The Traitors (British TV series)

Last updated

The Traitors
The Traitors UK logo.png
Also known asThe Traitors UK
Genre
  • Reality
  • Game show
Based on
De Verraders
by
Presented by Claudia Winkleman
Theme music composerSam Watts [1]
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series2
No. of episodes24
Production
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running time59 minutes
Production company Studio Lambert
Original release
Network BBC One
Release29 November 2022 (2022-11-29) 
present

The Traitors (also known as The Traitors UK outside of the UK) is a British reality television series broadcast on BBC One, based on the Dutch series De Verraders , which premiered on 29 November 2022 and is hosted by Claudia Winkleman.

Contents

Following the premise of other versions of De Verraders, the show features a group of contestants participating in a game similar to the party game Mafia – In which a small group of contestants become the titular "Traitors", and must work together to eliminate the other contestants in order to win a grand prize, while the remaining contestants become "Faithful" and are tasked to discover and banish the Traitors by voting them out, to win the grand prize.

After the first episode aired on BBC One, it and the next two episodes were uploaded onto BBC iPlayer, with each subsequent episode being available on BBC One only, before being uploaded one at a time to iPlayer. [2] [3] [4]

On 27 February 2023, the BBC announced that the show had been renewed for a second series, with Winkleman returning to host. [5] On 3 November 2023, it was revealed that a third series had been commissioned, [6] as well as a celebrity version in the works.

Format

22 players arrive at a castle in the Scottish Highlands as "Faithful" contestants – hoping to share a prize fund worth up to £120,000. Among them are the "Traitors" – a group of contestants selected by host Claudia Winkleman on the first day, whose goal is to eliminate the Faithfuls and claim the prize for themselves.

On most nights, the Traitors come together and decide upon one Faithful contestant to "murder" – and that person will leave the game immediately. The remaining Faithful contestants will not know who has been eliminated until the following day when that person does not enter the Castle for breakfast. The group then take part in a mission to win money for the prize fund. In series one some challenges offered an opportunity for players to visit the Armoury – during which one player will randomly and secretly be awarded the Shield. In series two there was no armoury. Shields were hidden during the missions instead, and it was usually possible to see who had claimed them.

Holding a Shield awards a player immunity from being Murdered, but not from the Banishment Vote. An attempted murder on the shield holder will result in no player being eliminated by Murder.[ citation needed ]

At the end of each day, the players will participate in a Round Table, where the players discuss who to vote out before individually voting for a player to be banished. Players cast their votes privately before revealing their votes in turn to everyone once all votes are locked-in and may give a brief rationale for the vote. The person who received the most votes for banishment is banished from the game and must reveal their affiliation. [lower-alpha 1] During the game, if the amount of remaining Traitors drops to two then they will be given the option to recruit a Faithful to join them in lieu of committing a murder. The Faithful will have the option to decline, and declining may or may not result in them being Murdered immediately. If the Faithful accepts, they become a Traitor from that point on. [7]

After the final round table, the remaining players vote whether to end the game. A unanimous vote to end the game is required; if there is even one single vote to continue, another banishment vote is immediately conducted, before repeating the vote to end the game with the remaining players. When a unanimous vote to end the game occurs, or when there are only two players left, the remaining players reveal whether they are Faithful or Traitors. Should the Faithful contestants have eliminated all the Traitors, they will share the prize fund, but if any Traitors make it to the end, they win the money instead.

Production

The series was filmed at Ardross Castle (pictured in 2003) Ardross Castle - geograph.org.uk - 1234702.jpg
The series was filmed at Ardross Castle (pictured in 2003)

The UK show was commissioned by the BBC in October 2021 following the airing of the Dutch series earlier that year. The series was to be produced by Studio Lambert Scotland. [8]

The first series was recorded in May 2022, [9] and action took place at Ardross Castle [10] in Scotland.

Presenter Claudia Winkleman was initially hesitant to host the programme but after watching the Dutch series became "obsessed" and jokingly "booked a train to Scotland". [11]

Applicants had to submit a video application and go through several rounds of interviews, as well as a psychological assessment. Contestants were filmed constantly over a long day, finding out just before breakfast whether they had been 'murdered'. 'Murdered' contestants were driven away immediately and sent home, without being able to say any goodbyes. Contestants were assigned a welfare person to help with their well-being. [12]

In May 2023, Studio Lambert revealed 40,000 people had applied to take part in the second series, in comparison with 1,500 who had applied for series one. [13] On 1 September 2023, it was announced that filming had begun. [14]

In January 2024, it was announced that applications for Series 3 had begun. [15]

Series overview

Series overview
SeriesContestantsEpisodesOriginally airedWinner(s)Runner-UpPrizeTraitorsAverage viewers (millions)
First airedLast aired
1 221229 November 2022 (2022-11-29)22 December 2022 (2022-12-22)Aaron Evans
Hannah Byczkowski
Meryl Williams
(Faithfuls)
Wilfred "Wilf" Webster (Traitor)£101,500Alyssa Chan
Amanda Lovett
Wilfred "Wilf" Webster
Kieran Tompsett (from
ep. 11)
3.65
2 22123 January 2024 (2024-01-03)26 January 2024 (2024-01-26)Harry Clark (Traitor)Mollie Pearce (Faithful)£95,150Ash Bibi
Harry Clark
Paul Gorton
Miles Asteri (from ep. 2)
Andrew Jenkins (from ep. 8)
Ross Carson (from ep. 9)
6.76

Series 1 (2022)

