideas to create the ultimate Agatha Christie inspired TV show. The season follows a group of 12 contestants taking a boast trip to an isolated mansion off the coast of Devon, England where one is selected as the **"Murderer"** and must eliminate a player each night from the game whilst remaining undetected from the others. The murdered contestant is decided based on a quiz taken that night where the players must answer questions based on who they suspect is the **"Murderer"**. After every murder, the contestants have the option of investigating the **"The Crime Scene"** or the **"The Morgue"** where they find clues to help them decipher who the **"Murderer"** is. At the half-way point of the season a **"Banishment"** takes place where the contestants have the opportunity to vote the **"Murderer"** out and end the game prematurely, splitting the £100,000 cash prize amongst the **"Innocent"**. If they fail to do so, the game will continue until the remaining 3 where a final **"Banishment"** takes place and a winner(s) is decided.

The series is hosted by *Road Trip* alum Ocean Blu (*The Caribbean* & *All-Stars*) who is noted for her fabulous "themed" outfits which surprised the contestants and viewers every episode.

## Contestants

 **Winner**
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 **Winner**
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 **Winner**
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 **Winner**
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 **Winner**
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 **Winner**
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 **Winner**
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 **Runner-Up**
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 **Murdered**
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 **Murdered**
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 **Murdered**
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 **Murdered**
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**Murder Mystery Party: Devon** was very controversial due to more than 50% of the cast winning the season, with fans calling for the clues to be less obvious as they themselves, figured out online who the killer was before it was revealed on the show.

## Game History

**Key**

     The contestant was innocent and safe from murder.
     The contestant was innocent and considered for murder.
     The contestant was murdered and eliminated from the competition.
     The contestant was made into the "Murderer".
     The contestant was banished from the game.
     The contestant won immunity in a challenge.
     The "Murderer" was found and eliminated from the game, being made Runner-Up.
     The contestant correctly banished the "Murderer" and won.

## Episodes

### **Episode #1 - And Then There Were None**

baIn a sleepy seaside town off the coast of England, twelve excited contestants of diverse backgrounds are driven on a boat to an isolated island, where a period mansion awaits them. Once all the group have climbed the stone steps up to the front of the building, Ocean Blu, of Road Trip fame walks out of the front double doors, introducing herself as the host of this brand-new competition. She explains to the fresh-faced individuals that the aim of this competition is to be observant and sharp as they must do their best to survive a rampaging murderer. A few audible gasps are heard amongst the group before Ocean continues that the killer will be one of their own, causing louder gasps, and each week after the murderer strikes, the remining players must work together to find clues in the crime scene and morgue to deduce who the killer is. Ocean emphasises to the player it is vital to be brilliant detectives as the weakest among them will get the chop every week as they must complete a quiz, identifying who they think the murderer is at the end of each week. If the group can successfully identify the killer before they murder ten innocents, then a cash prize of £100,000 will be split amongst the group. In the event the murderer takes them all out and deceives them then they will earn the cash prize all for themselves.

After explaining the rules of the competition, Ocean guides the dozen players into the foyer of her mansion, offering beverages and light snacks to them before exiting up the stairs and allowing them all to have a quick chitchat as she dresses for dinner. As conversation flows, Kaz already assumes the killer has been assigned and is extremely weary of the others already. Frank startles her when he offers her a glass of champagne, causing her to yelp and instinctively hit the glass out of his hand, afraid it has poison in it. Perplexed, Frank awkwardly turns away as Kaz stares at him shaking. Soon, Ocean returns in a gorgeous, backless, high slit, turquoise, silk dress. She brings them into the grand dining room off to the side. In the dining room, there is a large circular, dark, mahogany table in the centre with twelve matching chairs surrounding it. After instructing the party to take their seats, Ocean hands each person a blindfold, ordering them to blind themselves as she will touch the head of one person, meaning they will become the murderer and change their allegiance from the group. All at once, they do as they are told and sit patiently around the table. Ocean circles them, like a shark trying to sniff out who, like her is a predator eager to catch their prey. Will it be Jennifer, Frank, Summer, or River? Before the murderer is chosen, the lights go out, blinding the audience and when they come back on, Ocean, by the head of the room, tells the group to take the blindfolds off as a killer has been chosen and that once they have completed the quiz on who they think the killer is and adjourned for the night, a murder will take place. She then wishes them well, telling them she will see all but one of them in the morning before slipping out of the room.

