By Michael Pedro
In recent years, social deduction games like Mafia, Blood on the Clocktower, and Among Us have become extremely popular. In these games, players try to reveal other players’ hidden roles or team allegiances while concealing their own. Enter Peacock’s “The Traitors”, which combines aspects of social deduction games with those of reality television programming. The show got its inspiration from the Dutch show “De Verraders” and is hosted by Scottish actor Alan Cumming. The show has variants hosted by other people in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Now on its third season, the American variant of the show (which this article is about) gets reality stars from shows like “Survivor,” “The Real Housewives,” “The Challenge,” “Big Brother,” and more while also getting some notable public figures and even ordinary people.
The show runs in a simple manner. First, the players are given the role of either Faithful or Traitor. By day, the cast does missions to gain money for the prize pot, which caps at $250,000 and is split between the winners. These missions can range from finding bird statues in the castle by their sound to dangling from a helicopter to drop money bags into a ring of fire. In the evening, the cast sits at a round table to discuss who they think are Traitors in an attempt to banish them from the game. At night, the Traitors choose a Faithful to “murder”, eliminating them from the game. In some scenarios, players can obtain a Shield, protecting them from “murder” that night.
The first season featured ten episodes of the game, with an eleventh episode for a reunion. Twenty people, including “Big Brother” players Rachel Reilly and Cody Calafiore, “Survivor” contestant Cirie Fields, and “The Bachelor” Arie Luyendyk Jr., took off to Scotland to play in the inaugural season of “The Traitors.” Three people were selected to be Traitors, and they lied, deceived, and backstabbed their way out of numerous sticky situations. In the end, only four players remained, and the winner got a grand prize total of $250,000.
Season two changed up numerous things from the first season. It still featured a number of reality stars, like “The Real Housewives” star Phaedra Parks and “Survivor” contestants Parvati Shallow and Sandra Diaz-Twine, but it also featured John Bercow, a former Speaker in the British House of Commons. This season started with only two Traitors, but a third was quickly added to the turret. Midway through the game, a twenty-first player, Kate Chastain, returning from the first season, joined the fray. The game was also made more challenging for the Traitors as cliques formed, and they were tasked with committing their “murder” in plain sight in an early episode. Once the Traitor numbers dwindled, the ability to offer a Faithful ultimatum was introduced to the Traitors. The ultimatum was simple: join the Traitors, or it’s game over.
The third and most recent season was released this year, and it’s by far the one with the most plot twists. Right off the bat, the twenty contestants, like “The Bachelorette” star Gabby Windey, “Big Brother” rivals Danielle Reyes and Britney Haynes, and even British aristocrat Lord Ivar Mountbatten took to Alan Cumming’s castle to take part. However, before they even set foot in the door, a twenty-first contestant, “Survivor” legend Rob Mariano, appeared. Three Traitors were selected, and a fourth joined the turret as a staggering twenty-three contestants participated in the competition. In the ending phases of the game, one player was granted the power of The Seer: a power that allows them to learn if one player is a Faithful or Traitor.
I couldn’t care less about most reality shows, but this one stuck with me. The social deduction aspect of the show was fun, and since the viewers know who the Traitors are from the get-go, it’s entertaining watching people go off the rails with incorrect information and eliminating Faithfuls from the game. The show was renewed for a fourth and fifth season in August 2024, and if season three is any indication, the show will only continue to get bigger.
