Why We’re All Obsessed With The Traitors UK — And What It Says About Us

I can reveal…

That I am and always have been, a Faithful.

So, I promise - sincerely and from the bottom of my heart - that there will be NO spoilers in this article. Take my words as you wish. You can choose to believe me, because I am telling the truth, and read to the end safe in the knowledge that I have not given a single spoiler. Or, you can choose to believe that I am a liar. That I will spoil every detail of the new season of The Traitors so far.

But I… would never include a spoiler.

Because I am true to my word. I am what you see. What you read.

‘Oh, she’s clearly lying…’ I can hear you think.

‘Why would she say she’s a Faithful if she’s a Faithful…’ you wonder.

‘I don’t trust her…’ you whisper to another.

And that’s what gets us all so hooked. Human behaviour and brain trickery. Watching herd mentality unfold. If one person suspects another, it snowballs.

Are we our own minds, or are we just feeding off each other? It’s only a game, at the end of the day… but is it?

When a Game Becomes a Cultural Moment

So yes, everybody is beating the January blues by diving deep into the BBC’s latest season of The Traitors. It’s hard to escape. The real-life Cluedo-esque TV show has been thrilling audiences all over the world for the past three years, following 22 strangers who are either innocent Faithfuls or murderous Traitors.

Since the explosion of streaming entertainment, its been hard to find good telly that everybody can experience at the same time. We’re nostalgic for the days when we couldn’t wait to get to school the next day and talk about what we’d all watched the night before. The Traitors has brought this back, creating water-cooler moments galore.

The daily team challenges to build up a prize fund are reminiscent of The Crystal Maze and the banishing at the Round Table has viewers on the edge of their seats, screaming at the telly. One minute we’re watching games with chalices and hay bales; the next we’re plunged into sudden betrayals, vague - and sometimes wild - accusations, and the tension of watching contestants staring at each other in silence.

Beautifully shot in the Scottish Highlands, with gameplay taking place in a magnificent castle, this social experiment is a lethal cocktail of Agatha Christie and medieval fantasy. Thanks to the presenter Claudia Winkleman - and of course, her fringe - The Traitors takes itself just seriously enough to be addictive, but not so seriously it becomes pretentious. There is plenty of outfit inspiration too, if you’re into knee boots and tartan.

Are We Addicted to Lies, Betrayal and Manipulation?

The Traitors has certainly brought a freshness to reality TV. In many ways, it’s not reality TV at all because the behaviour of the contestants isn’t shaped by public votes. Nobody is playing up for the cameras or engineering a cringeworthy scandal. The players are trying to win a prize; to find the Traitors, or remain a Traitor. That is their only task. And we observe how they tackle this.

Yes, there are lies, betrayal and manipulation, but there are no contestants screeching at each other.  There are no hard feelings (although Paloma wasn’t very happy with Alan…) We have witnessed odd tactics in previous seasons, such as Charlotte giving herself a fake Welsh accent to sound more “honest” and Leanne hiding her ex-military background by tottering around dressed like Barbie. But rather than feeling braindead from bingeing on trash TV, The Traitors forces us to look inward.

We question how we’re perceived in every day life, what instant prejudices we might hold, and how we want others to treat us. In short, this show weaponises human psychology.

We might be entertained by outdoor games in the Scottish countryside, complete with creepy masked actors jumping out of the woods, but we’re addicted to watching the unravelling of trust, paranoia and social survival. For the smallest reason, contestants are hit with sneaky accusations. Maybe one person took too long to pull on a rope. Maybe they didn’t speak up quickly enough. Maybe they coughed at the wrong moment. Anything - literally anything - can be a red flag.

As viewers, we have our favourites, but they will be banished or murdered at any time, for any reason, leaving us questioning who we might have banished or murdered if we were in their position. The Traitors is communal television, devised to fuel debate, and this is whole heartedly welcomed in what has become a lonely and isolated society.

When Watching Isn’t Enough Anymore

This year, the stakes have been raised, too. When it was announced there was a Secret Traitor, I heard myself shout out loud, “Yesssss!” This is the first TV show I have avidly watched with my children, something we are all invested in together.

During the Celebrity version last year, we kept saying how we wished we didn’t know who the Traitors were, so we could understand what it would be like to play the game. Then surprise, surprise, this new twist was announced. The Traitors, Faithfuls AND the public would not know who one Secret Traitor is. Not only are we watching… we are now playing.

The twists and turns don’t end there though. I promised no spoilers, so I will remain a Faithful in that respect. But there is a theory currently circulating after a ‘family tree’ painting of the contestants appeared on the castle wall. This came shortly after the early reveal that two contestants knew each other in the real world. Since then, another two contestants have been discovered to be related. Is this another mystery we will be hooked on? Stay off socials if you don’t want to know more.

You see?! No real spoilers. I’m just giving you a gentle nudge to catch up!