The Traitors

Wait with 1 faithful left and 2 traitors how could he have won?

He couldn’t, unless they agree to split the prize.

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A Traitor Wins The Traitors.

Alex Duggan Wins $250,000.

She came as a Faithful. She killed as a Traitor. She conquered the game. Alex Duggan from South Australia has won the first Australian series of The Traitors. Through her Logie Award-winning tears, here is how she strategically manipulated her way to $250,000…

In an all or nothing challenge, the final four players - the Faithfuls Craig and Lewis, and the Traitors Kate and Alex - abseiled down a terrifying waterfall to claim the silver bars, bringing the total prize pot to $250,000.

During the hustle, Alex had her sights set on Kate. Of the two Faithful left, she decided to work with Craig, and after much persuasion, Craig was on board. Meanwhile, Kate had her sights set on Alex. For Faithful Lewis, he believed Kate was the only person he could trust. His number one suspect was Alex which was perfect for Kate’s game. Kate’s plans became derailed when Craig told Alex and Kate that Lewis was gunning for Alex.

In the final Banishment Ceremony, the votes piled on Lewis, who revealed he was indeed a Faithful. Yes, Craig, you sweet, sweet man, the girls have been playing you.

Then it was time for the Traitor showdown we’d been waiting for, with both Alex and Kate pleading their case with Craig to take them to the end game.

In the end game, Alex, Kate and Craig had to decide whether to share the winnings or go to a final vote to banish who they thought was the Traitor. Unanimously choosing to vote, Alex’s crocodile tears worked overtime on Craig, which led to Traitor Kate being banished.

Craig was thrilled thinking he had nabbed himself the last Traitor, but when Alex revealed to him that she was actually a Traitor, Australia saw Craig’s heart break. He was duped, and Alex was $250,000 richer. Don’t hate the player, love the game!

Alex posted on Instagram last night after the episode aired in Adelaide where she lives.

(Alex and Jessica Dover, a former contestant on House Rules, reached the finals of Miss Universe Australia in 2019)

The game was great but frustrating to watch, especially after the producers asked the Traitors to recruit more contestants to join the group. When Lewis was voted out, I knew there was only one outcome: that a Traitor would win.

This tweet I saw last night best summed up the final half hour of the episode.

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Yeah. The push to have 2 Traitors in the final 5 meant that it was really hard for a Faithful to win and then also put Craig in that position where he couldn’t win anything at the final 3 (unless they all decided to split, which was never going to happen).

I didn’t mind adding 1 recruit mid-season as it was interesting watch a Faithful turn traitor play out - but Kate was absolutely pointless. Whilst she was classed a Traitor, she was only involved in one murder. It actually would have been a more exciting end game if Alex was the only Traitor remaining in the top 5. Nobody seemed to suspect her anyway and even if she got voted out, the end game still felt designed to enable 3 Faithfuls into the final 3 and potentially split the money.

I was disappointed that Kate didn’t win as I thought she played the best Faithful game overall. She was then put in an awkward position as a Traitor without really doing much in that role at all. Although the way that Alex had Craig wrapped around her finger right until the end was a brilliant move (at least for her, I felt really bad for Craig!).

I would love to see a second season (even if it were on Paramount+ or something). It was definitely one of my fave shows this year and fave new Aussie reality shows in a while. I think the format has a lot of potential and with a few minor tweaks, could be perfect.

Some of those tweaks that I would implement would be:

  • Every time that a Traitor is banished, they don’t get to murder (therefore there is a reward for the Faithfuls getting a Traitor out and there are repercussions for the Traitors turning on each other so often).
  • Reocnsider recruits. I don’t mind 1 if it’s earlier in the game but none right at the end.
  • Something also to consider… it also might be fun if one if they did a recruit or had 1 Traitor that wasn’t known to the viewers (so we can still see the Traitors strategise but it also leaves 1 element of surprise/guessing somewhere for the viewers).
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If the show returns for a second season, I would like to see no new recruits if it is down to 1 or 2 Traitors. If all the Traitors are banished before the finale, then so be it.

