The Traitors is both racist & ageist?

I’ve often wondered this.

And not only ethnicity, but in the early series, the people voted out early seemed more socially awkward and shy. Same with age and social class.

I’d want to challenge people on it if I thought that was happening, so I’m surprised no one’s said it.

The data does seem to show unconscious bias. I’d be interested in if they are banned from discussing this at the round table - presumably if someone said “could we be unconsciously considering X for early eviction because of their race?” this would be edited out?

Maybe they should all be trained by former FBI agents to make them more aware of "traitorous" body language and micro expressions, too....

I also don't really want to see unconscious bias training. Will make it too rigged.

I'm sure the players are biased on grounds of both sex, ethnicity and age. Most people are, and it would be quite remarkable if the producers of The Traitors had found contestants who were the exceptions to this rule.

I don't think that's an issue with the show so much as with society and human nature though. It's inherent in the game that people will vote against each other on all kinds of entirely subjective and irrational grounds, and the fact that we're here discussing it seems like a strength of the show rather than a weakness.

Absolutely

If I went on Traitors- despite being a WoC- I would trust Harriet and Amanda. They are most like me. That's my unconscious bias. Faraaz actually isn't despite being of a similar ethnicity.

Would also have trusted Rachel up until the Traitor on Traitor fight!

I don't watch the show, but there was some interesting research on The Weakest Link in the US and unconscious bias in the 2000s. Obviously there's a much bigger data set there. That found that there wasn't discrimination against Black people and women (though hypothesised that this might actually be because of a fear of looking racist or sexist on TV!) but that contestants underestimated the ability of Hispanic people. Interestingly, they found that there was also consistent ageism but that was a different kind - it wasn't that contestants were underestimating the ability of older people, they seemed to just not want them around. They could look at this for the Weakest Link because there's a bit where you want to get rid of the worst people, to build up the team, and then a bit where you want to get rid of the strongest, so that you're more likely to win overall. Hispanic people were over-voted out in the first bit, and under-voted out in the second. Older people were over-voted out at both stages. Link here: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/425591?seq=1

Incidentally, this is a piece of knowledge I haven't used since I was an undergrad and I'm delighted to be able to use it here!

Exactly!

Whichever way it works - distrusting people of colour OR trusting people who look like you - it remains that that IS unconscious bias.

no.

I think people should calm down and watch it for what it is - a family game show! I'm older but I am not complaining about the older players being murdered or banished. They were considered the most dangerous or suspicious player at the time. Far too much time wasted on over-analysis.

I don’t think it’s racist, but I do think it’s ageist without meaning to be. There’s a group mentality as well as the actual game, which as we’ve seen don’t go hand in hand, e.g Roxy and Faraz suggesting Rachel is a traitor when they are both close to her. So I think the group has naturally batted out the old ones because they don’t fit in and it’s an easier vote.

Is it racist to use White as the default, so people perceived to be of other ethnicities are reduced to being ‘non-White’?

You are asking people who have unconscious bias and yet perceive themselves as objective if something that reflects current society is racist or agist !

the whole point is that most people don’t or won’t see it

I see the suggestions of unconscious bias training here a lot, and I don't like the idea.

It sounds like training in "don't kick people of colour out, it looks bad for the show".

Yes, unconscious bias exists, but pointing out the differences and specifically pointing out people's race and age just before the game of trust and looking for the slightest sign that someone is behaving oddly could backfire so easily.

I agree with this, and the Celebrity version was unusual as they revered those they thought intelligent. It's the only real reason David Olusoga got so far, and in reality he was clueless!

You misunderstand.
Your friends and relatives are in your tribe. As are people who are similar to the kinds of people you grew up with.

If you are white working class and grew up in a diverse and mixed area, a posh boy who went to Eton (or Nigel Farage) are most definitely not in your 'tribe'.

Class is a huge factor in conscious and unconscious bias.

I don’t think an hours training will have any effect when people are feeling under threat. You’re fighting 10s of thousands of years of evolution

I agree I thought Cat was fab she played the game properly but you could tell that fundamentally she was a really decent person

I very much got the impression from both Fiona and Harriet that they wanted out by the end their behaviour became really weird and it would be quite interesting to find out what had happened. They both just suddenly seemed completely checked out of the whole thing and didn't care if they went

Xenophobia, fear of "others" is genetically wired in as a protection mechanism and has to be overridden by modern culture, which is what you are describing.

You're completely misunderstanding what @Staringintothevoid616 is saying.

There’s 4 white people and 3 mixed/non white people left. More white people have been killed/banished.

I adored Cat. The number of times she was called sneaky and sly. I mean, that is the game! What was she supposed to do?