The Traitors is reality TV at its most immersive, dramatic and addictive

When reality series The Traitors arrived on British screens in November, it did so quietly, like a thief in the night. Reality TV shows are ten a penny, and much of last year’s output, which included Next Level Chef (Gordon Ramsay reduces young cooks to tears) and The Ultimatum (reluctant partners are dragged to the altar), was typically forgettable.

But then word started to spread about a wildly addictive show set in a 19th-century Scottish castle where members of the public undertake team challenges by day and stab each other in the back by night. Two months on, The Traitors has been streamed more than 28mn times on BBC iPlayer, and has spawned an American version, The Traitors US. 

The series is an adaptation of a Dutch game show called De Verraders and pits a small band of secretly assigned “traitors” against a majority group of “faithfuls”. Each evening, under the watchful eye of host Claudia Winkleman, contestants gather around a table to “banish” someone they suspect of treachery. Cue much weeping and gnashing as, more often than not, the banished person reveals themselves to have been faithful all along.

That same evening, the traitors meet in secret to pick a person in the group to “murder” (eject from the game) overnight. All are vying for prize money raised as a team through the daily challenges. This, in the final episode, can be split between the surviving faithfuls, but if any traitors make it to the end, they pocket the lot.

On paper, it might sound like a zhuzhed-up version of Cluedo or the children’s game wink murder. In practice, it is a brilliant recipe for multi-layered manoeuvring and top-tier bluffing. Emotions run high at the roundtable discussions where individuals are called on to defend their shady behaviour. Viewers know who the traitors are and can bask in contestants’ hubris as they declare themselves terrific judges of character.

For those around the table, the bonds forged through cosy daytime chats in which they reassure each other that “it’s not personal” are quickly forgotten as they fight to stay in the game. The herd mentality is strong, and the speed with which the majority change tack and go after one person is enough to give you whiplash.

The speed with which the majority change tack and go after one person is enough to give you whiplash

Like many reality series, The Traitors has developed its own lexicon. Everyone, traitor or not, feels compelled to declare they are “100 per cent faithful” at roughly three-minute intervals. In the British series, one man who had been flying comfortably under the radar for weeks found himself the focus of suspicion, prompting him to leap to his feet and, between panicked sobs, shout: “I swear on everything, I’m faithful. If you want me to swear on anyone’s life I will.” Ten minutes later, he was revealed as a wrong ’un.

This is the kind of drama that we fans of The Traitors now live for. Having powered through the British series, I am now working my way through the US version, which is hosted by Scottish actor Alan Cumming, who gleefully chews the scenery in an array of loud tartan suits.

Indeed, the American show, though filmed in the same castle, feels like a different beast. The British series featured a call centre worker, an estate agent and a spa therapist. It harked back to the early days of reality TV, when contestants were everyday people, rather than influencers focused on post-show career-building.

The US version, however, favours more cartoonish characters, half of whom have been plucked from shows such as The Bachelor and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. The result is a more confrontational spectacle, with a cast clearly playing to the cameras — “I’m so pumped to murder someone,” declares one newly recruited traitor.

Nonetheless, it is testament to the show’s clever and adaptable format, and the skills required to win it, that both versions are instantly addictive and the results unpredictable. And, at a time when the reality juggernaut Love Island continues to be mired in controversy over the welfare of contestants, there is something sweetly innocent about a show that essentially provides players with a puzzle to solve.

In blending the present-day reality format with an old-fashioned murder-mystery, the creators of The Traitors have come up with something that is fresh, immersive and, outside of the show’s own rules, resistant to the manipulations of producers. I am, as they say, 100 per cent faithful.

‘The Traitors’ and ‘The Traitors US’ are on BBC iPlayer. ‘The Traitors US’ is on Peacock in the US

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