After an extremely strong start with some of the best characters to ever walk into the castle, the current season of The Traitors has hit a wall.
In a show that relies on having contestants to root for in both the faithful and traitor camps, where we have to feel torn between the forces of good and evil, wanting them both to prevail but knowing they can’t, instead, this year we face a dilemma where the remaining faithful feel utterly impossible to back.
That’s not ideal for a show like The Traitors – but last night, it became uncomfortable.
Tension at the roundtable is television at its absolute best, watching contestants throw wild accusations around with such certainty and zero evidence never gets tired.
If anything I find myself loving it more each year when, by now, after watching two series already, they should know better.
But there’s a nasty edge to some of the cast members of this particular group and while I want them to succeed, they’re making it extremely hard.
The banishment of Kasim Ahmed, who was essentially ostracised for being a kindly doctor, was particularly eye-opening.
And that means that, only four episodes in, the only person who deserves to walk away with a single penny of the prize pot is Minah Shannon, a genius 29-year-old call centre manager who is out for blood and plays the game like the greatest traitors around the world – season 2 winner Harry Clarke and Traitors Australia champion Alex Duggan.
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Minah is by far the smartest person in the room but so unbelievably charming she flies completely under the radar with the illusion she wouldn’t hurt a fly, despite viewers watching her gleefully murder her new pals one by one every night without their knowledge.
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Thank God we have perhaps the best traitor the UK series has ever seen because at this point, I actively want every single faithful banished.
There isn’t a single one of them I’d feel even a pang of sadness to see go, with the exception of Freddie Fraser, 20. But after he was visibly shaken by being ganged at the roundtable, he might need to leave for his own sanity.
Of course, this game by its nature is cruel and unjust. Good people are turned on and turfed out, and more often than not the ones who contributed the least to the show or are the most ruthless make it to the final.
But Kasim’s experience made for uncomfortable viewing.
In his final moments on The Traitors in his last roundtable, he’d given up fighting.
The only other faithful fighting his corner with any vigour was Fozia Fazil, who had only joined the game a few hours before, when she asked why he looked like he had already given up.
‘I can’t play the game,’ he said. ‘Most people are avoiding me completely.’
As Fozia was quick to say, it’s become personal, which it often does to a degree when there’s almost £100,000 to play for.
But between Kas being cast aside as if, as he said in his own words, he’s some sort of ‘Harold Shipman’, and Freddie being reduced to tears, it was a difficult watch.
Joe Scott had it in for Kas and compared him to a politician who has ‘no substance’ when the truth is he was a dad trying to raise money for his daughter.
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Granted, the game I’m sure, brings out the worst in people; it’s an extreme situation where in reality Joe would hopefully not talk to someone with such little respect.
But I don’t feel we’ve seen this level of unpleasantness in quite the same way before.
Jake and Tyler are just as bullish at the roundtable, when actually neither of them has any real conviction in their argument to be so dominating. They’re a traitor’s dream, steering the ship of the faithful in completely the wrong direction and being needlessly harsh as they do it.
The lack of likeable contestants is an even more bitter pill to swallow when we’ve already lost some of the best characters The Traitors has seen so early on.
Armani Gouveia, banished last week, had a confidence that should be studied. It was a beautiful delusion that captured everything magical about The Traitors – everyday people becoming quite extraordinary. But those brilliant figures rarely last in a game that celebrates the weak.
Only this time, the weak aren’t just bad at the game, I want them to fail. They deserve to fail.
And that’s the problem. The best finals of The Traitors are agonising to watch because whatever the outcome, someone you love leaves shattered, betrayed and penniless.
As it stands, if Minah wipes the floor with the faithful like it looks like she will, that final will be a walk in the park and I’ll be so sure of who I’m supporting, rather than being tortured by indecision.
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Of course, I am still completely gripped by the show. I wouldn’t even contemplate making any plans on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights.
And admittedly there is still so much time for everything to change. Fozia could easily be the saving grace of this series, at least if she plays as a faithful.
But if Minah has any sense she’ll snap Fozia up and claim her as her own.
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We’ll find out tonight when The Traitors returns at 9pm on BBC One.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk.
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