Last year the reality show buzz was all around one series, Squid Game: The Challenge, and rightfully so. With a record-breaking $4.56million to be won, it was a historic television event. I, along with millions of others, enjoyed watching it on Netfix, but it's not my favourite reality show ever.
That belongs instead to The Traitors which returns on January 3rd for its second series on the BBC. The first series was must-watch television and audiences agreed with it earning an impressive 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. So what's it all about?
A group of strangers all move into a beautiful mansion in the Scottish Highlands. The majority of them are "Faithful" honest folk working hard to make the most prize money, but a chosen few "Traitors" must eliminate a player each night, before they are all voted out by the majority. It's a simple premise but it works beautifully.
If you thought Squid Game's eliminations were cutthroat, The Traitors is positively lethal. We aren't just given a number to root for, the contestants are named, made to spend meaningful time together and in the first series, form genuinely close bonds, often between those on opposing sides.
That's the thing, there was so much heart in the first series. The contestants were a golden crop of characters who I could still name today. My one concern for the second series is that last time, the show was new so no one came with any preconceptions or allusions of fame. Fingers crossed the cast isn't a bunch of fame-hungry influencer types, but there should also be plenty of new tricks to keep them on their toes. There is a US version which does include celebrity contestants(and John Bercow), so let's leave the UK one for ordinary folk eh?
Shows like this are a great binge watch and it's good news this time. After the first episode airs on the 3rd of January at 9pm, the second and third episodes will be streaming immediately on BBC iPlayer, so if you can't take the tension you won't have to.
I've completely forgotten the best part of the whole thing too. It's hosted by an uber-excitable Claudia Winkleman wearing some of the finest knitwear you ever did see!
