Reviews Series / The Traitors

The TV Equivalent to a Smoking Habit

It is a new year, and about time I did something a little different. So Here is my first ever review of a reality tv show, The Traitors, a daffy gameshow that has just finished its first UK season. I don't watch any reality tv these days, but I had this one recommended to me because of its novel psychological game-show format.

If you've ever played campfire games like Mafia, Werewolf or the digital equivalent Among Us, you already understand the gist of The Traitors. There are a bunch of contestants and three of their number are secretly designated as "traitors", who pick a person to eliminate from the game each night. It falls to the rest of the players (called "the faithful") to suss out who the traitors are and vote to eliminate a suspect each day. Both teams are fighting to win prize money, and won't win until they've completely eliminated the other team. Traitors adds a spooky intrigue theme to the familiar format, with castles and ominous hooded robes. It all looks ridiculous but is necessary to raise the stakes and get us to buy into the idea that the losing contestants are being killed off.

The 20 odd contestants were handpicked on the basis of who will create the most dramatic television; the qualities they prioritized were arrogance, narcissism, ignorance, and emotional fragility. There is barely a scene goes by where someone isn't in floods of tears or shrieking in rage. Players seem to immediately forget the premise of the game, and take maximum offense whenever they fall under suspicion. Obviously the show runners are doing a lot of editing to emphasize the most exciting or passionate bits, but the contestants make that job really easy.

The fun of the show is in seeing people resort to the most moronic ways possible to determine who the traitors are. Typically, the person with the biggest mouth will direct everyone's attention to a random person that didn't pass a vibe check. In the first episode alone, someone is suggested to be a traitor simply because she didn't raise her drink like everyone else when they all had a toast; The woman in question had only one arm and couldn't reach a glass. There is a general view that if a person had ever lied, or simply not been completely transparent about something not even directly related to the show, then they are the natural suspect.

As with a lot of reality shows, the viewing experience is defined by negativity. It wants you, the viewer, to dislike the players and feel a cozy superiority to them. It's so easy to find yourself pointing at the tv and saying things like, "what an idiot, I wouldn't do it that way!" Of course, it is all manipulated and contrived to make you think that way. The Traitors is entertaining enough to watch, but in a toxic way. Like you know it isn't good for you to be goaded into acting this way, at real normal people. I think I prefer to jeer at fictional idiots instead.