The Traitors is both racist & ageist?

[TrademarkBrooklynBeckham]

I’ve been saying this for some time, and now the Times has analyzed the data.

Are The Traitors players prejudiced? Here’s what the data says:

https://www.thetimes.com/article/20eccb12-a919-4d59-8ce5-1e9925f9e948?shareToken=3e4f0566057b480a152802f21f97c26c

Spoiler alert - all white winners and just one non white person in the finals of the UK general traitors show.

YABU - It’s an evidence based show. Nothing to see here.
YANBU - The players are displaying unconscious bias against race, sex & age

I think that there is a consistent problem in traitors where the traitors will vote out anyone they think is clever. That often captures older or more professional people.

This is definitely true and I can understand why.....if you're switched on then you're a threat to the Traitors so an easy target for murder or the Faithful will see you as being a good candidate for a Traitor.

Really the best way to play the game seems to be to dumb yourself down a bit and befriend the person you suspect of being a Traitor in the hope they'll keep you in until the end.

Of course unconscious bias it’s a thing. People saying it “ridiculous” should do a bit of googling and reading brocade you’re part of the problem.

I read last week in The Times that the BBC were thinking of having a session with any future contestants to make sure they are aware of unconscious bias.

We were wondering last night if following Alan Stephen being traitors in successive series, any gay white men might be assumed to be traitors in the future!

I really didn't think Ross's banishment was bias, he was a gibbering wreck and didn't play the game well at all. It does seem odd that few PoC make it to the final though and I agree it could well be unconscious bias.

I still can't get on board with the Diane love after she targeted Antony in season 2 for something he'd done before the traitors were even selected - unconscious bias at it's finest!

This season is was very apparent that particularly older poc were targeted first by a group of white traitors.

Unconscious bias in these shows tends to be far more acute in the first rounds. Once people get to know each other, it fades.

I think they could very easily do an hour's training as prep for the contestants. We have it at work and it just makes you aware of the fact that people tend to gravitate and agree with the people most like themselves. I now deliberately try and listen more to people who are less like me to try and check my own biases.

In addition there is sexism .
I think people are generally more unforgiving of female traitors . You just have to observe the negative post about Rachel on MN
Also , on the celebrity version , I found that some posters were unduly hard on Cat describing her as sneaky and fake when the whole premise of the programme is that traitors are supposed to go undetected .
Cat had the triple ‘whammy’ of being young , black and female

”aware of unconscious bias”😀But I know what you mean

Aren’t there 7 left and 4 of them white, 3 of them not?

the older ones have gone yes, but Fiona and Harriet definitely did not help themselves there.

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So black and white people are “different tribes” and are unlike each other? You sound racist and xenophobic.
I have more in common with my black friends and relatives than I will ever do with the likes of Nigel Farage or anyone who supports him.

I see the same in the Strictly voting.

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?

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

You're completely misunderstanding what @Staringintothevoid616 is saying.

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.

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

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 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

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 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!

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.

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

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

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.

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.

no.

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