How to win at Traitors

Observations based on Season 2 in the UK - SPOILERS for season 2 UK and season 2 Australia!!! All comments welcome. Please share with others. The more subscribers the better.

The Traitors is a reality TV show which has just finished its second season in Britain. It has become a worldwide phenomenon, created by Dutchman Marc Pos who spent six years pitching it to sceptical Dutch broadcasters before it finally aired as De Verraders in 2021.

In the UK version, 22 people gather in a Scottish castle and are divided at the outset by host Claudia Winkleman into three or four “traitors” and the remainder as “faithfuls”. Viewers know who the traitors are so there is no whodunnit element. Contestants are whittled down each day by “banishments” (where the contestants vote out who they think is most likely a traitor) and “murders” (where the traitors decide on a faithful they want out of the way). In the final, when the number reduces to four or three, the remaining players can agree to end the game or they can continue banishments until only two people are left. When the game ends, if there are no traitors left the faithful share the prize pot but if there is any traitor or traitors in their midst then they take the money.

Traitors are bound to conceal their identities and those of the other traitors. It’s stressful - up to 17 hours a day for two weeks living a lie in front of multiple people who have nothing else to do other than catch you out. Not just the occasional mumbled falsehood to a boss or partner who is barely listening to you anyway. But people are surprisingly good at it, perhaps worryingly good - one of the attractions of the show. Can you ever really trust anyone? This season’s winner Harry, a traitor from the beginning, said he got a lovely little tingly feeling every time someone said they knew he was a faithful, thinking “you’ve got no idea”. Scary.

Surprisingly, in 31 seasons worldwide, it has only happened once (in the Russian version) that a traitor blurted out the identity of the other traitors, requiring the organisers to reset the traitors.

Traitors does have some physical challenges but unusually for a reality TV show it can include old and ugly people, so for many of us this may be our only chance for reality TV stardom, except possibly the Undateables. So here are a few DOs and DON’Ts to give you a chance of victory if you get selected for the next series:

DO

1. adhere to standard reality TV protocol

   1. hug everyone as much as possible, even when you hardly know them

   2. say you love them with all your heart (even when banishing them or stabbing them in the back),

   3. feign being overcome by emotion when talking of your family or a difficult personal issue

   4. justify each decision by saying you have to trust your gut or some nonsense like “I can only back the things I can back”. Will usually elicit thoughtful and sympathetic nods of agreement round the table and maybe a consoling stroke on the shoulder or back

   5. always say “yourself” instead of “you” as in “I’ve voted for yourself”

   6. appear distraught when a rival exits the show, unless they are a traitor, when extravagant over-celebration is required. (In fact, though de rigueur, the difference in reactions is pretty pointless - if traitor numbers drop then they recruit others so the game will continue anyway until only two or three people are left. People have to leave one way or another. New traitors are possibly easier to detect but it may be better to quietly identify a traitor and stay close to them till the final)

2. if you are a faithful, appear gullible and easily led. This way traitors think they can manipulate you and won’t murder you.

3. if you are a traitor, be quick to turn on a fellow traitor before he can turn on you. There’s a strong Goodfellas vibe with each traitor gradually turning into Jimmy Conway, whacking everyone on the inside

4. stick to the nicest version of your personality but don’t appear too bland - may suggest deception

5. try and build alliances but don’t get too obviously close to one person as you risk being murdered to a) undermine that person ahead of a bid to try to banish them and b) cast suspicion on that person as a traitor because murdering their best friend would be a classic misdirection. (I know, me neither, but these were the reasons why the traitors murdered Charlotte’s friend Charlie)

6. contribute at round table by making respectful observations backed up by evidence. Unfounded or aggressive accusations tend to backfire, as does saying too little

7. if you are faithful, only show your hand in the final. Turn at the end on the traitor who thinks he controls you (like Jas did and like Millie almost did with Harry)

