Author’s note: Yeah, this is about a TV show, not a game. But it’s a TV show that’s clearly based on a game, and I’ve seen a ton of social media posts about how this is Ultimate Werewolf the TV show. Which it isn’t. But it’s close in many ways, and I thought it would be worth putting down a few notes about how it differs, and what I think of it.
Images courtesy of peacocktv.com
The Traitors has been gaining a lot of buzz recently in its various incarnations: Season 2 has just finished in the UK, while Season 2 in the US is about halfway done. If you live in the US, you can watch both US seasons on Peacock+, as well as Season 1 of both the UK and Australia. There’s also a Canadian The Traitors, but if you live in the US you’re out of luck to be able to watch it right now, as it appears to only be on CBC there.
The game takes place over 10-12 episodes, and over time viewers get to know the personalities. Season 1 of US The Traitors included 1/2 reality “celebrities” and 1/2 regular people, while Season 2 includes all Z-listers (reality celebrities and a few random other people that have some form of notoriety). Seasons 1 in the UK and Australia included just regular people, though some had interesting backgrounds, but none were really celebrities by any means. The hosts range from the annoyingly (yet somewhat endearingly) flamboyant Alan Cumming for the US, to broadcaster Claudia Winkleman in the UK, to actor Rodger Corser in Australia. Of the 3, Rodger does the best to stay out of the way of the proceedings and still have a bit of an edge, while Claudia is constantly rooting for the players to do well, which is a little weird. Alan consistently mocks and belittles the contestants, who are, after all, on a reality competition show, so it’s not entirely unjustified.
As a viewer, you know who the Traitors are, and with the exception of end-of-episode cliffhangers, you know who is being voted for to be banished and who the Traitors are choosing to murder. The reveal of these is more about how the other players react to the reveal of the banished player (they learn if they were a Faithful or Traitor) or who was murdered by the Traitors the night before.
How the game flows
Anyone at all familiar with the game Werewolf (our Bezier Games version that is closest to this is Ultimate Werewolf) will notice that it is incredibly similar to that game. The basic premise in both games is that there are two teams of players: the “Faithful” (villagers in Werewolf), and the “Traitors” (werewolves in Werewolf). The Faithful only know if they themselves are Faithful, but they have no idea who the Traitors are, while the Traitors know each other. Each day (literal days on the show), all players convene and discuss who they think are Traitors, culminating in everyone writing down a name. Whichever player has their name written the most is “banished” (eliminated) from the game. Almost immediately following that, all players retire for the night, but the Traitors secretly gather and determine who to “murder” (eliminate) from the game. The murdered player is revealed to all of the players at breakfast the next morning.
Image courtesy of peacocktv.com
In addition to the core game described above, each day all of the players take part in missions, which are various tasks that add $$ to a prize pot which will be taken by the winner(s) at the end of the game. These missions are mostly filler, though there are some strategy discussions and confessional outtakes to provide context for how players might be voting each evening. During those missions there are occasionally chances for some players to earn a “shield” that protects them from either banishment, murder, or both that night. In some cases players are split into teams to accomplish these missions, and are challenged to “win” against the other teams, though there’s usually no benefit to winning vs. losing. Fan favorite in the US series is Kate Chastain (you can also see her on Bravo’s Below Deck reality series), who treats the entire first season and her fellow contestants with contempt and disdain, going so far as to sabotage missions because she just doesn’t feel like expending the effort.
I’ve watched all of seasons 1 in the US and Australia, and am slogging through Season 1 of the UK, and also watching season 2 in the US in real time (new shows come out each Thursday evening on Peacock). Because The Traitors is a TV show, it can’t follow the rules of Ultimate Werewolf for game winning conditions. In pretty much all long form werewolf games, the game end is reached once (1) all of the werewolves have been eliminated or (2) there are as many or more werewolves as villagers. That second condition causes the end because in werewolf, like The Traitors, there’s a day vote to determine who is eliminated. Once there are as many or more werewolves as villagers, the werewolves can never lose if they work together, so instead of wasting everyone’s time the game is declared over and the werewolves are victorious.
The other HUGE difference between Werewolf and The Traitors is that Werewolf is a team game; even if you are eliminated, you are considered to be victorious if you are eliminated and your team still wins in the end. In The Traitors, once you are eliminated, you no longer qualify for the prize money at the end of the game. The Traitors is an individual game; while there seems to be camaraderie between supposed Faithfuls, the reality is that each player is playing for themselves, *not* for their teams. In addition, The Traitors keeps players eliminating other players until there are only 2 players in the game; if one (or both) are Traitors, the Traitor(s) keep the money, and the Faithful gets nothing. If there are 2 Faithfuls, they split the prize money between them.
Our One Night Ultimate Weerewolf game is also a fully individual game, but because it’s a 5-10 minute game you don’t get the meta gameplay that Ultimate Werewolf provides, so it isn’t actually as good a comparison as the traditional Werewolf kind of games.
The end game of The Traitors
—-This section contains various spoilers for the shows!—-
Due to producer meddling (more on this later), there is always at least 1 Traitor in the final 3. In the case of Australia Season 1, there were 2 Traitors, and the lone Faithful player didn’t have a chance to win. It was impossible, unbeknownst to him. The end game is by far the most compelling aspect of the show, because it’s all about the Traitor(s) convincing the Faithful to vote for the other Faithful, or in some cases the other Traitor.
