The UK version of The Traitors series 2 resists reality TV stars and keeps the format familiar: and it’s sticking to its guns.
I can’t say I’m an avid follower of reality television programmes as they stand at the moment. I remember devouring early series of Big Brother and The Apprentice, when they were very much in their infancy. Yet over time, the contestants became more knowing of what they were getting into, the shows heightened things and became crueller, and watching something like The Apprentice now, it feels like it’s more about Alan Sugar’s ego and humiliating people through editing rather than an interesting show.
It’s why The Traitors – the UK version – was such a breath of fresh air at the end of 2022.
Here was a brand new format (to the UK at least) that basically played with a murder mystery-style format, where it seemed to leave the nastiness at the door. The contestants were certainly engaged, but they weren’t taking chunks out of each other. They gave a flavour of having no idea what they’d got themselves into. And then, as more of them were eliminated, there were smiles and friendliness as they walked out the door.
They weren’t trying to get on the cover of Heat magazine. They were playing the game itself. And what a game it was.
But then the format of The Traitors was and is strong enough to sustain that. I don’t want to spoil it if you’ve not seen it, just that the bottom line is there’s a bunch of people in a Scottish castle. A number of them are anointed as ‘traitors’, and it’s their job to eliminate, one by one, the ‘faithful’. The faithful meanwhile can banish one person a night, and the hope is they root the traitors out. There’s cash to be won through challenges, too.
Inevitably, it doesn’t quite go to plan, and I was utterly gripped by it. Throw in prize challenges that were clearly influenced by classic horror cinema – fans of The Wicker Man won’t be disappointed – and series one was an utter triumph. It remains on the BBC’s iPlayer service.
The Traitors series 2 now gets underway, and I was a little wary going into the first episode (no spoilers, don’t worry). The BBC press department sent out a preview pack about the new contestants (you can find it here), and the vast majority of them were motivated – unsurprisingly – to take part in the new run of the show because they’d so enjoyed watching last year.
That, to my mind, inevitably changes the dynamic a little. It leaves The Traitors not able to repeat exactly what it did before, but also, it if changes things too much, it falls into the trap of previous reality shows.
Refreshingly, the first episode of series two remembers what works so well.
On the BBC’s iPlayer service, the first run of The Traitors in the US is presented in its entirety, and it’s exactly what I’d fear. Contestants are brought in from previous reality TV shows, and thus you get mugging to the camera, and the need for recognisable names. Heck, John Bercow has signed up for the show in the States. Even the second season of the show in Australia I gather has gone down that road, after its first run brought in complete strangers.
Yet one of the absolute triumphs of The Traitors series one in the UK thought was its casting. It sounds odd to talk about casting when it comes to reality TV shows, and I remember first hearing the excellent Boyd Hilton of the aforementioned Heat magazine chatting about it. He was adamant that the skill of a good reality show is getting the cast right, and The Traitors felt different.
After all, the sheer demographic breadth of the players first time around went from the young to someone in their 70s. When do we usually get to see that? A mix of backgrounds, a mix of motivations, and not a blend of people simply looking to either be famous, or ramp up their fame a little more.
There had been some talk of a celebrity special of The Traitors in the UK after the huge success of the first series. That’s so far been resisted, thankfully, but also, so has the urge to take casting in a different direction.
As such, watching the players line up for series two, arriving at a remote train station, it’s another bunch of unknowns. A broad bunch of unknowns at that, and the early signs are that The Traitors UK team has stuck to its guns. 22 strangers, who clearly will know a bit more than last year’s crop, but still: they don’t bring fame and television baggage with them.
There’s an early part in the first episode of the second series where the programme makers pretty much acknowledge that there’s less innocence to The Traitors this time around, and that people are expecting it to repeat its playbook from before. Furthermore, host Claudia Winkleman has been talking about how the players this time around are “more ruthless”.
But still: the early signs from the opening episode are promising. That the format’s foundations are strong, and haven’t been altered, and that the casting feels sound.
Things may yet go awry, and quite what the impact is of players knowing the game a lot better remains to be seen. Early signs are there with The Traitors series 2 that this is one reality TV show that’s resisting the rot that tends to set in. Assuming, of course, that Alan Sugar doesn’t turn up at the series finale…
The Traitors series 2 begins on Wednesday 3rd January 2024.
