How The Traitors ruined TV

It’s hard to believe now, but The Traitors wasn’t an instant hit when it sneaked onto BBC One in the winter months of 2022. Less than four million of us tuned in on average (a far cry from the 10.3 million who watched this year’s series) and the critical reception was a mixed bag – one reviewer called it “safe, sanitised and deadly dull”. But thanks to inspired casting, excellent twists and the fizzing brilliance of presenter Claudia Winkleman, in just three years, The Traitors has become a juggernaut of British television.

No wonder, then, that all the other channels want to emulate its phenomenal success. There’s not a television boss out there who doesn’t hold up the BBC’s gothic parlour game as a yardstick to match, a zenith to reach. But the desperation to “make the next Traitors” is turning the schedules into a homogenised list of copycat shows, each misguidedly trying to improve upon an already beloved format. In short, it’s ruining TV for the people who matter most: us at home.

The most recent offender is Channel 4’s The Inheritance. On paper, the format sounds intriguing – good, even: players compete in a series of tasks left in the will of a very wealthy and recently deceased benefactor (who just happens to be Elizabeth Hurley), each hoping to earn a bit of Liz’s leftover cash. The twist comes when the contestants must decide among themselves who contributed most to the challenge – only they can earn the inheritance. Cue arguments, alliances, and plenty of strategic gameplay.

Sounds alright, doesn’t it? But in reality, The Inheritance falls terribly flat. In trying so hard to be a new version of The Traitors (it’s even set in an austere mansion, rigged with secret cameras), the show has forgotten to do away with the one element of the BBC series that doesn’t really work – the challenges. It is incredibly hard to care whether the players can bottle enough wine or herd enough chickens into a pen in the short time provided – yet the more interesting part of the programme (the inevitable slanging match that results from the show’s version of the Traitor‘s roundtable) is entirely predicated on the result of the task. It makes for tedious, unrewarding TV. 

ITV is an offender, too. Earlier this year, the David Tennant-fronted gameshow Genius Game – in which supposed geniuses compete in a series of convoluted and dull games, before joining forces to b*tch about and undermine one another – was such a flop that it was removed from its twice-weekly primetime slot in the schedules within a week. The series was so complicated and arid, that I had to stop watching after just two episodes; life is simply too short. 

There’s also Prime Video’s 007: Road to a Million, which exploits the James Bond brand to test contestants’ relationships and loyalties in challenges around the world. The BBC’s Destination X, which pits its players against each other as they work together (or not) to figure out where they are in Europe, tried and failed to fill the gap left by a Traitor-less summer, too. The less said about ITV’s The Fortune Hotel, the better.

The true genius of The Traitors is in its simplicity – stripped of Claudia’s Highland fashions, the theatrical set pieces and ominous cloaked “murders”, the game is uncomplicated: root out the Traitors. The many copycats overcomplicate the format when trying to dupe it, adding endless rules and hurdles that make shows (that would otherwise be entertaining) extremely unwatchable.

There is light at the end of the year, however, as a new show with a chance of living up to The Traitors is on the way. I am, of course, talking about The Celebrity Traitors: the exact same format but with celebrities – including Stephen Fry, Alan Carr, Clare Balding and David Olusoga – instead of civilians. There will be no copying that. All the other pretenders should just give up now.