16 October 2022 (2022-10-16) – 10 September 2023 (2023-09-10)
The Traitors (also known as The Traitors Australia outside of Australia) is an Australian reality television series broadcast on Network 10, based on the Dutch series De Verraders, which premiered on 16 October 2022.[1][2]
Following the premise of other versions of De Verraders, the show features a group of contestants participating in a game similar to the party game Mafia as they stay in a historic luxury hotel. During their stay, a small group of contestants become the titular "Traitors," and must work together to eliminate the other contestants to win a grand prize, while the remaining contestants become "Faithful" and are tasked to discover and banish the Traitors by voting them out, to win the grand prize.
The second season included both civilian and celebrity contestants.[3]
In October 2023, Network 10 announced that the series had not been renewed for 2024, though may return in the future.[4]
Format
A group of contestants arrive at a historic luxury hotel in Robertson in the Southern Highlands as "Faithful" contestants – hoping to share a prize fund worth up to A$250,000.[5] Among them are the "Traitors" – a small group of contestants selected by host Rodger Corser on the first day, whose goal is to eliminate the Faithfuls and claim the prize for themselves.[6] Should the Faithful contestants eliminate all the Traitors, they will share the prize fund. If a Traitor makes it to the end, they steal the money.
Each night, the Traitors come together and decide upon one Faithful contestant to "murder" – and that person will leave the game immediately. The remaining Faithful contestants will not know who has been eliminated until the following day when they will not arrive for breakfast. The group then take part in a mission to win money for the prize fund (awarded in the form of silver bars). In some episodes, the group also participates in a Shield challenge to win individual player immunity from elimination. In season one, the shield awarded safety from both Murder and Banishment. In the second season, the shields only awarded immunity from murder.The second season introduced the Armoury, a hidden room in which in some episodes offered players from the winning team of the day's mission to be rewarded with the chance for one player is secretly awarded the shield of protection, which gives the player immunity from being murdered, but not the banishment vote.[7] An attempted murder on the shield holder will result in no player being eliminated.
At the end of each day, the group will participate in the Banishment Ceremony – where the players discuss who to vote out before individually voting for a player to banish. Players cast their votes privately before revealing their vote in turn to everyone. The person obtaining the most votes is banished from the game and must reveal their affiliation. In a tied vote, a run-off vote occurs between those tied with the highest vote tallies.
At the end of the game, the remaining players participate in the end game. The players can choose to "Vote" or "Stop". A majority Stop vote would conclude the game, while a majority vote to "Vote" would result in another Banishment Vote. This voting process "Vote" or "Stop" continues until the players have voted to conclude the game or if two players remain. If any Traitors remain when the game ends, they will steal the entire pot.
In the event that the game ends with all Traitor players, they play the 'Traitors Dilemma'. Each player is given the option to "Share" or "Steal". If all voted to "Share", then everyone would equally share the pot. If at least one player voted to "Share" while others voted to "Steal" then each "Steal" voter would share the pot, while the "Share" voters get nothing. If all three voted to "Steal", then no one would win any monthly.
Occasionally, twists will impact the course of the game – most notably with Traitors being given opportunities to recruit new Traitors among remaining Faithful players.
Production
The first series was filmed in mid 2022 and premiered on 16 October 2022.[8][1]
Although the series was not formally renewed at the time of the first series, the casting application for a potential second season was opened in early 2023.[9][10] On 28 April 2023, the show was officially announced for renewal for a second season[11] which premiered on 13 August 2023.
^Following Angus' banishment, the remaining Traitors were told they would not be able to murder a Faithful that evening – instead, they had to pick three contestants who would participate in a roulette challenge, to gamble an amount of their silver bars the following day. They chose Lewis & Mark to accompany Nigel in the challenge, where they won an extra $40,000 for the prize fund.
^ abFollowing this Banishment, the remaining Traitors were given the opportunity to invite one Faithful to become a Traitor. Should they accept, they would switch allegiances immediately and become a Traitor.
^Following Marielle's Banishment, the remaining Traitors were allowed to put three of the remaining contestants on "Death Row" – marking them as the only people who could be Murdered next. They chose Craig, Kate and Paul.
^Following Lewis' Banishment, the Final 3 participated in the end game and were given a choice to either Vote or Share – The Vote option would result in another Banishment Vote, while the Share would either – 1) declare all remaining Traitors as winners, or 2) Should there be no Traitors remaining, declare all remaining players as Winning Faithfuls. In either outcome, the prize would be shared among the winners.
^ abAs the Traitor who survived to the end of the game, Alex was declared the winner.
^ abThis contestant was only able to vote to banish one other contestant, thus they were not eligible to vote.
^Following this Banishment, the remaining Traitors were given the choice to either recruit or murder a Faithful. The Traitors chose to murder.
^Following this Banishment, the remaining Traitors were given their final opportunity to invite one Faithful to become a Traitor. Should they accept, they would switch allegiances immediately and become a Traitor.
^ abcdFollowing Sarah's Banishment, the Final 3 traitors participated in the Traitor's Dilemma and were given a choice to either Share or Steal – The Share option would result in either – 1) if all Traitors choose the option, all remaining Traitors would get an equal split of the pot, or 2) If any other Traitor chooses the Steal option, anyone who chooses Share does not win any share of the pot, while the Steal option would result in either – 1) If one Traitor chooses the option, the Traitor would win the entire pot, or 2) If two Traitors choose the option, the Traitors would evenly split the pot, or 3) If all three Traitors choose the option, no Traitor would win any of the prize.
^As all three of the Traitors chose Steal, no Traitors won any share of the pot.
