The 4th series of BBC’s Traitors is now over amid great excitement. I shan’t be revealing anything here as I know many people like me watch on catch-up. I’m not particularly interested in reality TV, so I resisted watching Traitors for a long time despite the ballyhoo.
Then, after Christmas on a long winter evening, we gave it a go. Very quickly, we become addicts. Something is appealing about the idea of “going on a journey together” while simultaneously trying to outwit each other. The BBC must have spent a fortune on it. The production values are high, and it’s all brilliantly thought out – the games they join in together as a team to create a pool of up to £100K are ingenious.
I like the psychology of it. Some people are sweet and friendly, while others are clever at manipulating situations to their own advantage. Some are brilliant liars through their teeth, while others are more fair-minded team players. By the end of it, you feel you know and care about some of these people.
To me, it’s pure theatre, there is a wonderful backdrop – a castle in the Scottish Highlands and a cast of characters. You begin to root for the ones that you want to succeed, and there is jeopardy. No one is in total control of what happens, and chance and the unexpected throw up game-changing moments. The daily challenges test the players’ ability to be a team player or a bit selfish.
It’s great to watch perceptive people who are also a bit shrewd. All human life is here. There is trust and betrayal, drawn-out tension and silliness. People who go barking up the wrong tree can be absolutely exasperating, but of course, we have the benefit of seeing the traitors plotting away, so, like many a good play, we are more in the know than the other people. We join the traitors each night, and we hear snatches of conversation during the day.
I love it when a traitor suddenly turns on another who is just too smug and stabs them in the back by voting them off. Sometimes I’m almost off my chair, punching the air when that happens at the round table. I like the sense that it seems to obey a moral code of life. Be careful who you believe in. Some things are too good to be true. Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer. Keep your wits about you. Pride goes before a fall, and so on.
Like in theatre, I see it as part of the endless struggle between generosity of spirit and meanness of mind, and how some people get just what they deserve while others sadly don’t.
