4th: The Traitors series 3
Now, I’m not saying that series 3 of The Traitors was bad. Because there were moments of brilliance (Alexander singing opera and falling into a bush, and not forgetting Lisa the priest), but it was held back by a group that refused to work as a team, as well as some format changes that essentially broke a lot of the mystery.
On the bright side, there’s the sisterhood of Traitors – the tradition of having all women don the cloaks (except for sacrificial lamb, Freddie). Minah led the group so well for a good portion of the game – even managing to protect arguably one of the most hilariously bad Traitors in the show’s history, Linda.
But oh Linda, what great TV she made. From turning her head when Claudia addressed the Traitors at the very first round table, to her spitting “get over it” at Fozia during the very first face-to-face murder. Even after making a scene by faking crocodile tears at breakfast, she still managed to survive another banishment – though arguably, that was down to the Faithful being completely clueless.
Once the villainesses recruited Charlotte, who was masquerading around with her fake-ass Welsh accent, it seemed like the competition was in the bag for the Traitors. Charlotte immediately backstabbed Minah and created the perfect alibi for herself.
Except, the producers introduced the ‘Seer’ rule, which meant that the victorious person in a mission (Frankie) could find out the status of any one player in the game. As it turned out, she picked Charlotte, the only Traitor left in the game.
As a result, it became one woman’s word against another. With series 3 being the first time that players in the finale didn’t reveal their true identity, who would the remaining Faithfuls trust?
As it turned out, neither of them. Charlotte was promptly banished, before Frankie followed soon after – it was too much of a risk to keep either player in the game.
But the game didn’t end there, with eventual winners Jake and Leanne also booting off fellow Faithful Alexander. It’s questionable as to whether they did this due to legitimate suspicions of their fellow contestants, or because they wanted a bigger share of the prize pot.
Add to that the game feeling very personal at times, with kind Faithfuls such as Kas feeling bullied and isolated, and people talking about their families in apparent attempts to guilt-trip one another, and this series just ended on a bit of a flat and sour note.
BBC / Studio Lambert