Removing their blindfolds, the players all eye each other up as they are served dinner, to see if they can catch anyone else slipping early. Summer boldly announces that she is confident she knows who the killer is already, causing eyes to go back and forth around the table. Camille inquires, asking Summer “Well… who is it?” to which Summer replies “You.” Camille’s jaw drops open, allowing Lily to pip up asking Summer to back up her claim. Summer confidently announces her psychic abilities have aided her causing the group to collectively roll their eyes at such a brazen statement. Camille tells Summer that she is bullshit before looking at the others telling them they cannot trust the words of a con artist. This label highly offends Summer and she bites back “I would watch what you say Camille, the spirits are on my side and I can have them manipulate your mind anyway I please.” Camille jumps out of her chair, loudly stating “How dare you!”, with tensions rising quickly River takes it upon himself to stand up and be a leader for the group asking both women to please calm down. He goes on, schooling the group that if they are already turning on each other the killer has the money in the bag, and they might as well give up. He asks that they move to the lounge room and enjoy themselves as it is one of their last nights already. Camille and Summer bite their tongues and nod in agreement before the group all leave one room for another.

In the lounge room, River makes a big effort to keep everyone in a good mood, dancing and singing whilst the others are extremely tense about the idea of already being eliminated. Eventually, River’s tactics work, and the group slowly get up and start chatting and laughing, appreciating how much River has done to keep the group sane in the first 24 hours. Law school student Jennifer reads the room whilst having mindless conversation, trying to see if she can notice any behavioural changes from how everyone was earlier. Whilst sitting in a group with River, Quan, and Larry she notices Saul’s face drop as he turns away from a conversation with Annabelle, letting out a sigh of relief. Raising an eyebrow, Jennifer turns to Larry who also noticed what Saul did and the both of them inform River and Quan of their observation. The foursome agree that it is not enough to be a killer, but it certainly is strange behaviour.

Not long after, a gong is sounded meaning it is time for the quiz to take place. Annabelle begins to tear up, causing some confusion to sprout but she tells her new friends that she is just so sad that somebody must go home, and the process is already so hard. Not having much information one by one, each player takes the quiz going off first impressions on who they think the killer is. Different strategies are used, with some evenly distributing their answer while others pile their answers onto one other player. Once all players have gone to their assigned rooms and fallen asleep, the clock strikes 3am and the murderer is on the move. With a sharp knife scraping against the wall, the killer ponders who they should kill, Summer or Frank?

### **Episode #2 - Mid-Summer Murders**

The next morning, the contestants enter the dining room for breakfast one by one, anticipating to see who was murdered during the night. Once all ten have arrived bar Summer and Frank, conversations quickly turn from casual chat to theorising who will be the first murdered. With Summer dying, Kaz and Saul believe that it could be beneficial for Camille as it would clear her name while Quan and Jennifer are expecting to see Frank be killed as he was very closed off the first day and not engaging with discussions. On the other end of table, River and Harry and joking about stabbing each other in the night with Harry telling River “You can insert your weapon into me any night you like.” There is a knock on the door, silencing the room as they anticipate the final contestant to walk into the room. Much to Camille’s dismay, Summer enters the room in a Burberry trench coat and a worried expression on her face. Looking around she realises herself that Frank is the only person missing, thus confirming the oldest man of the group to be murdered. Soon, Ocean comes into the room, walks to the China figure display on the fire’s mantlepiece and breaks one off before telling the contestant’s that Frank was violently murdered in the night and it is their duty to discover how it happened. Giving further instruction, she asks the group to split into a group of five that will head to “The Morgue” and inspect Frank’s corpse and a group of six to investigate the “The Crime Scene,” Frank’s bedroom.

Saul, Anabel, River, Jennifer, and Summer head to “The Morgue” as they think the most clues to how the murder took place will be on the body. Wanting to expand on her theories, Jennifer separates herself from the others to study Frank’s body as closely as she can (without making the clearly still breathing Frank too uncomfortable). Standing on the other side of the metal slab, Anabel pokes Frank with her pen declaring “This is just like when my husband passed away…” causing Summer to let out a laugh, thinking it was a joke while Saul and River let out hitched breaths, unsure how to react. Based on Anabel’s emotionless face, Summer realises the elder woman was being very serious and apologises but Anabel tells her it is okay, she laughs about it sometimes too, making the entire exchange somehow even more awkward as Frank does his best to remain a motionless corpse. Saul and River do their best to divert the conversation back to the task at hand with River pointing out a black smudge next to a scratch on Frank’s arm. Anabel dismisses as nothing at first but across the table Jennifer points out that she notices the same thing on Frank’s leg, assuming it to be nail polish. Saul and Summer quickly scribble this down in the provided notebooks, hoping to use it in the next quiz to keep them alive. Additionally, River point to lesions on Frank’s wrists and ankles too, indicating that perhaps he was tied up. Ocean enters soon after, asking the group have they concluded how Frank was murdered with a resounding no as a response. Jennifer ponders a moment, before asking if they can flip Frank on his back, with Ocean confirming they are allowed to. The men push Frank onto his back revealing various wounds on his back. With this latest information, the group get to scribbling in their notepads as Ocean tells them she is going to visit the other group before they reconvene.

