What does ‘The Traitors’ tell us about ourselves?

Rory Hamilton argues that the hit TV programme The Traitors has valuable lessons for political success. This article does not contain spoilers.

I don’t know about you, but for the fourth year in a row I’ve been hooked by the BBC reality show The Traitors. Set against a Highland backdrop, the ‘faithful’ are tasked with figuring out who the ‘traitors’ are as they murder and banish their way to winning £120,000. It is, I have to say, probably one of the best bits of television in recent years, with suspense, intrigue and the camp extravagance of pantomime theatre.

Of course, the faithful develop theories of which of them could be traitors based on the smallest and most irrelevant pieces of information, and some argue that a pattern has developed revealing the unconscious bias of the players by the way black, brown, disabled, older and often female contestants are voted out quicker than others for ‘suspicious behaviour’.

One thing which slightly irritated me about this most recent series is the use of people’s jobs ‘in the real world’ to justify their detective skills or ‘who would make a good traitor’ with two criminal barristers and a former police detective among their ranks, as well as another contestant claiming FBI training.

Often this produced a deference to individuals where they had misleading or downright wrong theories about other players, and at times often revealed an element of pompousness among those individuals who felt this career meant their word was gospel. Others have also suggested it revealed something about the way police are prone to fixating on a suspect without proper evidence and instead attempting to make facts fit their theories.

In a recent piece for Novara Media, Adam Ramsay opined that despite his love of the show, it paints a picture of the Highlands as some sort of terra nullius:

The version of the Highlands it encourages us to yearn for is one that’s cleared of its people, culture and wildlife. It’s the ‘Monarch of the Glen’ of our age […] it embeds a collective understanding of Scotland’s Highlands that’s deeply damaging. […] We need to stop fetishising it as empty space, and instead celebrate the life that’s there.

Ramsay was subsequently castigated online for having grown up in what he described as a ‘castle-like’ building in the Highlands himself. Despite this, I think he makes some good observations about kitsch cultural depictions of Scotland (as above), our concentrated patterns of land ownership, and about the cultural impact of reality TV:

promising that “it could be you,” the [National] Lottery was a piece of propaganda to facilitate the rise of a new super-rich class, [whilst] reality TV helped create a sense that “anyone can get famous” at a time when, in reality, access to jobs in the cultural sector was being restricted to those already from the ruling class.

On the other hand, the piece highlighted a disconnect between a need to constantly caveat things as problematic and inadvertently tearing down a popularly enjoyed programme that offers some relief and escape from the constant chaos and misery that is the world today.

The Traitors is not Little Britain, nor is it The X-Factor; and while it is a latent arena for countering damaging narratives, ‘it is not ‘punching down’, and as such, I do not think we (the collective UK Left) are really in a position to be saying to the masses, ‘here’s another thing you like which we deem problematic’.

For me, this is counter-productive to connecting with the disenfranchised, to understanding what ‘the good life’ means for non-politicos, and to winning popular support. I think that we should instead try and use it as an opportunity to learn more about ourselves. So what does it tell us?

“It’s often said we live in a polarised society, but I don’t think that’s true. The idea that we are polarised is manufactured to sow disunity and prevent us realising our collective exploitation.”

People like intrigue and fun

I didn’t feel inclined to watch the celebrity version of the show because I figured none of them would be motivated by the money, so their desire to win is much diminished. And then, in watching this series, I found that contestants just loved playing the game. It felt like each person thought they were doing a real-life version of Cluedo. The money, the 15-minutes of fame, was an extra motivator, but people were in it for the thrill.

I’m actually reminded of a particular line in Love Actually where Emma Thompson consoles the recently widowed Liam Neeson, “Get a grip. People hate sissies. No one’s ever going to shag you if you cry all the time.”

Indeed, it’s somewhat off-putting if we are constantly saying no to things, caveating conversations with critiques, and complaining about the state of affairs without putting something more positive forward and even poking fun at ourselves. Take Zohran Mamdani, not only did he have a positive vision for New York City, but the guy was also fun… did anyone see those Young Cardamom videos?

No one’s ever going to vote for Your Party, join your movement, if you whine all the time. 

We have more in common than that which divides us

Maybe its the stage of life I’m at, but the final eight contestants on The Traitors all shared what they would do with the money if they won it, and they all struck me as very normal, relatable experiences that so many of us across the country could connect with. Far less the curated sob stories of The X-Factor.

I do think we are being told a lot of the time that we live in a polarised society. But I don’t think that’s necessarily true. There is a lot which unites us, not least a mutual distrust of politicians. The idea that we are polarised is manufactured to sow disunity and prevent us realising our collective exploitation, primarily by those seeking to extract wealth through low wages and insecure work, or through high rents and precarious tenancies.

Whether it was a nice holiday with ageing parents, saving for a deposit on a house or to buy an engagement ring, or to take one’s family on a religious pilgrimage together, I did feel a somewhat personal connection. “That could be me! I like board games like Cluedo, I wouldn’t mind some money to help buy a house…”

Without care in public ownership and free at the point of use, the money that contestant could have spent on ‘making memories’ with unwell family members has already been spent supporting the profits of private care providers. Or had housing stock not deteriorated, and house prices not inflated at the same time as wages have stagnated, that contestant could have instead aspired to much more of a ‘nice-to-have’ than the crippling indignities of today’s housing market.

These are the things which make a good life. These are the things that people value. And we have the answers. But perhaps we must do more to pitch ourselves as the faithful instead of shouting ‘no, no, no’ so often at the real traitors?