Dust off your cloak: The Traitors UK is back, warming our dry January cockles. The civilian edition barrels onto screens hot on the heels of the worst traitor of all time, Alan Carr, winning the celebrity death match in December. Now, a myriad of “you’d make a great traitor, actually” contestants are vying to sniff out the ones appointed by Claudia Winkleman. The Traitors holds a particular space in our collective psyche—a show that is at once delectable and somehow heart-warming, even as people stab their best mates in the back. Why does it feel so good to see so many innocent British citizens so strung out?
The Traitors is off to a slow start in its fourth season because, well, it’s hard to get deep with people you don’t know. The first non-celebrity episodes are always a bit meet-and-greet, a bit corporate mixer: people talking about their jobs, numbering their kids, saying they’re “bubbly.” This year in the castle we have a crime-writing scarf aficionado, a gay retired police detective, a poker-playing gardener, a barrister who’s open about it, and a barrister who’s covert. We’re done pretending that the prize money is the prize, because every contestant is there for the win: for the backstabbing or the deduction. I’m not sure what it says about society that nearly all the contestants this year want to be traitors. The butter-wouldn’t-melt knitting granny? Traitor, please. The lout spinning the cap off a bottle of WKD? Traitor, please. The three feet of ex-army muscle? Traitor, please. The bloodlust is palpable.
The Traitors is about the gullible and the skeptical working together to sieve the fraudulent from the truthful—an amalgamated nightmare of village idiots locking themselves in the stocks and pelting each other with rotten fruit. Sadly, we could still hear Winkleman’s 4×4 purring in the driveway as distrust emerged for the least white contestants (Ross and Judy this time, Niko and Tameka on the celebrity version). It’s become impossible to ignore the depressing fact that most people are, on the whole, suspicious of people of color. Seldom has a brown person coasted through early episodes without the critical gaze of fellow contestants and eventual groupthink expulsion. For all our apparent wokeness, we’re still apparently asleep to the racial biases that direct our attentions.
The tartan-skirted, fingerless-gloved, portrait-throwing Claudia Winkleman presides reverently and campily over the cast. (Has she ever said anything without her tongue in her cheek?) We know to expect farcical funereal scenes, lochs of floating coffins, and accusations of treachery with zero evidence to back it up. As an audience, we’re well-versed in plot twists—sporty mothers and their secret sons, magicians with assistants up their sleeves, sacrificial train travelers—and now we have a new, secret traitor; a masterminding, God-tier traitor; the Russian doll within the Russian dolls.
I will say right now that I am not enjoying the secret-traitor subplot. The whole point of watching this show is that we sit at home being all-seeing know-it-alls, oracles of how people are messing up their own game. We know exactly who the traitors are, and one of the most delicious pleasures of the show is observing wildly inaccurate roundtable accusations based on a tilt of the head or how someone clambered out of a coffin.
The secret-traitor shtick depowers the actual traitors; we can’t see their strategy, or its possible ramifications, because their murders are being shortlisted. The existence of a secret traitor means that we don’t know if the accused is faithful or not, if the accuser is traitor or not. Most frustratingly, the secret traitor demeans us, the audience. Before, there was no sleuthing; we were all traitors, albeit passive ones, with a clear view of the entire breadth of the game. But the secret traitor leaves us all faithfully stabbing in the dark, trying to Sherlock their secret identity, figure out their moves without their confessional tapes.
At these crucial early stages where new personalities congeal…We’ve turned reality show contestants into either cult figures or villains, so now we’re too focused on figuring out if someone is lying to truly appreciate their boldness. I doubt any explanatory flashback will ease the frustration—but as excitement for The Traitors floods my social media feed, at least I finally understand how straight men feel about the World Cup.
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of FAQs about The Confusing New Situation on The Traitors UK written in a natural conversational tone
Beginner Definition Questions
Q What is The Confusing New Situation
A Its a nickname fans have given to a specific chaotic moment in the game where players are given a new rule or twist that completely upends their strategies and causes mass confusion and paranoia
Q When did this happen in the show
A It famously occurred in Season 2 Episode 8 The host Claudia Winkleman announced that the Traitors could now recruit a Faithful player instead of murdering one but the recruited player could choose to reject the offer which would then force the Traitors to murder someone else
Q Why is it so confusing
A Because it introduced multiple new layers of strategy and bluffing at once Faithfuls had to figure out if a recruitment even happened who might have been asked and if they accepted or rejected It broke all the usual patterns players were relying on
Strategy Gameplay Questions
Q Whats the benefit of this twist for the Traitors
A It allows them to strengthen their team by adding a strong player they see as a threat rather than just eliminating them It can also create a brilliant cover story as a newly recruited Traitor can act extra Faithful to gain trust
Q Whats the benefit for a Faithful who gets recruited
A They get a guaranteed pass to the next day If they accept they switch sides and have a new path to win If they reject they stay a Faithful but now have insider knowledge that a recruitment attempt was made
Q Why would anyone ever reject becoming a Traitor
A Some players have a strong moral stance about not betraying their Faithful friends Others might think its too risky strategicallyif theyre a bad liar theyll be caught quickly Also rejecting forces another murder which can create useful information for the Faithfuls
Q How does this twist make it harder for the Faithfuls