On Jan. 12, 2023, a reality TV series that had a ‘murder mystery game’ twist called “The Traitors” premiered on Peacock and captured a lot of attention. Exactly one year later, season 2 was released.
“The Traitors” was the number one original reality series on BBC. The show also won an award at the Primetime Emmy Awards for “Outstanding Casting For a Reality Program.”
The show is loosely based on a Dutch series called “De Verraders,” which was created in 2021. It is also based on the party game “Mafia.”
This show is hosted by Alan Cumming, a Scottish actor who starred in movies such as “Circle of Friends” and “Nightcrawler” and played Fegan Floop in the “Spy Kids” trilogy.
“The Traitors” has roughly 20 contestants. There are 2 teams, named the “Faithful” and the “Traitors.” The objective of the game is to eliminate all other contestants on the other team to take home the grand prize of $250,000.
During the day, the contestants for both teams solve challenges to either add money to the grand prize or get a shield to be protected from being “killed.” Although the shield may prevent instead of help from being killed, it doesn’t grant immunity from being eliminated from the group vote.
At the end of the day, all contestants sit down at a round table and decide who should be voted off the show and why that person should be banished.
At night, contestants from the “Traitors” come together to then decide who to eliminate from the game.
When a contestant gets eliminated, they have to show what team they were on. If the contestant that is being eliminated is from the “Traitors,” the team of “Traitors” can decide whether or not to recruit another player to join their team.
For the “Faithful” contestants, they won’t find out who has been eliminated until the next day at breakfast.
Once the game has come down to the final four, the contestants get to vote on how to continue the game. They can either “end the game” or “banish again.”
If a single vote picks “banish again,” the contestants will sit again and pick who to banish, which circles back to another choice of “end the game” or “banish again.”
The “Traitors” must eliminate all of the “Faithful” contestants to get the grand prize. For the “Faithful” contestants, if they eliminated the “Traitors,” then they would split the grand prize.
If a single “Traitor” contestant makes it to the end, they steal the entire grand prize from the “Faithful” group.
At the end of season 1, Cirie Fields, who had been on several seasons of the show “Survivor” secured the win for the “Traitors.”
Will the “Traitors” win back-to-back seasons, or will the “Faithful” prevail and take the win away?
You can now stream “The Traitors” on Peacock.