8. if you are traitors, rather than constantly stabbing each other in the back, consider whether two of you are prepared to share the money - though this may not be easy. In Traitors Australia season 2 three Traitors won but were then given a prisoners’ dilemma. They could each choose to share or steal. If only one chose to steal they would get all the money but if more than one chose to steal they would all get nothing, In the event all chose to steal and got nothing. But there have been 18 out of 31 seasons worldwide where traitors have won (and 8 of those where two or more traitors have won). So collaboration among traitors is possible

9. if you are traitors, try extra hard in the challenges stressing constantly what a team player you are and how faithful you are. Go for shields even though you don’t need them, to confuse people and stop faithfuls being protected. (Incidentally, it would be more interesting having a faithfuls pot with the money won and a traitors pot with the money not won. That would incentivise traitors to sabotage the challenges and throw amusingly unwarranted suspicion on poorly performing faithfuls.)

DON’T

1. be old - of 22 contestants in UK season 2, 13 were over 30 and only 1 of them made it to the last 8. The oldest person went out first and the second oldest went out second. Harsh.

2. be blatantly devious - anyone trying to be clever or a bit outspoken is quickly accused of “traitorous behaviour”. Stirring the pot or leaking statements made in confidence is a fatal mistake leading to swift banishment (Sonja)

3. behave inconsistently - players come under (usually unfounded) suspicion for being nice initially but then becoming more guarded later, as if they have something to hide (Ant) or being pleasant around the house but more guarded at the round table (Johnny)

4. keep saying how astute you are – Aubrey did this and was murdered immediately

5. be a clairvoyant - you will get murdered, entirely foreseeably (Tracey)

6. appear too nervous - stung by being voted the most sheep-like contestant Brian tried to act more assertively at the round table but rapidly unravelled into a large panicking ball of verbal wool and got banished

7. be too defensive - pushing back too strongly or eye-rolling or getting angry if anyone accuses you shows you must “be hiding something” (Ant, Jasmine). Say something like “no problem mate or “I hear what you are saying, man” or “I still love you, babe”. Don’t respond by accusing someone else (“deflecting, dude”)

8. be too accusatory - who you accuse is liable to accuse you back. If you are right and the person you are accusing is a traitor then they may murder you, although sometimes the traitors suppose that this may put too much heat on them. So an aggressive accuser can survive for a bit though their time tends to run out before long (Diane, Zack)

9. be an arse - ultimately, people will not want to spend two weeks cooped up with you and they will get rid of you no matter how logical or perceptive you claim to be (Aubrey, Ant, Sonja)

10. be a strong, influential character. This can make you liable to a banishment if there is a pretext (Paul), but more likely you will be murdered (Diane, Kyra). Traitors hate people like you.

11. say absolutely nothing - going under the radar is fine but like any animal group the contestants will occasionally pick on someone defenceless who is deemed too quiet and who must be hiding something (Meg). Most of us have guilty memories of doing something similar in our lives.

12. be too nice (Charlie), unless the traitors think you are in their pocket. Traitors will sometimes kill someone entirely innocuous because they are not going to get banished so there’s no other way to get them out.

13. start the round table by saying “I know everyone thinks I am a traitor, but..” (Evie, Jasmine) This never works. People want to take a herd decision so as not to draw attention to themselves and in order to share the guilt. This sort of comment signals to everyone else that there is a consensus formed or about to be formed at your expense

14. trust your gut. Most people do, and their guts have a statistically terrible record. Though in the final Mollie seemed to overrule her gut and voted with her heart to choose her friend Harry over Jas. Don’t do that either - use your head – people are out to deceive you. It’s a game, innit?

15. if you are a traitor, overplay your role. Paul’s display was initially a masterclass, but he fell victim to hubris, over-estimating his popularity by wrongly expecting himself to be saved from the dungeon by popular vote then finding it hard to explain why someone as high profile as him was never murdered. His relish for betraying fellow traitors meant that Harry realised he needed to move fast to avoid becoming lunch himself. Harry himself nearly came undone by his own taste for betraying his fellow traitors, with Andrew and Jas nearly seeing him off in the final. But Mollie’s devotion to him got him over the line. He is treating her to a holiday out of his £95,000 prize money (or so he says).  Oh my days!