Is traitors scripted ?

[Chimneyonya]

I have absolutely adored celebrity traitors. I haven’t watched the first 2 series so this is my first viewing of it and it’s honestly been brilliant. Proper heart pounding, tense and so funny too. I just love it.

But it’s scripted right? At least in parts? It’s all a bit too perfect at times. Or is it just clever editing to string more of a coherent story line out of all the rough cuts?

The final was a blast to watch but sealed the deal for me that it’s a bit scripted. Although I did think Nick was going to turn the fire red and get rid of Alan.

Not scripted in the sense of a soap, but yes you are correct. The cast are chosen and situations created, so that the producers end up with something that people will watch. Do the public believe that there is any real danger to the people on "I'm a celebrity". Likewise programs like "Educating", the researchers will have identified likely storylines before the program is made, even then the ratio of material recorded to the length of the finished product is horrific.

Even if you accepted that, it more or less amounts to the same thing. If you comb through 13 hours of footage to construct a five line conversation between two contestants, and an interjection from someone recirded on day 2 presented as a reaction to something that happens on day 7, that amounts to the same thing.

It's all bunkum. Usually people have signed contracts that prevent them from disclosing exactly how much so, though, and the industry itself is keen to protect itself and obscure its methods through NDAs.

I think it’s just something you accept if you enjoy the programme that’s been crafted. I’m not sure how it amounts to the same thing though- actual scripted lines and false reactions would be poor. Some people are saying Alan’s crying was fake. I think it’s a genuine release of pent up tension. There’s definitely a difference to it being scripted and acted and being well edited.

But if that was the norm, the contestants would all have to commit to wearing the same clothes for the entire filming period, as they have to do on GBBO for that reason — so that a one-on-one interview can filmed on day 2 but be inserted into the final edit of day 1. They change their clothes at least daily, sometimes several times a day, wearing one outfit to breakfast, one for the mission and another for the round table. Some also change hairstyles. Joe Marler tidied up his Mohawk.Therefore the final edit can’t insert a reaction from day 2 to something that happened on day 7.

I'm pretty certain it's not "scripted". I think the people who always bang on about stuff being staged or scripted have the same mindset as people who believe in more serious conspiracy theories - it's all about wanting to feel cleverer than everyone else, like you've avoided falling for something all the other sheep have fallen for.

After all, why would they bother scripting it, with all the secrecy and unknown elements and risk and extra hard work that involves, when they could just edit what they do have? They have hundreds of hours of footage, and they have editors and producers of immense skill and experience who can piece together an interesting story. They can also "direct" action in real time, as people have pointed out, by making production decisions and communicating them to Claudia. It's a real lack of imagination to think "oh, everyone's just been told what to do".

Think about the risk of being found out, especially at a time when all the knives are out for the BBC and any number of outlets would love to run that story - and with charities involved too! Careers ruined, brands destroyed. Honestly why would they bother? TV channels and production companies are still reeling from those phone-in scandals from about 15 years ago, even to the extent that the Traitors goes out of its way to make it clear that the contestants don't sleep in the castle, for fear of being seen as misleading viewers.

I'm also surprised that people appear to see anything other than a straightforward outlining of events as some kind of "cheating". It's entertainment! They're trying to make an exciting TV programme! Of course the round table will take hours to film, with retakes from multiple angles. (Would you prefer if the lighting was bad on one take they just said "oh well we'd better just show it rather than retaking it, them's the rules, sorry viewers that the programme looks shit"?). Of course they arrange the voting orders to build tension. I would have thought people's media literacy would be much higher these days than to be shocked by this kind of thing.

The voting goes round the table, not random

My guess is that they do a couple of takes of the same day… a bit like in have i got news for you when they seem to repeat themselves. It is just different takes on the same day and then some very clever editing

i did wonder if they engineered the whole plot with Alan winning at the end but that may be a step too far…. I dont think they did, but i did wonder… as it is almost the perfect story line…

For legal reasons, it can't be. There is a monetary prize at the end of it, so they cannot influence the outcome.