Arriving to Frank’s bedroom, Ocean enters to six players scattered around the room, wearing plastic gloves, and looking at random items scattered around the mess created after a struggle between Frank and the killer. Before Ocean can attract any attention to herself, Lily comes out from under the bed, brandishing a kitchen knife in her hand exclaiming “I FOUND THE WEAPON GUYS!”, treating it like an escape room. In a confessional Kaz admits to finding Lily to be treating the experience in poor taste as Frank has just been murdered. All heads turn to Lily before they swarm around and take turns holding the weapon. With everyone noting the obvious dry blood on the blade and Camille finding rope behind the bedside desk, Ocean tells them that they seem to have found the major clues and must wrap up as it is time for everyone to reconvene in the lounge soon.

As they are heading upstairs from The Morgue, Jennifer is ahead of the other when Summer turns to Anabel, Saul and River, feeling very comfortable with them and shares her belief that Camille is the killer, convinced since Jennifer pointed out the black nail polish, Camille was definitely wearing nail black polish that “matched her drab look.” Saul instantly is on board with Summer, informing the group that the night prior, Camille told him she was suspicious of Frank and then he died. Anabel and River both appreciate Summer willing to offer her belief of the killer, feeling how closed off everyone else is. In a confessional Anabel admits that while she is not lying to Summer about appreciating her openness, she finds it suspicious that she is pushing Camille so hard.

With the groups back together, they eat from the lunch buffet and split off to mingle and share information, trusting each other to provide evidence that will aid them in the quiz that night. Summer spreads herself around, making sure to speak to every group that does not have Camille present continuing to share her belief that Camille is the murderer and that she will confidently answer every question in relation to her number one suspect. Feeling as though her read on the game is being ignored, Summer becomes frustrated with the group not tr eating with respect. Larry takes it upon himself to pull Summer to one side and tell her that although he and everyone appreciates her enthusiasm, that Camille is not the only woman wearing black nail polish and hopes Summer does not tunnel vision on one person this early in the game as it will get her eliminated very soon. Summer understands where her newfound older brother is coming from, hugging, and thanking him for clearing her head, promising to take a backseat and allow others to piece together ideas.

With the groups back together, they eat from the lunch buffet and split off to mingle and share information, trusting each other to provide evidence that will aid them in the quiz that night. Summer spreads herself around, making sure to speak to every group that does not have Camille present continuing to share her belief that Camille is the murderer and that she will confidently answer every question in relation to her number one suspect. Feeling as though her read on the game is being ignored, Summer becomes frustrated with the group not treating her with respect. Harry takes it upon himself to pull Summer to one side and tell her that although he and everyone appreciates her enthusiasm, that Camille is not the only woman wearing black nail polish and hopes Summer does not tunnel vision on one person this early in the game as it will get her eliminated very soon. Summer understands where her newfound gay best friend is coming from, hugging, and thanking him for clearing her head, promising to take a backseat and allow others to piece together ideas.

After talking to every person in the mansion, Larry sits and revises the information he was told and the information he spread, writing notes up on each player and what they told him or what someone else told him about them. After finishing this he realises that he has nothing to write on Jennifer, finding it strange that she is playing so reserved after they shared a moment together with River and Quan the day prior. Later at the dinner table, Larry takes it upon himself to question Jennifer’s mentality in the game, asking her why she is the only person not saying who she is most suspect of. Jennifer is quick to point out that she has spoken to the people she is most comfortable with about her theories and if they are not blabbermouths spreading other people’s theories to create drama like him then she made the right call in who she trusts. Before Larry can respond, she holds a hand up to silence him, further asking why he found it necessary to bring this up at dinner in front of everyone if it is such an issue, highlighting that it is incredibly suspicious, and he would benefit from using his mouth to eat right now instead of losing trust with those around him. Following her advice, Larry scoffs and continues eating, trying to not be bothered by the exchange while everyone else adverts their eyes.

Following dinner, the contestants do not have much time to chat before gong is sounded and the nightly quiz commences. Again, one at a time they are taken into the study and sat in front of a computer, with some repeat questions and many newer ones popping up, some unrelated to the killer’s identity about how the murder was committed. Eventually all eleven of them complete it before wishing each other a good night with Jennifer quickly making amends with Larry, not wanting to end things on bad terms should either of them die. They embrace and he tells her that it is just a game and he does not take it personally. Some time into the night with the quiz results tallied, the masked murderer once again leaves their room in the cover of darkness eager to take out another innocent player. This time their eyes are between under the radar player Kaz and recently confrontational Larry.