The secret to the Traitors’ success? It’s a reality show without influencers

Most of us remember playing Wink Murder as kids. The young man is secretly called “the killer” and must try to “kill” the others one by one, winking at them and not getting caught. Some called it the mafia. The uncomfortable tension of a child after the child screams and falls creates a dizzying mixture of joy and paranoia.

And now some TV development geniuses in the Netherlands have turned this concept into a game show called Traitors where strangers gather in a castle to compete for a big cash prize.

BBC One version Traitorshosted by Claudia Winkleman was an instant hit for the channel and the show is regularly featured on Twitter as fans share their opinions on their favorites and villains. We know traitors, but not participants. You can warm your hands on dramatic irony.

As with all the best formats, there’s little to worry about here. deal or no deal just opened the boxes in front of Noel Edmonds. Similar Traitors just people who break down mentally in front of Claudia Winkleman, although she’s a little more sympathetic.

The action takes place in a Scottish castle. Participants must complete a series of challenges together to increase the prize pool (up to £120,000). But along the way, they try to figure out which of them was secretly given the “poisoned cup”, which means they are traitors and anger the rest of the group.

Three traitors, clad in hooded cloaks, meet secretly every night to discuss who they will “kill” next, with the help of Winkleman, who is clearly having a good time, serious in her inky black cloak.

Every morning there is one less person at breakfast.

Here we see a group of money-hungry strangers forming tentative alliances, uncertain that their new friends are lying to them. It’s absolutely mesmerizing.

Most interesting is Amanda, a 54-year-old real estate agent from Swansea. As one of the three title traitors, her co-stars never suspect her. Never. It may be clever editing or her incredible ability to do stupid things, but she seems to play an exceptional game.

The dynamics are constantly changing. People are suspicious of each other for the most unlikely of reasons and are clearly lost in their own logic when asked to name the Serpent in the collective womb.

You will be loaded because it is too quiet here. Another is suggested because they have never been suspected before. Over the course of a few days, they all slowly begin to lose their plan as “loyalists” (non-traitor candidates) are thrown out one by one, with the traitors still chasing and secretly trapping them at night.

There are tears and crosswords, but it never ends in an all-out war that now seems like bread and butter for so many reality formats. If they don’t yell “Blue Murder” to each other by the end of the first hour, some stations consider it a failure of the genre.

It could actually be a show that convinces other reality producers that they don’t have to rely solely on standout characters who openly state that they love “drama”. Noisy, empty barrels that only take up space.

Traitors suggests something quieter, forcing you to lean forward to experience a slow creep in of doubt as the participants look at each other with suspicion and constantly change their minds about who to trust.

They reveal the details of their lives. One, Andrea, 72, from Belgium, speaks movingly about the loss of her 26-year-old partner and how the new connections she makes lift her out of her loneliness of grief.

“You can tell when the walls of this castle are closing in on you,” says another contestant on Tuesday’s episode (I won’t name them because I sincerely urge you to keep up with iPlayer) as the others prepare to turn it off. games. The stakes seem so high, as if it foretold his own death.

The music, the capes, the gothic setting: everything is perfect for the psychodrama that plays out in the minds of each participant. Many of them say they can’t sleep because they are so wet from the upcoming mission and the discomfort of their playmates.

The reality TV snobbery has probably put some people off. Traitors their evenings over the next few weeks. You can see the word “reality” and immediately see smooth-skinned zygotes yelling at each other, “I have a message,” or rowdy twentysomethings maniacally singing, “It’s just a game show.” It’s just a game show.”

But this melting pot of deceit and dramatic irony is more than just a game show.