“I’m a priest, not a saint.” It took exactly 25 minutes for the third series of The Traitors to deliver its first slice of joyous, unadulterated camp – a one-liner destined to appear on t-shirts, mugs, and tea towels from now until the end of time. It’ll appear in a thousand sermons across the country this Sunday. That’s the genius of this show – one of the best reality TV formats ever invented.
Note: There are some spoilers ahead for the first two episodes of The Traitors series 3.
The Traitors passed the “difficult second series” test with aplomb last year, delivering a run that was perhaps even more impressive than its first. Like many a Sith lord in Star Wars, baby-faced traitor Harry Clark slew his master – the almost comically evil Paul Gorton – to reach the final and leave the castle £95,000 richer after delivering a final betrayal to his friend Mollie Pearce.
Such is the quality of The Traitors’ casting that Harry, Paul, and Mollie are all bona fide TV stars now. Mollie, for example, will compete on this month’s new series of Dancing On Ice. That’s not to mention the likes of Diane Carson and Charlotte Chilton, who have also parlayed their Traitors experience into celebrity status.
But it’s this that could put The Traitors in peril. As we embark upon The Traitors series 3, some alarm bells have started ringing. Already, this year’s characters seem more self-consciously colourful than ever before. They know this is as much about TV as it is about the game itself – and they know there are financial rewards far greater than the £100k prize pot on offer if they play the TV game better than the actual game. Any regular Love Island viewer knows this realisation can be a problem.
For starters, a decent chunk of this year's Traitors contestants started lying way before the game even began. Lisa – who delivered that delicious line from the first paragraph – is hiding the fact she’s a priest and Leanne is pretending to be a nail technician instead of a soldier, while Yin chose not to tell everybody she’s a communications expert. Hilariously, she still became the first victim of the traitors, who deemed her smart enough to be a threat – probably because she kept openly talking about her “social capital” rather than speaking like a human.
Charlotte is already lying on The Traitors series 3
(Credit: BBC/Studio Lambert)
The most ridiculous liar already, though, is Charlotte – a business director from London. She has entered the castle with a fake Welsh accent, on the basis that it’s statistically trustworthy. That’s a clever move if you don’t think about it for too long, though she definitely should’ve clocked that the producers would put in a real Welsh person to rumble her. Charlotte will have breathed a sigh of relief when Cardiff-dweller Elen was eliminated at the second round table.
It seems clear that people have decided going in with a gimmick – we also have siblings in the castle this year – is the best way to make your application form stand out. You’re certainly guaranteed a bit of screen time in the early episodes so that you can explain your ruse to the audience. Beyond that, though, there’s little value in these sorts of fibs – irrelevant as they are to the game. The only thing that can happen is your lie comes out, therefore making you look untrustworthy enough to vote out. There aren’t very many ways to actually sniff out a traitor, so people often decide to vote on pure vibes.
In any other reality show, I’d be genuinely worried about this creeping sense of confected drama. The Traitors, though, feels more resilient to it than most. The aforementioned Diane came with a ruse last year – fellow competitor Ross was secretly her son – that provided some incredible moments, from Diane’s iconic delivery of the reveal to Ross’s surreptitious wink at the camera. Their trickery had literally zero impact on the game, but it gave the audience an extra layer to enjoy.
Producers must be careful to ensure that these ridiculous personas don’t override the simplicity of the game and the social dynamics it relies upon. They have thus far avoided the common reality TV desire to tweak and twist and only made tweaks to the format sparingly. This year’s finale twist, for example – banished contestants in the last episode will keep their traitor/faithful alignment secret – feels like a genuine improvement to mix up the way the endgame works.
So it’s a case of us viewers trusting the process. Certainly, the first two episodes suggest that The Traitors is every bit as brilliant as it has ever been. Again, the casting team have pulled a blinder in producing another group packed with the right mix of personalities – one contestant ridiculously declared another to be “100%” a traitor based on a hug. It’s so great to have this show back with its silly cloaks, Claudia Winkleman’s absurdly chunky knitwear, and its buffet of betrayal. Get those fake Welsh accents at the ready.
The Traitors is airing three episodes per week on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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