Are you a traitor or a faithful?

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's Top 50 TV Shows of 2024

#11 : The Traitors 

Try to recall 2024’s genuine nation-uniting moments of water cooler television, and chances are that at least one of them was down to this glee-inducing reality series. The nigh-on Shakespearean drama of Diane’s son reveal! Jazatha Christie! The poisoned chalice of rosé! The ludicrously gothic funeral! Given that we’re now at the point where all the contestants are wise to the show’s shtick, the attempts to stop traitors from ousting faithfuls from the cash prize really shouldn’t have been anywhere near as fun a piece of television as its first series. Somehow, against all odds, it was far more fun. Roll on season three!

This is one that we watched as a family - and there weren't all that many things that was true for throughout the year. And I kinda think I don't really need to write anything about it, because if you've not seen either the OG Traitors or the new-kid-on-the-block Celebrity Traitors then I suspect nothing is going to convince you that you need to watch it. Especially since one of the few things I do have to say about it is that I don't 100% love it...

Don't get me wrong, when it's great, it's really great - and the finale of both this '24 season and this year's Celebrity version were fantastically entertaining and incredibly tense, resulting in much family discussion (my youngest gets VERY into it). I also enjoy the murdering and the round tables - mainly because both of these sections have a definite purpose and a specific outcome. However...

...I really don't care about the tasks. Yes, they try their hardest to make it thrilling but, after a certain amount, the prize money up for grabs makes absolutely no difference to the overall level of excitement and it just feels like unnecessary padding. As does the endless sitting around on sofas randomly guessing who may or may not be a traitor - yes, it seems like people sometimes have genius ideas but I can't help but suspect they actually have clips of everyone saying they suspect everyone else and they just edit it to give the level of suspense they feel they need. And yes, I'm an old cynic - deal with it.

The other thing I feel I have to talk about is their secret weapon that just makes anything better - the lovely Claudia! She walks the line very well between taking things deadly seriously and accepting it's only a game and she really seems to like all the contestants - it would be interesting to know who else they looked at to present this and how things worked out using a different style (because no-one else can do Claudia, surely?). She also has some great outfits as well - and by "great", I often mean "really rather silly".

Overall though, despite my quibbles, I have to admit this is a very decent show and good famliy fun and by that I mean something that all ages can both understand, enjoy and comment on - The Guardian is quite correct when they describe it as "glee-inducing". If you've not seen this then I think it's well worth a watch - I can't imagine anyone will bother going back to watch this season, but if you don't know who won it then it'll work perfectly well for you. Or just wait until s

#10 - Probably good, but...
#13 - I really should have watched this

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