The Traitors is an American reality competition series airing on Peacock, based on the Dutch format De Verraders (literally translating to "The Traitors"), which was itself was inspired by social deduction games like Mafia and Werewolf.
Hosted by Alan Cumming, The Traitors largely resembles other versions of the format, putting up a varied group of contestants —known as "Faithfuls"— in a big fancy house (this one located in the Scottish Highlands, as also seen in the British version) wherein they compete in challenges to boost and win an accumulative cash prize (up to $250,000). At the end of each episode, one contestant is "banished" from the game by their peers, but that's not all — three contestants secretly assigned the roles of "Traitors" (whose identities are made known to the viewers) then choose to "murder" an additional Faithful upon surviving elimination. If the remaining contestants at the of the game are all Faithfuls, the cash prize will be evenly distributed among them, but if any Traitors successfully avoid being caught or banished by that point, then they steal the pot for themselves.
Whereas the original Dutch version exclusively features celebrities and the British version is entirely comprised of civilians, season one of the American version opts for a 50/50 cast of both celebrities (mostly reality television veterans from shows like Big Brother and Survivor) and civilians. Starting with the second season, however, the show leans more towards the Dutch series with a cast fully composed of celebrities and reality television vets.
Trope Examples:
- Alliterative Name: The alliance of Bergie, John, Kevin, Peter, and Trishelle gets dubbed the Peter Pals by the other players.
- Amateur Sleuth: What the contestants become in the hunt for the Traitors.
- Anyone Can Die: In the context of the show, everyone except for the Traitors (and Faithfuls with a shield) can get "murdered" - and none of them are safe from being banished from the Round Table.
- Buried Alive: Happens to some of the contestants as part of the challenge in Episode 2, in which their teammates are tasked with finding the clues to locate where they're buried and free them.
- Celebrity Edition:
- Compared to the British version, since half of the series' contestants are celebrities, while the other half are regular people. The majority of the celebrities are reality stars, including Brandi Glanville, Cirie Fields, Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Cody Calafiore, with the exception being former US Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte (unless you consider his time in Celebrity Big Brother 2).
- A full straight example from Season 2, which is entirely celebrities with no civilians.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: While the Traitors are this by default due to how the game works, they may also vote to banish each other to ward off suspicion against themselves.
- Confession Cam: Used for both the Faithfuls and the Traitors, who discuss their thought processes and strategies on how to play the game.
- Dramatic Irony: The identities of the Traitors are revealed to the audience right at the start.
- During the Funeral mission from episode 4 of season 2, the audience knows that Ekin-Su was poisoned by the Traitors, while the players are trying to figure it out.
- Freudian Slip: Invoked by players in season 2, who believed that Peppermint made one when she accidentally referred to herself as a "Traitor" instead of a "Faithful". However, they were mistaken - she really was a Faithful.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Routinely mentioned by both Faithful and Traitors when targeting someone whom they like personally.
- Internal Reveal: The reveals of whether a contestant is a Faithful or a Traitor after banishment at the Round Table.
- Laser Hallway: The setting of the challenge in Episode 9, with contestants required to steal as many valuable objects from a nearby stately home as they can in 15 minutes - with a minute from the clock being deducted each time they trip the laser, and another laser added each time they succeed.
- "Leave Your Quest" Test: In Episode 7, instead of murdering someone, the Traitors were given the opportunity to send someone a recruitment offer.
- Lured into a Trap: In Season 2, Peter successfully tricks the traitors into trying to go for Bergie who had a shield, allowing him to identify two of them.
- Manipulative Bastard: Several of the contestants engage in this as part of the game, particularly the Traitors (for whom it's practically a necessary skill) but also some of the Faithfuls. Particularly Cirie, the Traitor who went on to win it all. Special mention should go to the fact that she pulled this trick on herself to rationalise turning on the only other Traitor left in the show, convincing herself that she alone deserved the money at the expense of all others. The two Faithfuls she screwed over were less convinced by her motives...
- The Mole: The Traitors are this among the rest of the contestants.
- Non-Gameplay Elimination:
- In Season 1 Episode 5, Amanda was announced as having left the castle for personal reasonsnote . Her status as a Faithful was revealed to the remaining players by Alan at breakfast.
- In the final episode of Season 1, Arie quits the game after Cirie chooses to Banish Again at the Circle of Truth.
- In Season 2 Episode 4, Deontay Wilder left the game after the events of the preceding episode, with no mention of a reason or that his status as a Faithful was revealed to the remaining players.
- Reality TV Show Mansion: In this case, a castle in the Scottish Highlands.
- Ten Little Murder Victims: Pretty much the whole plot of this show.
- The Summation: Which each contestant has to do when declaring who they believe is a Traitor at the Round Table.
- Tonight, Someone Dies: Not dying in the literal sense, but a key part of the show's premise.
- Voted Off the Island:
- What happens at the Round Table, when the contestants must collectively decide which one of them to banish and eliminate from the game.
- A more limited example happens in Traitors' Tower where the Traitors meet each night to decide which of the remaining Faithfuls will be murdered and will no longer participate in the game.
- We Can Rule Together: After the first traitor Dan Gheesling is banished in Season 2, with Peter also on the track of the second traitor Parvati Shallow and possibly having a small clue to the identity of the third traitor Phaedra Parks thanks to his ally Trishelle, the remaining traitors decide to recruit him to their cause instead of murdering him. He refuses.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Kate, during the barrel challenge. She refused to join in as she didn't want to help the Traitors steal from her; claiming she had "quit". As a result, she actually threw away the smallest barrels to do so (comparatively extremely light, and still worth cash to the prize pot), earning her the ire of her teammates. Bear in mind both that she was a Faithful (making this spiteful and pointless), and that the option of simply walking off the show seemed never to occur to her.
