The Traitors: A Breath Of Fresh Air For Reality TV

Deceptive. Intense. Spinetingling.

Peacock's newest reality TV superstar, The Traitors Season 1, captured the alluring mystery of playing a secret role party game.

It's no wonder the format found love around the world, with earlier versions airing in countries like the UK and Australia. The game is a must-watch for fans who love a core strategic game.

But why has The Traitors felt like something new? It's not the first time reality TV dealt with secret roles and sussing out an evil force.

The Mole Season 6 challenged players to hone their deductive skills to find a saboteur. FBoy Island had daters figure out who was looking for love. And even The Circle on Netflix plays with the idea of catfishes. Sometimes mysteries are at the heart of the game.

The Traitors stands out amongst its counterparts in the way it values and showcases the journeys on both sides of the coin.

Are you cheering on the evil side to win it all? Coincidentally named, "The Traitors."

You'll get plenty of visibility into how the Traitors are playing the game and what manipulations they need to do to get ahead. Every conversation is another potential time that the Traitors could get exposed or one of them becomes the next target.

And the Traitors must steer the ship to ensure they make it to the next round; hopefully, they will not throw themselves or another in the line of fire.

That is unless that was their big strategy all along to avoid suspicion.

The great thing about learning the Traitors' identities is that it gives more insight into strategies and the midnight murders.

The Traitors meet together every night (specifically, the last night of the round) to "murder" someone. Unless that person won protection, it could be anyone for any number of reasons.

These clandestine meetings are salaciously juicy because this is the only time the Traitors get to come together to scheme, plot, and murder.

If you're rooting for #TeamTraitors, all you can do is hope they pick off the right target next and that their intuition is on the right track.

On the other hand, are you rooting for the side of good? In this case, the "Faithfuls."

It's the typical tale of players getting no information and having to piece things together. Naturally, paranoia drives them to turn on each other and eliminate innocent people. A classic whodunnit element that thrives here.

However, there's so much joy whenever someone is hot on the trail of a Traitor, or when the group successfully votes one out.

It's like when the pieces start lining up and you're anticipating the group getting their big moment. How can you not celebrate their small victories?

As a competition, The Traitors utilize this feeling successfully because of one clear difference: we already know the truth.

We're also following the Traitors and know their schemes, lies, and plans. The Faithfuls have to catch up and spot the inconsistencies along the way, or they'll be the next to go.

So, it's a great accomplishing feeling to witness the group turn things around and eliminate a threat. It doesn't happen consistently, so the reveals become more important than the last.

The Mole thrives on viewers being secret agents pulling the clues together, while The Traitors is more of a murder-mystery journey, regardless if you're on the side of the hero or villain.

Both styles work for what you're getting out of it and who you're cheering on.

And The Traitors Season 1 does a great job of filling these roles with mysterious and well-known players.

Having "celebrities" compete as a cast isn't something new. Think of Celebrity Big Brother, RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race, or the many celebrity-themed games that have popped up over the years.

Though, I'd say The Traitors follows more of a model similar to MTV's The Challenge and The Challenge: All Stars on Paramount+.

Specifically, it's a good mix of familiar faces who have been on reality TV before and fresh newbies learning the game for the first time.

Having the cast made up of half reality TV stars and half newbies was a great idea!

We know about these reality TV competitors; some thrived in a competition setting while others made a name for themselves in lifestyle. There are relationships spanning years and reputations that have weighed them down.

Like, everyone is wary of Cody because he won Big Brother Season 22 or everyone knows Rachel has a big personality just from watching her many TV appearances.

These layers added much more depth to the show because they impacted strategy and the players' actions. Just like on The Challenge, people aren't easily shaking off their pre-existing judgments or opinions.

It's an interesting thought experiment to see how other well-known players deal with those elements while also facing newbies who have never been on TV.

If I had to choose a side, I'd add more reality TV cast members.

That cast swept up much of the screen time; it's hard not to look when they draw your eye. The celebrity cast knows how to play the reality TV angle to their benefit.

Though, the newbies do add a fun element of the unknown.

No one is prepared for what they do, and it can make the season even better. Look to Big Brother Canada Season 5 as an example where it was half returning players and half new players.

Those conflicting relationships made the season so much more interesting because you didn't know if the returnees would falter or steamroll the newbies. It's one of the best in the franchise.

Even though The Traitors is still pretty new, it has so much potential to grow and keep being great.

It's a high camp throughout everything it does, and the show embraces its silly murder-mystery elements with a cheeky wink. The Traitors wants to have fun and enjoy serious gameplay.

It's that openness for fun that makes it a great watch.

Sure, there are lots of paranoia and accusations flying around, but then you have people in cloaks plotting murder. Or better yet, when people celebrate at breakfast when someone isn't "dead."

The show doesn't take itself fully seriously.

The Traitors is like a game night between friends playing a game of Werewolf or Mafia.

You think you know what will happen and brace yourself for your role. Most likely, believing you can deceive and get to the end. However, someone throws out an accusation, and all hell breaks loose.

You question your judgment and then have to repeat it for the next round.

As a show, the Traitors is unpredictable. Even with its set format, the game doesn't lock itself into a routine.

No big alliances have a stranglehold on the game. No formulaic ways to knock out filler players. And no outlandish powers and advantages making it feel like a game show.

The Traitors keeps it simple, campy, and straight to the point, focusing on deduction and strategy.

In a big alliance group and advantage-heavy reality TV world out there now, it's a breath of fresh air to get back to the strategy and mystery of it all.

The Traitors Season 1 is now streaming on Peacock.

Justin Carreiro was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on X.