No.
overall
No. in
series
Title [16] Original air dateUK viewers
(millions) [17]
11"Episode 1"29 November 2022 (2022-11-29)3.88
22"Episode 2"30 November 2022 (2022-11-30)3.14
33"Episode 3"1 December 2022 (2022-12-01)<2.71 [lower-alpha 2]
44"Episode 4"6 December 2022 (2022-12-06)3.33
55"Episode 5"7 December 2022 (2022-12-07)3.13
66"Episode 6"8 December 2022 (2022-12-08)3.37
77"Episode 7"13 December 2022 (2022-12-13)3.76
88"Episode 8"15 December 2022 (2022-12-15) [lower-alpha 3] 3.75
99"Episode 9"16 December 2022 (2022-12-16) [lower-alpha 3] 3.60
1010"Episode 10"20 December 2022 (2022-12-20)4.09
1111"Episode 11"21 December 2022 (2022-12-21)4.32
1212"Episode 12"22 December 2022 (2022-12-22)4.73

Series 2 (2024)

No.
overall
No. in
series
Title [18] Original air dateBBC One broadcast [19] UK viewers
(millions) [20]
131"Episode 1"3 January 2024 (2024-01-03)3 January 20245.94
142"Episode 2"3 January 2024 (2024-01-03)4 January 20245.78
153"Episode 3"3 January 2024 (2024-01-03)5 January 20245.81
164"Episode 4"10 January 2024 (2024-01-10)10 January 20246.48
175"Episode 5"11 January 2024 (2024-01-11)11 January 20246.36
186"Episode 6"12 January 2024 (2024-01-12)12 January 20246.50
197"Episode 7"17 January 2024 (2024-01-17)17 January 20247.11
208"Episode 8"18 January 2024 (2024-01-18)18 January 20247.03
219"Episode 9"19 January 2024 (2024-01-19)19 January 20247.11
2210"Episode 10"24 January 2024 (2024-01-24)24 January 20247.40
2311"Episode 11"25 January 2024 (2024-01-25)25 January 20247.61
2412"Episode 12"26 January 2024 (2024-01-26)26 January 20248.03

Reception

Critical reception

The series was generally well received by critics, who praised the programme for being "fresh, yet familiar", likening it to party games such as Mafia or wink murder. [21] [22] Rebecca Nicholson of The Guardian says the format "feels like a revival of the early, more innocent days of reality TV", calling it " The White Lotus meets Big Brother 1 ". [23] The Tab believed that social media helped the success of the show: "The memes and everyone live-tweeting it has played a big part in its success. Nobody wants to miss out on a reality TV show that everyone is talking about." [21] Isobel Lewis of The Independent was more critical, however, saying it "definitely isn't a perfect reality show, or even the best in its genre right now, but it is pretty entertaining." [24]

On a January 2024 edition of BBC radio show Women's Hour Claudia Winkleman said that the age and gender of the people being murdered was problematic. [25] In the first series five of the eight people murdered were women, while in the second series, four of the first five people murdered were women. [25] She felt she wanted to have a conversation with the traitors about their kill list regarding the age and gender of those being murdered. [25]

Viewership

The series saw an average audience of 5.4 million, with a peak of 6.2 million for the first episode. By the end of February 2023, The Traitors had been viewed over 34 million times on BBC iPlayer. [5]

The BBC stated that The Traitors was the biggest new series for young audiences across all BBC content in 2022, with a 1.3 million average audience across the series and a peak of 1.5 million for the final. [5]

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryNominee(s)ResultRef.
2023 28th National Television Awards Reality CompetitionThe TraitorsWon
Edinburgh International Television Festival Best EntertainmentThe TraitorsWon
2023 TV Times AwardsBest PresenterClaudia WinklemanPending
Best Entertainment ShowThe TraitorsPending
British Academy Television Awards Best Reality and Constructed Factual The TraitorsWon
Best Entertainment Performance Claudia WinklemanWon
Memorable Moment The Traitors: The final roundtableNominated
Royal Television Society Programme Awards EntertainmentThe TraitorsWon
Entertainment PerformanceClaudia WinklemanWon
20242024 TV Choice AwardsBest Reality ShowThe TraitorsNominated

The Traitors: Uncloaked

To accompany the second series in January 2024, a follow-up television programme and BBC Sounds podcast was introduced, called The Traitors: Uncloaked. The first episode aired on 5 January 2024. It was hosted by Ed Gamble and broadcast on BBC Two. [26] The final episode of Uncloaked which aired on BBC2 directly after the final received 3.97 million viewers. [27]

Aftermath

Series one contestant Maddy Smedley urged others to think carefully about applying for the next series, and said she "wouldn’t recommend it for people for their sanity and mental health". [28]

After the first series, the BBC launched a Traitors card game and puzzle book were released. In September 2023 a board game, called The Traitors, was released. [29]

For Series 2, a Traitors app was released, allowing users to predict what will happen in the series and gain points for correct predictions. It was described as "the perfect synchronicity between programme content and interactive platform". [30]

International broadcast

In Australia, the series was made available to stream on 10 Play in March 2023, as a companion to the Australian version aired by the network. [31]

In the United States, the show is available to stream on Peacock, the broadcaster of the American version. [32]

In Canada, the show is available to stream on Crave. [33] The Canadian version of the series began on 2 October 2023 on CTV.

In New Zealand, the show is available to stream on ThreeNow, the same broadcaster as the New Zealand version. [34]

Notes

  1. In the event of a tie, the tied players make a final plea of innocence before the remaining players vote between them again – if a tie still occurs after that, one player is chosen randomly among the tied players.
  2. This episode did not make it into the top 50 most viewed programmes of the week and therefore full figures are not available.
  3. 1 2 This episode was originally scheduled for the night before, however it was rescheduled due to changes to the BBC schedule for this week due to the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

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