Traitors USA - bingewatchers' thread to discuss the final: There Be Spoilers!

[SequinsandStilettos]

If you do not want to discuss the winner, end the thread now! green flame!
See what I did there?

FINAL WARNING SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

I hope cirrie gave the last 2 faithfulls 25k each. She would still have enough to make a difference but give them something too

Of course she didn't.

Why would she? Does any winner of a tv show give the money to the losers?

It did occur to me that both Andie and Quentin had decent sounding jobs! Andie's title card said "Director of Music Services" and Quentin's said "Political Analyst" or something... They sound middle-class enough to have made slightly self-indulgent career choices. Neither of them work in a factory, IYSWIM?

Cirie was an OR nurse for many years who has been trying to win a reality show for the past 20 years... She supports her elderly mother and is a single parent. It wasn't clear to me that Andie or Quentin would 'need' the money more than her.

Well, this was something.

Things I liked:
-Cirie. Great gameplay. Glad she won. The faithfuls were utterly useless and, unlike Wilf who I was actively rooting for to lose in the end, Cirie played a dignified game so I was cheering her on. It's the ending the UK would have got had Keiran not given his parting shot and Wilf hadn't imploded.

-Rachel's style, "dressed at a community theatre" or not. Really enjoyed seeing what outfit she'd arrive to breakfast in each day.

Things that were okay:
-Alan. Better than Roger, worse than Claudia. Liked his fashion but thought he was more hands-off than the other presenters. His sidekick was a bit much.

-Kate. She clearly wanted attention so I'm not going to say too much about her, but she played an interesting game, stumbling on a potential winning strategy by being thoroughly shit.

Things I didn't like:
-Reality TV celebs. All normals or all celebs, none of this weird mish-mash. Because then you have two divisions: traitors/faithfuls and celebs/non-celebs. It changes the dynamic too much. Too many celeb cliques because the celebs already know each other. Too many meek, intimidated normal people. I went into this knowing none of the celebs and wasn't made to care about them. They were camera-hoggers flinging insults for airtime to the detriment of the normal contestants. No, thank you. I preferred watching my bright-eyed earnest UK bunch recreating Lord of the Flies instead of ten episodes of Mean Girls.

-The absolute WORST faithfuls. Made the UK lot look like Mastermind champs. Had to laugh at the final faithfuls being a political analyst and a non-binary. Both so gullible. No wonder they never saw Trump coming if that's the quality of US political analysts, and no wonder Andie's been manipulated to believe she isn't a woman. I hope Andie can take this as a learning experience and grow from it because she seemed rather fragile throughout.

-Boring music. I'm starting to think a crucial element in bringing our series to another level was the music. The magic just isn't there on the international versions because they keep playing the same dull plinky-plonk soundtrack.

-Buoy pronounced "Boooo-eee"? Get out. That's worse than DOLLUUUH.

My order so far is: UK >>> Australia >>>>>>>>>> US

Glad I’ve found this thread.
I completely agree this was not as good as the UK version for all the reasons already listed.
Why couldn’t the last 2 faithfuls work it out?
Arie ( my favourite as well as Kate) told them he was recruited later on as a traitor. They were told at the beginning there were 3 traitors. It doesn’t take a genius to think ‘hang on, Arie is telling us there are 4 traitors altogether and we have only outed 3.’
Again as pointed out, Arie said good luck to Andie and not well done. Another massive clue.
I loved Kate. Loved her bitching with Rachel and telling her she had a terrible sense of style. Talking of Rachel she said from the beginning she knew Cody was a traitor but she did not vote for him until much later.
I felt zero empathy for any of them. A tiny bit for Arie maybe even Cerie screwed him over.
Again the less intelligent players were taken through to the final. It sure pays to play dumb or be dumb in this game.

They started with 3 traitor's, only found 2 and the Arie dropped out but said he was recruited very late......so an additional traitor, obviously there must be one left. I can't believe they did not take a bit of time to work it out.