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Studio 10’s Angela Bishop and guest host Steve Jacobs had a chat with Alex live from Adelaide this morning.

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I think they need to change the rules for traitors who are added later in the game because it doesn’t seem fair they get the entire prize when the original traitors have done most of the work. Perhaps if any of the original four make it to the final two then they can get the entire prize. If a traitor is added midway (Alex) they could’ve been guaranteed at least 75% of the prize if the new traitor (Kate) makes the final two, they are guaranteed at least 50%. I felt so sorry for Craig who reached the final three but who had no hope of winning anything.

I think some sort of final challenge between the final two would be better to at least give the final faithful a chance of getting something.

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Will Three pick up the series for NZ because WB Discovery is making a own version of The Traitors

In Total TV figures released this morning, the finale went up by 24% while End Game increased by 22%.

Will it be enough to ensure the show’s renewal?

A couple of articles on the UK version that is now underway.

Claudia Winkleman was on the most recent episode of The Graham Norton Show which will be replayed on 10 tomorrow (Friday) night at 8.30pm. She discussed the UK adaptation of The Traitors and a snippet of this week’s episode was also shown.

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It was featured on Gogglebox last week and went over well.

The first episode followed an English victory at the World Cup with 3 million then has settled down to around 2 million.

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The American version, hosted by Alan Cumming, will premiere on Peacock on January 12 next year. Half of the contestants are reality stars and celebrity contestants.

Both the Peacock and the BBC versions were filmed at the same castle in Scottish Highlands.

Although ratings wise a modest hit rather than a breakout hit the UK version has been one of the best received new reality shows in the UK for years and is well and truly ticking the “water cooler moment” box that TV shows crave for. There have been three or four moments across the series which you can parachute into the top 10 list of UK reality show moments.

It may also tip the balance in terms of an Aussie renewal - 10 will be glad they got their hands on it before the success of the UK version and they’d likely be more interest in taking it off their hands now than a month ago if 10 were to axe it.

I watched the first episode of the US version. It feels so Americanised which I struggled with. Having former reality stars and people that knew each other makes the show feel completely different. A couple of the Traitor choices were very predictable too (if you know them from their previous reality shows). It’s like they wanted some big ticket names as Traitors. I’ll be surprised if at least one of them doesn’t go very early.

The host is also truly awful. He’s like a character that just comes across completely fake, over the top and makes a bit of a mockery of the show IMO. I like the castle/setting and the first challenge was cool but otherwise wasn’t sold. They didn’t even have a murder or banishment in the first episode either (well we didn’t actually see anyone go).

I’m going to counter that by saying now I’ve watched all three English language versions I’d say the US version is probably the best - largely thanks to Alan Cummings being brilliant as the host. Yes, he’s in character as an exaggerated version of himself, but that’s the entire point. Also just like The Circle (both formats produced by Studio Lambert) this US version benefits from being produced by the British production team, so skips most of the usual US reality show tropes.

I agree that half the cast being ex-reality stars is lazy casting but ultimately the format is so strong it doesn’t matter and beyond the first episode isn’t too much of a factor other than a few questions over pre-existing friendships and showing yourself to be gameplayers on other shows.

Ultimately though it is almost a perfect production - indeed this was filmed before the UK version and the fact they barely changed a thing when subsequently filming the British version shows they didn’t really get much wrong the first time around.

I do think if Ten are wise they get a second season locked in and give it the chance to grow, and also get the US and UK versions on Paramount+ ASAP. Even if Ten don’t renew it I think it’s worth giving a second season a run on Paramount+ (assuming they’re not doing The Bridge) to stop Seven getting their grubby mitts on it next year and having Sonia Kruger host.

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Interesting as I found him annoying. I wasn’t sure if I would continue with the US version but based on your review, I might give some more episoes a go.

That’s what I was thinking. They should do it for Paramount+ like they did with The Bridge if it’s not on the main channel. The format has potential and if they can iron out some of the flaws in the original (not explaining some things properly, constantly castin new traitors etc) a second season could be really good.

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