The Traitors

## Cast

**The Traitors** is the first spin-off game of the Big Brother Northwestern franchise. Being played virtually, the game lasted from October 17 to October 28, 2023, with Mario Montes being crowned the winner as the last-standing Traitor against Faithfuls Eli Blanks and Talya Braverman.

## Premise

Within the group of contestants, a number of them will secretly be designated as Traitors. The Traitors’ task is to eliminate the rest of the group, known as the Faithful, through nightly murders and will only win the game if they make it to the end of the game without being Banished. The Faithfuls, on the other hand, are tasked with figuring out who is a Traitor and ensuring that there are no Traitors left at the end of the game.

## Game Format

Each round of the game begins with the Traitors secretly deciding on one Faithful to murder. The murdered Faithful would be instantly removed from the game, and their identity would be announced the next morning. The contestants would then have the rest of the day to talk strategy with each other in an attempt to uncover the Traitors. Later in the day, the Round Table would occur for one hour, where the host would ask questions about the game in the main groupchat. During this hour, the contestants are able to talk with each other both publicly and privately, but before the hour is up, they must submit their vote to the host. If a contestant fails to submit a vote in time, their unused vote would be cast against them. The contestant that receives the most votes would be banished from the game, and would have to reveal to the group if they were a Traitor or not.

At several points throughout the game, the contestants were given special tasks, where the winner would earn some type of advantage. The advantages were either explicitly stated before the task, or the winner(s) of the task would earn a pass to the Armory, where they would be able to choose one of the available advantages.

The Endgame would begin when only five contestants are left: instead of continuing with Banishment, the group would be able to choose between ending the game or continuing banishing players. No matter what option was selected, any Traitors left when the game officially ended would win the game, causing the Faithfuls to lose, but if all Traitor have been eliminated, the remaining Faithfuls win.

## Twists

* **Shields** - During Rounds 2, 4, and 5, the contestants were presented with a special task where the winner(s) would earn a Shield. Possessing a Shield protects a player from one cycle of banishment and murder, effectively operating as a form of immunity.
* **The Armory** - During Rounds 3 and 6, the contestants were presented with a special task where the winner(s) would earn a pass to the Armory. At the Armory, players would be able to secretly claim one of the available advantages.
	+ **Dagger** - The holder of a Dagger is able to block the vote of another player during any one Banishment Ceremony. The blocked player would vote as normal, but during the reveal of the votes it would be announced that their vote was rendered null by a Dagger. The Dagger was available at the Round 3 Armory.
	+ **Gold** - The holder of the Gold advantage is able to cast two votes during any one Banishment Ceremony. During the reveal of the votes, it was announced that a "secret additional vote" had been cast, protecting the advantage holder's identity. The Gold was available at the Round 3 Armory.
	+ **Clues** - A series of clues to the identity of the Traitors. All clues were generated before the game began, and were randomly generated again to see which ones were given out. Clues were available at both the Round 3 and Round 6 Armories.
	+ **Secret Shield** - Similar to a regular Shield, except it would not be announced publicly to the rest of the contestants and would only protect the holder from being murdered, not from being banished. The Secret Shield was available at both the Round 3 and Round 6 Armories.
* **Recruitment** - Following the first banishment of a Traitor, the remaining Traitors were able to recruit one Faithful and invite them to join the Traitors during Round 5. They could only recruit one person, and if the person declined the recruitment, they would not be able to try again. Due to the recruitment option, there was no murder during Round 5.

## Contestants

 **Winner: Traitor**

 **Finalist: Faithful**

 **Finalist: Faithful**

 **Banished: Faithful**

 **Disqualified: Faithful**

 **Banished: Traitor**

 **Murdered: Faithful**

 **Banished: Traitor**

 **Murdered: Faithful**

 **Banished: Faithful**

 **Banished: Faithful**

 **Murdered: Faithful**

 **Banished: Traitor**

 **Murdered: Faithful**

 **Banished: Faithful**

 **Murdered: Faithful**

 **Banished: Faithful**

 **Murdered: Faithful**