There is a shield in all the boxes for the person the producers want to win it. And a shield in none of the boxes for the rest.

Bravo Cirie - superbly played, apart from a couple of slip-ups at the end.

It did seem like they were rushed through the end bit after Arie's departure- I'm sure their heads were spinning on discovering he was a traitor and weren't given time to really think.

I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt there, they were really quite dim -although seemed like lovely people. You'd hope the Political Analyst would be a bit more incisive though.

I know Alan said there were 3 at some point but not sure if it was night one.

So it's possible for the chap to have been recruited later plus be included in those 3. (I know he wasn't when it was said)

Of course egghead, I get it now I didn't think it out properly

Just finished the series.

Arie was a class act for bowing out and didnt have a tantrum like Kieron. He would have ruined the show.

I'm glad Cirie won, but feel bad that she felt she had to backstabbing Arie. They could have split the money.

From the start of the last episode you could see she was setting out her reasons for getting rid of him.
Andie was really dim. I felt for Andie but yeah- Andie deserved it. Andie should have had their eyes open to what was going on.

And at that last moment when out of nowhere Cirie pinpoints the last traitor both Quentin and Andie should have been wondering what on Earth just happened.

Andie was only kept til the end cos Andie was easily manipulated by Cirie.

And yeah it does seem like a sad and bitter end to the series, unlike the UK version where is it was very uplifting.

Poor Andie. I think Quentin was still shocked as he walked off.

I guess the best strategy is making friends who have your back this will stop you being banished, and appearing dim so hopefully the traitors dont feel you are a threat.

The only way this wouldn't work is like in this series they were doing random kills to cause chaos.

Also they didnt even question that there had been 3 white male traitors.

After Christian went. They should have started suspecting the girls. I would have thought they would think to banish Kate and when Kate wasnt a traitor then suspicion would have fallen on Andie or Cirie.

Andie has a partner. Their partner is pregnant.

Why I didn't feel TOO BAD (just a bit bad!) for Andie and Quentin, was that they lost TWICE.

They lost when they voted green flame with Arie and Cirie both in. Then Cirie voted red flame, showdown with Arie, he quit and gave the "I'm a late recruit traitor - good luck" hints to them.

THEN THEY BOTH VOTED GREEN AGAIN, with not a thought or a suspicion or anything...?

So it's pretty conclusive that they did deserve to lose. They double-lost!! I don't think Cirie owes anyone any share of her winnings, honestly. She won the game.

Yup I feel for them but Cirie deserved her winnings - it's literally the only point of the game to get to the end undetected and if you need the human shield of dim people to get there then so be it.

I have no idea as to her personal circumstances but I've had a look at Arie's instagram and I think it's safe to say he's ok for money ( Yachts! Rolexes! Vacations! Mansions! Sponsorships!)

Right just fished. You lot are far too harsh imho, the whole US show was just as good as the UK version - it just played out differently. I loved it.

Cirie was smart she made sure she kept the dim players with her.

Was Arie rich when he went on The Batchelor? Never watched it but with people saying he doesn’t need the money etc.

I dont know, but assuming it would make him a more eligible bachelor if he was rich.

He came out of this looking really good. Will probably get a load more sponsorships out of it. It was very good for his brand.

I've just finished it too. Cirie deserved the win but I did feel sorry for Andie who just seemed like a really sweet, genuine trusting person.

It was a bit frustrating that the faithful missed some obvious mistakes, like when the Traitors murdered Stephanie, how did they know she didn't have a shield? Also there was always going to be a female traitor, so why weren't they more suspicious? When they banished Kate and she was a faithful, surely it would have been obvious there was still another traitor?

I didn't know any of the "celebs" but they did seem to have more power and influence over the normal people.

