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The Traitors tl;dr: Everything you need to know about Alan Cumming'ss reality hit on Peacock that makes lying, backstabbing, and betrayal fun again
There's more to The Traitors than Alan Cumming bringing his brand of camp to a whole new level, we promise, and here's where we reveal all
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- The Traitors tl;dr: Everything you need to know about Alan Cumming's reality hit on Peacock that makes lying, backstabbing, and betrayal fun again
Peacock’s The Traitors is a runaway hit, with the show’s return for its third season being an early highlight on the calendars of many a critic and fan alike. It’s easy to see why, with the show’s mix of knowing camp, reality tropes, and unpredictable competition producing something that makes for appointment viewing with almost every episode. Of course, jumping into any show — even a reality contest — with a third season might feel a little too daunting a prospect for new viewers, but that’s why we’re here. We want to make sure anyone can watch The Traitors and not feel like they’re missing out.
It’s a busy world, and you don’t have time to read, watch, or even listen to everything that’s out there. Sometimes, all you need is a cheat sheet to help you with the basics. That’s exactly what you’re about to read: a quick, no-nonsense guide to The Traitors and everything attached to it. Want to learn everything you need to about the show and its European origins? We’ve got it all for you in four easy steps... but we've also included some extra-credit FAQs at the end to help broaden your horizons.
The Pitch: Who are The Traitors, and what are they betraying?
No matter which nationality of the series you watch — and the show has gone around the world, with editions in countries including the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Greece, Denmark, and the Netherlands, where is all got started — the basic set-up of The Traitors is very simple: a group of strangers work together to complete a series of tasks, earning money on every task, so that they can share the winnings at the end of the series. Except that, among their number, there are traitors — contestants working to sabotage the group and take the money for themselves.
The traitors have the power to “kill” contestants, as well as undermine the group in other ways. The remaining contestants are tasked with uncovering who the traitors are, with eliminations targeted at pushing them out the game. The only problem is, they won’t find out if they’ve gotten rid of a traitor or one of their fellow “faithful” until the player is eliminated, meaning they might be voting out someone on their side. By the end of the game, if there are any traitors left, they get the money… but can the other players get them out in time?
The Backstory: Where did The Traitors come from, and how are they all around the world?
The Traitors started life as De Verraders, a Dutch game show that debuted on RTL 4 back in 2021. (For those curious, ‘Verrader’ translates as ‘Betrayer,’ or, well, traitor.) The success of that show saw broadcasters around the world pick up the format for themselves, with Belgium, Norway, France, and the United Kingdom being amongst the first to pick up the license to make their own versions of the show.
That UK version, which launched in 2022, is particularly important when it comes to telling the story of the American version of the show. After all, both the UK and US versions come from the same production company, Studio Lambert, with the US edition even being filmed in the UK with a British host, the amazing Alan Cumming. That added level of glamour (and no shortage of camp, as provided by the exceptionally game Cumming) is one of the two primary innovations of the US edition — the other being that, as of the show’s second season, the mix of ‘regular’ contestants and celebrities that appear in other versions of the show (I see you, Traitors Australia) has been replaced by… well, just celebrities. Well, reality show stars, which is basically the same thing. Somehow, that only makes the US version even more addictive.
The Essential: If you only watch one season of The Traitors, we know the perfect choice
If you’re only going to watch one season of The Traitors — and you really have to watch a season, not just an episode; it’s a cumulative experience — then check out the second season of the US version, which is not only well aware of the melodramatic possibilities offered by a season full of reality stars trying to backstab each other, but prepared to raise the stakes when necessary. Fans knew about Traitors and Faithfuls, but were they ready for Intruders?!? (An Intruder is someone who shows up midway through the season; in the second season, it was Kate Chastain, who’d been a contestant on — and a highlight of — the show’s first season.)
Also, the casting choices in this season are exceptional: whoever thought that the world needed to see cast members from Love Island US and RuPaul’s Drag Race rub shoulders with the actual, real former Speaker of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament deserves a raise.
The Takeaway: The Traitors, in one simple paragraph. (Trust us.)
The Traitors, at its best, feels like the endpoint of reality television: a self-aware mix of everything from Survivor to Real Housewives in terms of format, doubling down on both the competitive and the gossipy parts of the genre’s DNA. It’s a show that, in almost every form, is filled with people that believe they are strategic geniuses while displaying that they are anything but, and that’s never anything less than fun to watch… especially as we can pretend that we’d definitely break all the codes and solve all the mysteries if we were in their shoes, for sure. (Spoilers: No, we wouldn’t.)
Extra-credit question #1: Where can I watch The Traitors US season 3?
As with every season of The Traitors, as well as The Traitors UK and The Traitors Australia, the third season of The Traitors’ American edition will stream weekly on Peacock, beginning January 9, 2025.
Extra-credit question #2: Where do The Traitors contestants sleep?
This may be one of my favorite random fans about the US version of The Traitors. Although the show makes a big deal about taking place inside a castle in the Scottish Highlands — it’s filmed at Ardross Castle, just outside of Inverness — none of the contestants actually stay overnight in the castle. Instead, they sleep in the nearby Courtyard by Marriott Hotel https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/scotland/traitors-ardross-castle-scotland-inverness-airport-hotel/ according to reports, which really isn’t anywhere close to as exciting. (But, arguably, is far more comfortable and warm than an old Scottish castle.)
Extra-credit question #3: How staged is The Traitors?
The question of how staged The Traitors is could, realistically, be asked of any reality contest. Certainly, there’s no small amount of staging going on behind the scenes — I did, after all, just tell you that they’re not actually staying in the castle they’re supposed to be sleeping at every night. Additionally, obviously Cumming and all of the castle’s “staff” are actors, and the games and to-camera pieces are obviously constructed things that didn’t just happen by accident. Nonetheless, if the question is, “Is all of The Traitors pre-planned and scripted?” then, the answer is no. The reactions, the conversations between contestants, and the voting is all genuine. That’s really what they’re like.
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