All Fair in Murder and Banishment
When I first heard about The Traitors, I immediately wanted to check it out. It sounded a lot like The Mole, which I loved. Sadly, the execution for season 1 didn’t quite satisfy.
The show brings 20 Americans to a Scottish castle. They are a mix of reality show vets like Rachel from Big Brother/The Amazing Race, Arie from The Bachelor, Kate from Below Decks, and Cirie from Survivor and “civilians,” aka people who haven’t been on a reality show before. 17 of them are the faithful, but 3 are traitors. Each night, the traitors “kill” one of the faithful. During the day, the remaining group completes a challenge to try to add money to the prize pot. In the evening, the group meets to try to banish someone. The faithful are trying to banish the traitors from the game. If, at the end, there are no more traitors, then the remaining faithful split the prize pot. If, however, they haven’t rooted out all the faithful, then the remaining traitors get the prizes.
Cue the backstabbing and drama.
The show tells us from the beginning who the traitors are, so we get to watch the season unfold, and the strategies of both sides. That was interesting at first, but it became less interesting as the faithful were clearly so focused on a couple of targets they weren’t thinking of who else it might be.
One different from The Mole was that everyone was invested in getting money into the prize pot. So, really, there are only a few moments that the traitors might give themselves away. That makes it really hard for the faithful to figure anything out.
And it makes the middle of the season rather boring since we know what is going to happen. Oh, the producers try, but it wasn’t enough.
Instead, we get lots of drama, especially between a couple of characters who didn’t like each other. I’ve got to say, I was familiar with one of the people involved, and I almost didn’t watch when I realized they were involved here. My opinion didn’t improve from previous times I’ve had them on a reality show I’ve been watching.
As to the end, I will say I get it. But I also think it was a pretty low thing to do, and it showed a lot of character from someone else.
There are ten episodes plus a reunion. I can’t imagine binge watching this show. The drama got to me enough as it was.
I will say that host Alan Cummings was a delight. He added some levity to the proceedings. And some fun outfits.
When I finished this season, I was debating about watching any more. I did wind up watching season two and enjoying it. But season 1 of The Traitors is for die hard reality show people only.
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