Other thoughts - traitors making up stuff doesn't work. It was the downfall of both Cody & Christian (as well as one in the Aussie series). Playing your cards close seems to be the best traitor strategy. Also best Traitors so far have been mother figures - Cirie & Amanda - who no-one suspected. Christian was Wilf to me.

it'll be interesting to see how this moves forward. Having watched it, will future contestants be more suspicious of people flying under the radar? How do you keep people who are intelligent in? How do you encourage people to share their theories without making themselves a target for the Traitors?

i feel like I'm far too invested!

I think - assuming that the series are filmed ( if not edited) fairly faithfully that we underestimate the level of Stockholm Syndrome type bonding that goes on. I remember going on a residential course for the Open University many years ago in a fairly remote location. I was with the people on my course almost 24/7 - we ate and drank and worked and socialised together for a week ( far far away from home) and there was a very definite sense of 'us and them' and also lots of us formed very intense friendships very quickly. And I had the distraction of work and studying as well. If I had been just sitting talking with people and speculating about other people's behaviours for a full week I think I would end up behaving very similarly to the contestants ( I'd probably be Rachel, but hey ho!)

I think the parallels between the UK / US characters were dead interesting.

Andie was a thick version of Hannah.
Quentin was Meryl but with better language skills.
Cities was Amanda but more astute.
Christian was a more arrogant Will.
Arie was obvious a classier version of Keiron.
And there were other comparisons.

What was more significant in how the game played out was the US version had only one social group whereas the British one had two groups right up to the penultimate episode.

The US version also did the tasks to sow doubt and discord later (which player is the most) but this was in the second episode in the UK series. And the barrel rolling which was one of the more unifying in UK series was much earlier than the US one. The most interesting thing of all was the Brits cooperated in a way the US didn't - it didn't even occur to them to lift a shovel to help the other teams get the money in the grave task. The US version was much more cut throat and selfish - at the expense of all of them

The most glaring 'license with production' was the clock in the final task for the US version - oh yes you've used all the time faffing around for the first amounts of money (it took 15 mins for Kate to swim to the boi in the water - the clock started before they got in the water too and then despite being at completely the wrong end of the loch with only 5 mins left, they managed to speed there and get the money). The timer was clearly added after with artistic license. It was noticeable that both the UK and US version completed the first task with just 30secs to spare in a wonderful piece of timed drama that was perfect for TV and I had wondered if it was contrived after the UK series. The US coincidence just confirmed it for me.

The US series was about 5 mins per episode shorter and was two episodes shorter. This also made a difference for me. It struck me how the characters didn't quite get enough time early on on to bond in the US show and then it was much less character development throughout.

I wondered for the UK series why they hadn't stayed in the castle - especially since they appear to have done so for the US series. DH speculated that this was purely for the two who were immediately removed to be hidden better but I have my suspicion that if the us series was filmed first there was some sort of problem with logistics - or possibly the contestants were noticing things that weren't picked up in the final edit.

Anyway, I thought Andie was an utter tool at the end and Quentin had his ego knocked out of joint.

I have to say I'd really like a follow up on who stayed friends with who after the series or perhaps an awkward wrap dinner a bit like they have on the final episode of The Circle to reflect on key moments.

Just finished. That was really fun.

I really wasnt sure Christian would be voted out. That was tense. He was so like Wilf.

Arie was very classy (very good for his brand) but Andie and Quentin should have twigged that he was giving them a clue. I wondered though if they'd still have to vote in that round

I think Cirie was greedy and was lucky that Andie and Quentin were too stupid. Lucky her.

I thought Kate was hilarious. The stand out star for me.

Are the contestants paid to be on the show? Actually I wonder that about all long term shows such as Big Brother

I did have to laugh at the pronunciation of buoy as 'boo-ey' which is how Americans pronounce it. I went sailing with an American once and thought he was being silly when he said 'boo-ey'. It took me ages to realise that is how they say it.

@RedToothBrush we've been discussing the suspicious timing in both series too.