Anyone who has ever watched The Traitors (previously on Peacock, now on NBC and Peacock) has probably imagined what it would be like to get to play the reality competition game.
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it → watch → game
Where do we sign up?
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we → sign → ?
So when an all-civilian season of the show with no celebrities was announced, tens of thousands of people applied, and 22 were chosen.
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22 → announce → people
Though these non-famous normies bring a bit less glamour — and they don’t give good quotes like Lisa Rinna or Phaedra Parks could — the show still retains its most important features: big personalities, some of whom kill each other in the dead of night.
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some → bring → night
“The hour approaches and soon, my treacherous game will begin once more,” host Alan Cumming says as he sends a raven off with an invitation beckoning 22 new contestants to his Scottish castle.
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he → approach → castle
Whether the contestants are famous or not, the formula for The Traitors is always the same: A group of contestants assemble at a castle where Cumming declares a couple of them to be Traitors and the rest are Faithfuls.
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rest → assemble → them
The Traitors get to murder a Faithful each night after the group completes a communal challenge, and the Faithfuls are tasked with banishing fellow contestants in hopes that they root out the Traitors.
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they → get → Traitors
Winner gets to take home the $250,000 prize at the end.
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Winner → get → end
The Traitors Alan picks get to recruit another person to join them and each time a Traitor is successfully eliminated, the prize pot increases by $15,000.
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pot → pick → 15,000
These are minor shifts from the way the game has been played in the past, but any small tweaks help keep the show from getting stale.
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tweaks → play → show
In the season premiere, the contestants meet when they’re all picked up by a steam train headed to the castle.
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they → meet → castle
(“It’s like goin’ to Hogwarts, except everyone wants to murder each other,” one contestant, Joe, a funeral director from Long Island, says as he awaits his train.)
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he → ’ → train
Joe, along with the other 21 contestants, have a difficult task ahead of them; play the game and entertain us just as much, if not more, than the celebrity casts that came before them.
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that → have → them
What Shows Will It Remind You Of?
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It → remind → You
This season is akin to Survivor or Big Brother, where you’ve got a highly competitive group focused on the cash prize and formulating their strategies early.
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group → get → strategies
The format of The Traitors will never not make for good television.
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format → make → television
But the thing that has set this show apart from so many other reality shows is the way it embraces being A LOT: Everything Alan does, says, and wears.
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Alan → set → shows
The chaotic gamers from Survivor, Big Brother, and The Challenge, who once were just civilians themselves, but have made careers out of being good at competing in strategic reality shows.
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who → make → shows
There will certainly be some breakout personalities who will make good TV this season.
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who → make → TV
Kim, the lawyer pretending not to be a lawyer, Michael, the lawyer absolutely embracing being a lawyer, and Joe the funeral director all seem to understand the assignment.
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Kim → pretend → assignment
Madeleine the construction worker is at least trying to dress for the occasion.
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Madeleine → try → occasion
It’s early yet, but the cast shows promise.
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cast → ’ → promise
It just might take a few episodes for them to show us their true potential.
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them → take → potential
Alan reveals that the Traitors he has chosen get to select two more contestants to vie for a third spot in the Turret.
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he → reveal → Turret
We see two masked figures, the chosen ones, though we don’t get to see who they are.
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they → see → figures
Our Call: I would rather live in a world with an all-civilian Traitors than no Traitors at all.
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I → live → Traitors
While this version feels a little more rough around the edges that seasons past, it’s still everything I want out of a reality competition.
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I → feel → competition
Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Massachusetts.
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Kocan → live → Massachusetts
Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.
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she → win → show
The Aporia
