Why Is No One Talking About ‘The Traitors” One Fatal Flaw?

The Traitors is, without a doubt, the first breakout hit of 2024. Not only has the show broken ratings records, it’s dominated the social media convo, stoked a devoted fandom, created lots of memes, and hopefully inspired more men to wear pussybow blouses. We are in the throes of a Traitors moment, and it’s thrilling to see. It feels like The Traitors is on track to enjoy the same longevity as the shows it pulled Season 2’s icons-only cast from.

But when it comes to my relationship with the show of the year, I routinely feel like Ben Wyatt looking at Lil’ Sebastian. I don’t get it. How are people so obsessed with The Traitors when there’s something so undeniably off — and incredibly frustrating! — about the gameplay? Am I the only person who cannot stand the Faithful’s overwhelming tendency to fumble the bag every single time — both because too many Faithfuls are black holes where strategy goes to die and because the show’s format heavily favors the Traitors? Hello? Is this thing on???

The problem with The Traitors is that the format gives the Faithful precisely zero clues and it lets the Traitors operate with nearly zero disadvantages. This problem was present in Season 1 and, sure enough, it derailed Season 2 right from the jump. The night prior to the first killing, Peppermint (RuPaul’s Drag Race) said that she wanted to stick around because she “brought some really fabulous outfits.” Trishelle (The Real World, The Challenge) said that she also brought some killer outfits, and then joked, “If I get murdered, she’s a traitor.” Trishelle, so pleased with her joke, literally pointed and laughed at Peppermint. Peppermint over-reacted as anyone would, with an ever-so-slightly hyperbolic jaw drop.

And that was enough for Trishelle to lead a campaign against Peppermint and have her banished!

Even eyewitnesses who confirmed that this was all a joke could not sway the “sleuths” in the manor. Peppermint was banished because no one else had any clues.

And round and round it goes for the first five episodes. The Traitors go on a killing spree at night while the Faithful repeatedly banish their own for the crimes of, I don’t know, being annoying? Playing the game? Not playing the game? I’ll let Season 1 veteran Kate Chastain sums up the level of critical thinking that exists in Traitors Manor:

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We’re watching all of these reality stars, many of whom come from non-strategy shows, play pin the blame on the Traitor. They’re blindfolded, stumbling around, and I’m at home screaming, “Turn around! The Traitors are behind you! Oh my god, you’re at the front door! Why are you on the lawn?! Well, now you’re in a helicopter flying to Banishment Island…” The most maddening part of the season had to be Big Brother alum Janelle Pierzina get banished for the crime of correctly guessing a Traitor, her Big Brother pal Dan Gheesling. Dan said five words for five whole episodes, none of them being the name of a suspect, and everyone still turned on Janelle. Good god, why?!

Even though the majority of the Faithful probably could not find a stick in the forest, The Traitors‘ saving grace is its cast — and that’s why the show has taken off. Remember all the memes? There really is a thrill to seeing trash TV pioneers like Trishelle and CT (The Real World, The Challenge) mix it up with newbies like Bergie. I knew Bergie had star quality, and seeing him become one of very few true kingpins of strategy has warmed my cold heart. And as much as I’m complaining about the amorphous motives of most of the players, Bling Empire’s Kevin utter cluelessness about not only this game, but the entire reality competition genre is continually hilarious. Also, bravo to Real Housewives all-star Phaedra Parks for managing to be a strategic mastermind, ferocious player, and catchphrase generator all at the same time. Nothing at the Super Bowl will match the meme power of “Lord, not Ekin-Su!”

But — The Traitors is not an elaborate upgrade of The Surreal Life. It’s a strategy game, and the Faithful are at such a disadvantage that half the strategy is non-existent through no fault of the players. At its core, The Traitors is just televised Werewolf (or Mafia). That’s it. And if you know that game, if you’ve experienced the trauma of having a group of “villagers” kill you under the false accusation of lupine tendencies, then you probably watch The Traitors with a critical eye.

In Werewolf/Mafia, the werewolves/mafioso/traitors have to plot their hit list silently during the “night” phase of the game while the villagers (or Faithful) have their eyes closed. I’ve played versions where all the — I’ll just call them Traitors — Traitors opened their eyes at the same time and gestured at who to murder, conferring with each other. I’ve also played versions where the Traitors opened their eyes one at a time and pointed to a victim one at a time, and the victim would only die if a majority of Traitors pointed at them. But on Peacock’s The Traitors, our killers get to hang out in complete isolation and talk openly while wearing spooky robes. Of course the Faithful can’t figure out who the Traitors are! All of the Traitors’ deeds are done in darkness on the other side of a giant mansion!

To fix The Traitors‘ one problem, the show needs to make the Traitors work for their kills. The show proved this with the hands-down best murder of the series, which involved Parvati convincing another player to drink from a “poisoned chalice” sneakily in front of everyone. There were real stakes, real tension, and a real chance that Parvati would fail or get caught. At the very least, it was a public action with Faithfuls as witnesses that could potentially be recalled and used against her. This is how every murder should be carried out. Of course, our Faithfuls being sweet idiots, the poisoned chalice kill actually led to Faithful Larsa (Real Housewives of Miami) being banished because she led a toast to her murdered (in the game) boyfriend, Marcus Jordan. It’s too much to expect this assortment of Faithful to pick up on the right clues.

Does any of this make sense? Am I too persnickety about strategy shows? Should I just relax and enjoy hearing Phaedra say “my Bergalicious”? Probably! That really is the energy I need to take into the back half of this season. But The Traitors really does have all the components to build a reality TV dynasty, if only it would figure out a way to make the Faithfuls as cunning and cutthroat as the Traitors. This reality show is a complex puzzle, but it’s just missing one piece.