This was the first year I watched the Traitors – I won’t do it again

I realised I’m not sure why anyone puts themselves forward (Picture: BBC / Studio Lambert)

After the finale of the Traitors on Friday evening, when former soldier Leanne and project manager Jake split the winning fund, I was taken back to a moment in the fourth episode. 

It was when doctor Kasim looked pleadingly around the table at his fellow contestants as he told them he’s been isolated – that people are avoiding him. My heart dropped.

As the camera panned across the table, a flash of concern crossed Livi’s face and Fozia asked everyone why they’d made it ‘personal’. 

I felt for Kas at that moment and had an urge to protect him. He almost reminds me of my brother – smiley, gangly and Asian.

I wondered if he regretted coming on and I realised I’m not sure why anyone puts themselves forward.

This is the first series I’ve properly watched – my partner used to enjoy it with their friends, but this year, had no one to watch with, so I volunteered to join the millions tuning in three times a week. 

I won’t be doing so again.

As entertainment, The Traitors makes sense – a group of people must figure out which ones of them are the traitors who are killing them off every night.

Kasim looked pleadingly around the table at his fellow contestants as he told them he’s been isolated (Picture: BBC)

Through panic and mistrust, the faithfuls make deductions leading to death, while traitors use deceit to further that panic.

Essentially, it’s questioning whether knowledge is indeed power, or whether the spread of misinformation is the real model of control.

It’s fascinating and very topical. But it’s a format that seems to reward cruelty and it’s made it, for me, too hard to watch. 

I began to lose faith in people’s humanity while I watched the show. Part of me didn’t blame them for needing cash so badly that they would go this far, but the other part was upset with how they treated each other.

Everyone was so paranoid that by the time the finale came round, Alexander and Frankie were voted off despite their innocence. 

They lost out the life-changing money moments before the ending, because Leanne and Jake couldn’t trust anyone. I couldn’t stand it.

Kasim had been told by eventual winner Jake ‘The doctor thing makes sense. You save lives during the day, you kill people at night.’ Kasim quipped that Jake was ‘basically calling me Harold Shipman,’ which sparked outcry and other contestants chimed in that Jake’s comments weren’t ‘personal.’

I can’t think of a more personal statement than that. Using Kasim’s job and ‘nice’ demeanour to not only accuse him, but then ostracise him from the group was incredibly disrespectful.

Despite 22 contestants being banished or murdered, Kasim’s departure really stuck with me. 

He left with a playful goodbye speech – however everyone looked devastated on learning he was a faithful all along and they had torn apart an innocent person.

And the group were genuinely upset, because throughout the show, as the contestants spend time together, go on missions and then accuse each other of lying at the roundtable, they are forming bonds. 

Freddie, just 20 years old, broke down at the roundtable (Picture: BBC)

They find out about each other’s lives, they are as connected to each other as they are disconnected from the outside world and things become deeply personal and it becomes innately personal. 

In the same episode where Kasim is banished, Freddie, just 20 years old, broke down at the roundtable because another contestant – Frankie – who felt like a mother-figure to him, voted him as a traitor. 

It was one of a number of moments it turned into downright traumatic viewing. 

Fozia, the kind aunty of the group, was killed by the Traitors in episode seven, after being forced to play a card game called deathmatch that was based on luck.

In episode eight, Anna was found shaking and in shock when the rest of the contestants found her in a coffin as part of their mission. I had to pause the show and take a break. 

It wasn’t easy watching someone experience trauma first hand. 

I couldn’t think of anything more terrifying.

And then we have Minah – a woman who played the game so well, she shocked even herself, but later said she found it hard to murder people she became close to, saying that ‘by the time you’ve been together for over a week, you may as well have been together for seven years, so it feels like such a betrayal that you enjoy spending time with this person and you’ve got to know them.’

It might not be real murder, but it’s real deception.

On Friday, as Jake and Leanne celebrated, I found myself asking why all these people came on a gameshow that thrives on cruelty. 

Is this all for money? Have our lives become so difficult we have to endure psychological torture for entertainment to be able to afford, for example, medical bills? 

It appears that the failings of our politicians means we have to go on a gameshow and make people cry to be able to afford the cost of living.

It all feels a bit Hunger Games.

And we find out all the reasons they came on the gameshow, when they are forced to attend an intimate dinner after banishing another faithful they all turned on – Leon.

Charlotte and Leanne both wanted IVF to help have a baby, Freddie wants to give the money to his single parent mother who has taken care of him and pay for university, Jake wants to give his family the money for supporting him through his disability and Frankie wanted to support her sons.

We find out all the reasons they came on the gameshow, when they are forced to attend an intimate dinner after banishing another faithful (Picture: BBC)

Alexander’s late brother had global development delay and autism when he died in his teens and so he wanted to donate the money to a charity who supports young people like him.

These were beautiful, important and wonderful reasons why everyone should have the amount of money they need. I felt even sadder hearing this. I really struggled to watch people experiencing trauma, pain and isolation, so they can afford support, care and medical bills.

It’s not heartwarming, it’s the cruel reality of this country’s financial emergency.

While Leanne and Jake took away the money, I couldn’t stop thinking about the others and if they’re okay. I hope Charlotte can afford IVF, and Alexander can continue to find support for the charity that matters to him.

I don’t think I’ll be watching the show again. 

It was a hard watch, and although it’s well filmed and written or edited in a way that keeps you interested, it ultimately feels like entertainment for the sake of others’ health and future.

And that’s not good TV. 

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk. 

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