I have never been a fan of reality TV. Love Island was often discussed at school, but the premise made me feel uncomfortable. Other shows such as Too Hot to Handle, Love is Blind and Naked Attraction shaped my impression of the genre. At a push, perhaps Drive to Survive counts, but really it’s an advertisement for Formula 1 masquerading as a documentary. So, when The Traitors, the British adaptation of Dutch reality game show De Verraders, first aired in 2022, I did not pay attention. All I knew was the premise, so I referred to it as “Among Us in a Scottish castle,” and that was it.
I was right, but also very wrong. It had to be doing something right to be so successful, with Series 1 averaging 4 million viewers per episode. Series 2 increased to 7 million, and the show reached 9 million with Series 3. The final of The Celebrity Traitors was watched by 15 million people, almost unheard of in today’s streaming landscape. De Verraders has spin-offs in over 27 countries across 4 continents, so it has tapped into something global as well as local.
When Series 4 premiered on New Year’s Day 2026, I was not planning on watching. My sister and mum were, and I joined them on a whim, and enjoyed the first episode enough to return. By the end of episode three and the first week, The Traitors had sunk its claws into me, and I was hooked.
It is not a perfect show, but I believe those imperfections have helped it to captivate millions. The Traitors holds up a mirror to society, and shows that when people’s backs are against the wall, they fall back on social biases, consciously or not. Netty and Judy, women of colour, were the first players to be murdered and banished this series. A lot of the conversation online has been around Judy’s banishment, as she received 16 of 21 votes (76%). She fell under suspicion because contestant Sam decided her personality had changed based on little evidence (and having only known each other for twenty-four hours), so in the end, she was banished for being herself.
This is not the first time this has happened. In Celebrity Traitors, Niko Omilana and Temeka Empson were the first players to be banished: Niko with 56% of vote, and Temeka with 25% in a round where ten players received at least one vote. The further the game progresses, the fewer the players, and therefore the higher percentage each vote carries; receiving so many near the start is staggering, given how little evidence there is. As mentioned earlier, this often comes down to players falling back on perceived biases.
Of course, there are examples where this is not the case. Cat Burns was selected as a traitor at the start of Celebrity Traitors and made the final. In season three, Minah reached episode 10. However, every season there seems to be the same issue, rehashing the same discussion online; it has sadly become a trend. The reaction to contestant Roxy on social media is a good example. She has caught the most flack, whilst other faithful such as James, Ellie and Amanda were just as wrong.
Speaking of Amanda, there is a focus on the contestants’ jobs that often feels strange. Despite being a retired police detective, Amanda ended up suspecting innocent faithfuls and trusted traitor Rachel more than anyone before her banishment. The same went for Maz, another retired police officer. After Amanda’s banishment and the revelation of her former career, her suspicions were constantly used by the traitors to distract the faithful, eventually catching up with Jade – whom Amanda had suspected from episode one – in the final. As a psychologist, you might think Ellie would be well suited to finding traitors, but she did not suspect a single one before her late banishment, masterminded by Rachel. If you are quiet and do not speak up, you tend to go farther. The big personalities are mostly removed early, especially if they go over the top at breakfast.
It is not only biases about skin colour, either. Take Jessie, a hairdresser from Hull with a stammer, who repeatedly pushed her (correct) theory about Stephen. However, few players gave it much weight, and after Jessie was “murdered”, Stephen faced little suspicion. By contrast, contestants such as Judie, Ellie and Ross – and even James in the semi-final – were banished on far less evidence.
One often-overlooked aspect of the show’s success is its editing. Beyond the sweeping drone shots of the Scottish Highlands, it is obvious the show must film tens of hours of player interactions inside Ardross Castle, so the fact that so much material has been condensed into twelve hour-long episodes is remarkable. It is also a smart way to direct and misdirect the audience’s focus, and to create an overall narrative for the season to follow. The weekly three-episode arcs reminded me of Andor’s final season, and how each one built upon the previous to keep the story moving.
In the case of The Traitors, Week 1 centred on the mystery of the secret traitor, culminating in the cliffhanger of their identity being revealed. Week 2 dealt with the fallout from that reveal. Fiona’s outburst accusing Rachel of being a traitor occurred towards the end of the second episode of the week, matching the lowest point in the three-act story structure and leading to a confrontation in the next episode. Week 3 was harder to pin down, but the overall feeling presented was that the Faithful were on the back foot. The big personalities were being eliminated, and at the roundtables, it was as if Stephen and Rachel did not exist. The rise and fall of former barrister (and alumna of the University of East Anglia’s Crime Fiction MA) Harriet Tyce was contained within a single episode. Week 4 was the endgame, with an eleventh-hour threat that the Faithful might finally suspect Rachel and Stephen – until there were not enough of them left and the Traitors won, which felt like the right outcome of the game.
The editing is so effective that people have complained that the secret relationships amounted to nothing, as if they were plot points dropped from a narrative series. Of course, the series would be nothing without its contestants, and the Traitors themselves seem to be at the heart of this series’ success. Stephen, the man of a thousand facial expressions, flamboyant fashion, and a traitor with nine lives, and the calm, calculated Rachel made for a fantastic double act. So much so that you really wanted them to win, as they were playing the game far better than the others. Had Jack not changed his vote in the semi-final, this might have been different, but realistically, a dual traitor win was the best outcome for the series. It is no secret that trust is becoming rarer around the world, and the UK is hardly immune to that trend. So to see a game built on betrayal and deception end by rewarding loyalty and trust felt like a reminder that good things can still happen – even if the pair had to deceive 20 other people to win.
A lot has been made of this most recent season. Some have argued that it has become too nasty; an article in The Guardian even suggested the show had lost “a bit of its soul.” I would argue that this is precisely what has made The Traitors so fascinating to watch – and why I plan to work through the previous seasons. The show is like looking into a mirror of our society, and sometimes it’s impossible to like what we see reflected back at us.
Image Credit: Upsplash
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