Americans watched with surprise as liars and manipulators were humbled last night. Sure, I watched the State of the Union address. But I’m actually talking about Peacock’s sleeper hit reality series “The Traitors,” which dropped its second season finale right before President Joe Biden arrived at the U.S. Capitol.
A fresh spin on the reality genre, the series is based on the Russian party game commonly known as “Mafia” or “Werewolf.”
The series debuted in January 2023, but over the past year has managed to grow its audience by 75%. “The Traitors” season two is the most watched unscripted series in the U.S., period, and Peacock’s third-most watched original overall. (Peacock, like MSNBC, is part of NBCUniversal.) A fresh spin on the reality genre, the series is based on the Russian party game commonly known as “Mafia” or “Werewolf,” and, like all American reality series (save “The Bachelor”), “The Traitors” is an import. Originating on Dutch TV in 2021 as “De Verraders” it was remade by the BBC in 2022 as “The Traitors.” The British public went wild for it, and Studio Lambert, which produces the U.K. version, offered it to America.
(Season finale spoilers below.)
“The Traitors” leans into its early 20th century parlor game origins, playing up its Agatha Christie house party vibes. In a remote Scottish Highlands castle, host Alan Cumming, impeccably dressed in over-the-top Victorian costuming, picks out a group of “traitors” from among the 20-odd contestants. Their job is to identify their fellow miscreants and work together to secretly “murder” the innocent players (the “faithful”). The faithful, in turn, must uncover the traitors and vote them out. If, by the end of the season, all traitors have been eliminated, the remaining faithful split the prize money. If they don’t, the traitor (or traitors) who remain win the cash.
The audience witnesses this all-important ceremony from on high. Now omniscient gods, the…
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