The treacherous Traitors and hapless Faithfuls are back for another season, this time with well-known names from the entertainment and sporting world, including Sir Stephen Fry, Charlotte Church and Tom Daley.

If you haven’t seen The Traitors, it’s a gameshow where a group of contestants (Faithfuls) must work together to identify who the Traitors are amongst them. The Traitors are actively working against the Faithfuls, meeting in secret to eliminate (murder) the Faithfuls from the game one by one; the Faithfuls get a chance to banish those who they think are Traitors. Before being banished, the player accused of being a Traitor has to reveal whether they are a Faithful or Traitor. (Spoiler alert, they’re usually a Faithful). 

Paranoia and incoherence

This quote from the psychoanalyst, Adam Philips, sums up the state of mind of the Faithfuls rather well:

“Lovers, of course, are notoriously frantic epistemologists, second only to paranoiacs (and analysts) as readers of signs and wonders.”

― Adam Phillips [bold and italic emphasis is mine]

The Traitors is not a detective story – there are no bona fide clues, but there are millions of red herrings. As Stephen Fry said in very early on in this show, there are no data, which means that drawing definitive conclusions is incredibly difficult. 

What the Faithfuls are left with is an excess of paranoia. Although we all probably go through phases where we feel a little like people are “out to get” us, the Faithfuls are genuinely being persecuted as they are picked off one by one by the Traitors. Constant paranoia, however, can be destabilising and can lead to a distorted view of reality. The Faithfuls read into EVERYTHING, as though it is some sort of earth-shattering clue. For example, Tom Daley thought Kate Garraway was a Traitor based on how she said the word ‘flabbergasted’. The Faithfuls read into “signs and wonders”, making theories about how everyone is a Traitor. When you suspect everyone of being a Traitor, how do you narrow down your suspicions when it comes to deciding who to banish?

To banish a Traitor, the Faithfuls in other series have had to build alliances and take collective decisions to banish someone they suspect to be a Traitor. However, in the celebrity version of The Traitors, there does not appear to be a coherent Faithful group that can vote as a collective. Is it possible that this has occurred because many of these celebrities may be more used to working as individuals, rather than as teams? Out of all the celebrities, Joe Marler (former England rugby player) stands out as someone who works in a team at a professional level, and interestingly, he has built the strongest alliances, firstly with Joe Wilkinson, and then with Nick Mohammed. Between Joe M and Nick, they have correctly identified all the Traitors – at the time of writing, we don’t know yet whether they will be able to create a working group of Faithfuls that can function as a team to catch a Traitor. A group of Faithfuls that works together is essential to counter the extremely strong and powerful working group of the Traitors. 

The archetype of a Traitor 

At every roundtable, instead of identifying a Traitor, what the Faithfuls have ended up doing is chasing their archetype of what they believe a Traitor should be like. This is why Niko Omilana, best known for posting prank videos on YouTube, was the first banishment from the show despite his completely normal behaviour during the game. To the group, he has the archetype of a trickster, and so became the first banishment. 

Instead of following actual clues and facts, such as the murder of Paloma Faith in plain sight (surely you can only get away with murdering in plain sight on the very first night if you know the victim well), and the murder of Ruth Codd after she outright accused Jonathan Ross of being a liar and Traitor, the Faithfuls have continued to search for the archetypes of what they think a Traitor would be like, and it has not worked. 

Tameka Empson didn’t have the “right” reaction to Paloma Faith’s murder, so she must be a Traitor? Mark Bonner has “over the top” reactions when Faithfuls are banished, so he must be a Traitor? David Olusoga is quiet and clever and now suddenly he is being more vocal, so he must be manipulative like a Traitor? Stephen Fry is eloquent and leadership qualities, and to the Faithful this meant he must be able to manipulate them like a master puppeteer, so he must be a Traitor?  

Do you see how this is based on personality traits that fit the concept of a Traitor rather than deductive reasoning, on the facts they have at their disposal?

When the Faithfuls have followed the facts, they have come to the right conclusion (but not yet as a collective). 

Stephen Fry noticed that Cat Burns is more tired than the others, maybe because she gets less sleep because she has to go to the Traitors turret because she is a Traitor. Correct! 

Lucy Beaumont thinks they are over-thinking double and triple bluffs and that they should go for the simplest answer, which is that Jonathan Ross is a Traitor. Correct! 

Joe Marler finds it astonishing that Alan Carr would forget that he has a shield and is safe from being murdered if he is a Faithful, so he must be a Traitor. Correct! 

These are all based on slip ups the Traitors have made rather than preconceptions on the archetype of a Traitor, and therefore they are correct. 

The seductive appeal of being a Traitor 

With their god-like powers (think gods of mischief, like Loki or Hermes), Traitors are able to eliminate players they don’t like or are causing too much trouble, are able to create scapegoats and watch the group as it bends to their will (see how Jonathan Ross manipulated the group against Clare Balding when she was onto him for being a Traitor). 

When Claudia asks the players whether they want to be a Faithful or Traitor before she assigns them their role, most players reply that they want to be Traitors. But why? Isn’t being a Traitor a bit mean?

Well, it’s only a game – no one is really getting banished or murdered. 

In this make-believe world of playing, it’s possible to access aspects of our personalities that we normally keep hidden from others. Our sadism and hostility, our desire for the impossible, our naughtiness, a feeling of omnipotent power over others. 

The Traitors spend an awful lot of time giggling like children when they first start playing the game, but as time goes on, they have to come face-to-face with the consequences of their actions, and have to confront the side of themselves that the game is unleashing. 

A side that they have worked since infancy to keep hidden, because we are socialised as infants and children to “be good”, and subdue our innate aggression towards others. We are socialised to share, and to care about other people’s feelings. If you don’t believe how much children need to be told to be “nice”, then take a trip to a nursery or playground. As the saying goes, you’ll understand how wars start.

One of the greatest psychoanalysts of all time, Donald Winnicott said:

“It is in playing and only in playing that the individual child or adult is able to be creative and to use the whole personality, and it is only in being creative that the individual discovers the self.”

Cat Burns, Alan Carr and Jonathan Ross are certainly learning a lot about themselves as they continue to play their treacherous game.