The amount of money that can be won is substantial (though relatively small compared to other reality shows, like the $1M Survivor prize). In the US, it’s up to $250,000. In the UK, it’s up to £120,000 (about $150,000 USD). In Australia, its up to $250,000AUD (about $160,000 USD). If there are 2 Traitors in the final 3 (or even final 4), there’s a strong incentive to throw the other Traitor under the bus to keep all of the $$ for yourself. As a Faithful, though, you’re in a situation where you pretty much have to split the $ with another player.
The last few episodes of the series become compelling as a result of this jockeying to survive and vote the right people out at the right time. This part is well thought out and good (for reality TV) TV).
The Big Flaws, exposed
The problem with the game in the show is everything that leads up to those last few episodes. While the Faithful cheers when they (finally) banish a Traitor, it just doesn’t matter…that’s because as soon as a Traitor is banished, the producers tell the remaining Traitors to recruit a new Traitor. The Faithful can NEVER banish all of the Traitors until there are only 3 people left in the game. Even if the Faithful banished a Traitor every single day, it wouldn’t matter, because there would be a new Traitor the following day. So the banishment exercise is one of futility until the last few episodes, though the players all treat it as the most serious and important thing they can do.
The other issue is that the Traitors end up having an immense amount of power. They can’t be murdered (only Faithful can), and they have 2-4 votes to edge banishment away from themselves and back to the Faithful. Being a Traitor is a huge, gigantic advantage. Even if a Traitor is figured out by the Faithful, the remaining Traitors might as well just pile on and vote out that Traitor, because it keeps them safe, and there will be another Traitor added to their ranks the next day. And they are also part of the conversations each day between all of the Faithful so they know which way the tide is turning, and can try to rally the other Traitors to change the vote if needed.
In Ultimate Werewolf, because you win or lose with your team even if you are eliminated, there’s a reason for each and every vote and nighttime “murder” of the villagers, because if the villagers figure out who the werewolves are at any point, the game will be eventually be lost by the werewolves, so they’ve got to play the long game, and the villagers know this. The tension continues throughout the game, and each elimination has an impact on how the rest of the game plays out.
Theoretically, it is possible for the Traitors to steamroll through and banish Faithful each day and murder them each night, and make it to the end game with just Traitors, but that would be okay, because I’m sure the producers would make them vote to banish one of their own, so only 2 Traitors would be in the game at the end, and it would be at least somewhat interesting to see who survives that way.
In summary, if you are a Faithful until the end, almost nothing you do matters until the very last day or two, with one exception: if you are a threat to the Traitors, they’ll murder you, which takes you out of the competition entirely. This means that players who suss out who the Traitors are early on are just hurting themselves if they share that information with anyone, because it will get back to the Traitors and they’ll be murdered. The only good strategy by a Faithful player is to fly under the radar, never being suspicious to Traitors *or* Faithful, and then on the last few days using your knowledge to eliminate the remaining Traitor(s).
If you are a Traitor, things are much more interesting, because the game does encourage backstabbing between Traitors, and while none of that impacts the Faithful much, it does make the group of Traitors more interesting for the viewers. After all, the game isn’t called The Faithful.
Can these flaws be addressed?
As a gamer, the first several episodes can be infuriating to watch once you realize how pointless it all is. I understand why it was done from a TV show perspective, but on the other hand, I would LOVE to see a version of The Traitors that was 5 episodes long, where the Faithful found and banished the Traitors quickly, and the big group of Faithful won and split the prize money between all of the survivors. Having a variable-length season is probably impractical for production cost purposes, but maybe, just maybe, the producers could consider that as an option, because it would be so much more exciting to watch, knowing that there’s a single Traitor left that has to do everything they can to survive and remain undetected.
It would also be nice to have it be truly team-based, so a Traitor could “take one for the team” and still win along with the other Traitors after they’ve been eliminated. That would add a lot to the strategy.
Other reality competition shows have evolved over time, and it seems like the popularity of The Traitors means it will be around for multiple seasons in different countries. So there’s hope that it changes for the better, especially since future players will have been able to watch and study current seasons of The Traitors and ideally “break the game” based on the strategy I’ve discussed above.
There are a few “The Traitor” board/card games based on the show, and while I haven’t played them, I’ve reviewed the rules and they look…well, not great. Playing long form Ultimate Werewolf over several days would be much more compelling, but I’m a little biased.
Should you watch The Traitors?
It’s still reality TV. If you aren’t a fan of Survivor, Big Brother, Amazing Race, and similar shows, I can’t imagine you enjoying The Traitors. And those three shows have ironed out their gameplay to where it makes sense and is compelling. Survivor remains the best of them, with enough changes and tweaks, which most of the time end up working for the show. They all have gaming at their core. The Traitors has some really compelling pieces, especially the end game, but it can be a bit of a slog to get there, especially once you realize that the first 75% of the show just doesn’t matter all that much. I think it has potential, but for now it’s more reality show and personalities than it is gaming.
Of course, I’m still going to watch it, though…
