Traitors is a negative influence on society

It was fine first time I watched it, now it feels like a copy of Big Brother. I find it repetitive and boring but don't care about it really. It shows how easily people can be influenced by others, and distracted by irrelevant stuff.

But they aren't "being awful", they are playing a game!

It's not real and I don't believe anyone in there believes it's real. Yes, they get caught up in it because it must be a very intense experience but every player who is interviewed afterwards always talks about how much they enjoyed it.

There's an awful lot of us who don't watch it and can't give a shit about it, so I'd relax if I were you.

You know what? I agree with you and thought I was the only person in the UK that feels like this. I have friends with extremely strident views about the behaviour shown on traitors in any other context that think I’m mad.

I can’t stand watching it. Why would I want to watch people deliberately being awful? My husband however wants to apply to go on it. He loves it. He watches and I put my headphones on and watch something else on my laptop, or read a book. The missions are boring and the backstabbing makes me angry.

We are definitely the minority though. Everyone loves Traitors.

I'm not sure it was all unconscious bias as much as herd behaviour and some unusual game play.

BUT if the show does illustrate
unconscious bias or is perceived to and brings that to the attention of the public isn't that actually a good thing?

I think the same op but most people seem to love it 🤷‍♀️

There's no end to the examples that can be put to the OP to illustrate how ridiculous this stance is!

They seem to have disappeared now though. Maybe they are binge watching The Traitors & have got hooked.... 😂

I also like that I can watch this with my dd.

I enjoy it (although sometimes find the missions dull) and love Claudia and her wardrobe.

I think the most harmful thing about it is the bias (unconscious or not) in voting out people of colour and older people. I wonder if the traitors weren't white whether they'd last as long. And if Harriet and Amanda were young whether they'd still be in. (Then again I think Harriet and Amanda went a bit rogue and didn't help themselves).

I’m going to put my hard hat on here and say I kind of agree with you.

I wouldn’t say that It’s an influence as such just like much of what passes for entertainment these days a lowering of the bar for society generally.

Happy to admit I’m no fun at parties!

So shit that you’ve watched almost until the end.

or alternatively, you just watched last night’s episode, in which case it’s no wonder you didn’t get it.

It’s a game. You know, like Wink Murder and no-one really dies in that, in case you thought they did.

Did you think Trainspotting glorified heroin use OP?

The Apprentice was incredibly popular in the US and in the UK. With its bullying and self aggrandising boss it seemed like an over the top bit of fun but it gave the world Donald Trump.

They're not. Try the Aussie S2. I had to stop watching. Terrible ending too, predictable, pointless and unpleasant to watch. No wonder it got canned over there.

And you do know most people want the Faithful to win, to discover and eject the deceptive ones? (Well usually).

I think it helps that the tone is so ridiculously camp and OTT. The Aussie version was so serious, there was no wink to the audience or joking in the production and presentation. It's pitched perfectly, partiy thanks to Claudia too. You get into it while you're watching and get genuinely frustrated or pleased or whatever and get swept up in the drama, but then it's over and like the players, you come out of it.

I listened to a “rest of entertainment” podcast and they said one of the successes of the show was its ability to hook across the generations. I love having a show I can watch with my kids.

Plus Stephen’s face kills me.

We've had some really lovely discussions around traitors. Had a chat about unconscious bias and how it affects voting, how some of the best faithfuls aren't being listened to and it's possibly due to class biases. How the faithfuls are losing because they aren't working as a team and are wasting their energy being petty instead of looking at the facts. Oh my lord they are the worst faithfuls ever 😂

You’re revealing YOUR reaction to it OP. What does it say about you that celebrating duplicity is what you get from it?

For many of us it provides fascinating insight into group dynamics, why people trust and esteem some people but not others and how this relates to people’s trustworthiness. It doesn’t relate well at all, which is fascinating. There are lessons for life there.

Plus it’s a light but beautifully wintery entertainment to carry us cosily through the darkest nights.

The ‘did you watch…’ mass experience is a really charming throwback to communal televisual experience of decades past.

😂😂😂😂😂

Another take: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/jan/15/why-older-women-reign-supreme-the-traitors?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

I love Claudia, the setting is gorgeous, the cloaks are lovely, but the show itself is BORING.

If you want proper betrayal (ideally with cloaks, I suggest Verdi (start with Rigoletto), or as a pp suggested, Agatha Christie.

If you want wholesome telly, there's always the Pottery Throwdown!

Forgot Monopoly, and crazy 8. All of these games teaching that by sheer luck, you can lose everything is truly horrid. 🙄

No that I really take issue with. The only bit of Eastenders I’ve seen was revolting. Rude people being horrible to each other.

Traitors is so samey and boring really. BUT the good thing it shows my kids is that you really can’t believe what people tell you. Actions count

Never ever read or watch an Agatha Christie! The horror, the horror! 😱