I am addicted to the reality show “The Traitors.” I will admit it. I have seen all the US seasons and every other season available on Peacock. My favorite is The Traitors UK Celebrity Edition Season 1. If you know the premise, jump to paragraph three.
The Traitors is a psychological reality competition where a group of typically 20 contestants work together to complete missions for a cash prize. However, hidden among them are three “Traitors” from the start, who select players to eliminate nightly, while the “Faithful” must identify and eliminate the “Traitors” through the nightly banishments. If the Faithfuls successfully identify and eliminate all the Traitors, they split the prize fund. However, if even a single Traitor makes it to the final, that Traitor steals the entire cash prize.
I am fascinated by the group dynamics — how a group of strangers somehow collectively decides that someone is behaving strangely and that person becomes accused of being a traitor. Too smart? “You’re too clever, you must be a traitor.” Too nice? “Oh, you would make a perfect traitor.”
You get one person who presents “evidence” for why they believe someone is a traitor, and the others pile on. As a viewer, you know who the traitors are, so watching the chaos as players meet to discuss who to eliminate during the “banishment” proves to be highly entertaining. Yes, editing plays a role — but that does not compare to the voracity with which the players hurl accusations and insist they are absolutely certain.
It’s a controlled environment with time constraints and a cash prize, yet it highlights how human behavior can send us off in the wrong direction. On the show, there is almost immediate feedback when you’re wrong. Either you are a traitor or you’re not — end of debate. In everyday life, not so much; we don’t get that clear-cut conclusion. It’s a reminder of how wrong I can potentially be without even knowing it. I have no illusion that I could go on the show and not fall prey to the same counterproductive behavior that plays out every season.
In every franchise, in every season, the Traitors have the perfect diversion: the other players, known as the Faithfuls, savagely tear into each other. The players are so intensely focused on the perceived traitors that they miss every sign and signal from the true Traitors.
The most instructive example is the UK Celebrity Edition. The prize pot went to the winning players’ charity, which probably took some of the edge off — and since these people were already known publicly, there wasn’t the “I can become a TV star” aspect. They were polite and showed a deep respect for one another, while still being able to look a fellow player in the eye and say, “I think you are a traitor.”
The shows remind me of how I can be certain of something and yet be absolutely wrong, and that hurts a bit, ok a lot. What I hope and aspire to handle it like the cast of The Traitors UK Celebrity Edition. And in keeping with pop culture for this post, in my best Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly: “That’s all.”
Balancing on Unstable Surfaces 