Sure, they can say: "Can you go back in the castle and walk back out again please" or "We'd like to film some people playing badminton" but they can't control people's behaviour.

Actual laughing at being labelled a conspiracy theory loony just because I take reality telly with several bags of salt.

Er... good for you but work on your reading comprehension, I guess?

The final scene where Alan was the last to reveal if he was a Faithful or Traitor had to be played out that way. Very convenient that he was the last to reveal. Claudia must have said which direction they would go round the table. Also, everybody was very confident from the start that there was three traitors. I think that they were told

Does anyone know if there is a list of all the contestants' nominated charities?

I don’t work on traitors, but I am an editor and I have worked on similar things in the past, there is an inane amount of footage filmed for reality type gameshows, you can craft any type narrative with enough footage. Also as this is the celebrity version, it will have made it easier. A lot of these people will know exactly what to say or what look to give the cameras in interviews or just in passing to make good tv.

Yes, but it’s not as if the producers didn’t know he was a traitor, so of course the direction was to have Alan last!

They were confident there were three traitors because there have been three in each of the UK non-celebrity seasons, and breaking that mould would have been unlikely in the first season of a new version. Two had been caught, but so late in the game there was no time for recruitment, so the finalists could be fairly confident there was one left.

Well, of course they will do different takes, but of individual moments or scenes, not ‘Ok, everyone get their clothes washed and dried asap, we’re going to film the ‘Escape from the Cabin’ mission all over again from the start !’ But as a pp said more likely to be ‘Could you all walk down the steps again, please?’ or ‘Joe, can you walk to the car again?’

The Rest is Entertainment have done an extra podcast each week on Celebrity Traitors which I have found interesting. Quite a few occasions where I have thought “oh! Of course”. For example, the producers might direct people to specific cars when they travel to missions and things

Well they can, and that's why it looks as though they change clothes several times a day!

Knowing that Alan won in the end means they can definitely edit it so that we see Alan's 'journey' from 'worse than Linda sweaty man' to eventual triumph. They also edit it so that you see bits from people who are early to be banished/murdered so you know who they are, while people who are in the show much longer don't really get featured till later on (and then you think 'oh, I had forgotten that they were even in it').

The timings on the trials are definitely loose so that the contestants pretty much always triumph (has there been a trial where they are to set fire to something at the end where they don't actually manage to set fire to it?). The laser game lasted longer than it was meant to with Joe only triumphant 'in the nick of time' because they edited '10 seconds left!!' in afterwards. There was an earlier series where they had to carry stone heads up a hill that they were nowhere near going to finish and then suddenly miraculously did as well.

I though that, based on the number of episodes, they were only in the castle for a week but heard an interview with the producer who said that it takes two to three weeks to film!

This sounds interesting, will give it a listen. To be honest all the stuff behind the scenes I find just as interesting as the show itself. It only adds to my enjoyment of it all. It’s so well crafted and it’s nice to have that feeling again of a nation collectively on the edge of their seats all watching at the same time. It’s been so much fun to watch.

Yes I think the celebrities themselves will help the process along just because they are showbiz people and know how it all works.

There’s a good episode of Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe episode about the editing behind the scenes of reality tv that covers exactly what you’re talking about.

The celebrities all had to commit to a fortnight. Though Alan Carr claimed (possibly just for comic effect) in Uncloaked that his agent thought he’d be banished or murdered immediately and booked him for other stuff during the second week, which then had to be cancelled! And that he‘d only booked his dog sitter for a week…

Probably because blowing up an actual train would be frowned upon

That did make me laugh, and I reckon it was probably entirely true!

I did wonder whether the dog sitter had twigged what he might be up to, but then people in the film/tv industry are often away at times and aren't allowed to tell anyone what they are doing or where they are. A friend of mine often goes AWOL at short notice, and he never gives even the remotest hint of what he's working on.

Well yes, but that's not what I found funny. It's like that old blooper in some film or other where a horse rears up wearing a headcollar, and comes back down to earth with a bridle on.😂