The Traitors (franchise)

**The Traitors** (*De Verraders* in its native language) is a Dutch reality television competition franchise created by Marc Pos. First aired in 2021, the series grew in recognition with the launch of its English-language franchises in 2022 and 2023. It is now broadcast in or licensed to at least a dozen countries and territories.

## History

Marc Pos, a veteran in television production on shows such as *Big Brother* and *Idols*, came up with the initial idea for *The Traitors* in 2014 with Jasper Hoogendoorn when he read *Muiterij op de Batavia* (or *Mutiny on the Batavia* in English), based on a bloody mutiny that took place on a wrecked ship belonging to the Dutch East India Company.

The show was originally conceived as *De Muiters* (*The Mutineers*), and would be set on a ship. A group of contestants - including a number of saboteurs - would take part, with gameplay similar to the current format (albeit with production differences, such as those eliminated having to walk the plank and jump into the sea). However, such a production setup would have been prohibitively expensive, and Pos's pitch - that viewers would know who the saboteurs were and see the game partially from their perspective - also gave television networks pause. Eventually, he managed to sell the format to Dutch television network RTL.

The original series was first officially announced on January 25, 2021 with Tijl Beckand as its host, and its first ever episode airing on March 13, 2021 via RTL 4. It instantly became a ratings hit in the Netherlands, with its elements of sabotage drawing comparisons to *Wie is de Mol?* (*The Mole*). The first international spinoff was announced on April 16, 2021 - a Flemish edition to air in Belgium's Dutch-speaking region Flanders. However, the first international spinoff to officially air was actually the Walloon edition (covering French-speaking Belgium) on December 1, 2021.

## Premise

A group of contestants congregate in a grand or historic venue (usually some sort of castle or mansion), and take part in a series of Missions to build a prize fund. However, a number of them have been secretly desginated as Traitors: their task is to eliminate the rest of the group, known as Faithfuls, through nightly Murders and make it to the end without being Banished in order to win the game. The Faithful, on the other hand, are tasked with ensuring no Traitors are left at the end of the game.

## Format

Contestants are transported to the show's main filming venue, sometimes after completing an opening Mission or twist. They are then ushered to the Round Table, a room with a circular table set up in its centre and where all deliberations for Banishments are held. The first time everyone gathers at the Round Table, they will either close their eyes or have their vision blocked (e.g. through wearing blindfolds or masks). The host will walk around and select a small number of contestants as Traitors, while the rest remain as Faithfuls. In some earlier editions, the Traitors were allowed to exchange eye contact and immediately learn each others' identities, while in others, they will only learn who each other are at their first conclave.

Every night, the Traitors will meet, typically to Murder one of their fellow contestants, who will discover their decision during Breakfast the next morning. The Murdered contestant has to leave the game immediately, without further contact with the other contestants. In the day, Missions take place with two purposes: (i) to let contestants build up their prize fund, and (ii) grant them access to the Armoury, where they could draw the Shield and be safe from the next Murder. The contestants often travel to and from said Missions in cars, adding a more private space they can strategise in besides the filming venue.

After the Missions, contestants are given some time to talk to each other and discuss what they might do at the next Banishment, where whoever is left gathers at the Round Table again and discusses potential targets. Everyone is then asked to cast a vote Banishing one of their fellow contestants; the aim for Faithfuls is ostensibly to try and Banish a Traitor, while for the Traitors, it is to ensure that they avoid being Banished (because this is the only way they can be eliminated from the game). After voting has concluded, the contestant with the most votes against them is Banished, and they will have to reveal whether they were a Faithful or Traitor before leaving the game.

If a Traitor is Banished, the remaining Traitors are given the option to Recruit a Faithful into their ranks. If the Faithful accepts, no Murder takes place; if not, they are typically allowed to Murder instead. Murders are stopped when a smaller number of contestants are left, and a series of Banishments then take place to determine whoever makes the endgame.

The exact endgame depends on the show's format; the original endgame featured a Prisoner's Dilemma game where both Traitors and Faithfuls could win together, while subsequent modifications allowed only contestants from the same faction (i.e. two Faithfuls or two Traitors) to play Prisoner's Dilemma together. A further revision scrapped the Prisoner's Dilemma format altogether, instead (generally) allowing the final four contestants to decide if they wished to end the game, or continue Banishments until only two or three contestants were left. In this format, the Faithfuls would split the prize fund equally if no Traitors remained when the game was ended unanimously, while any Traitors who survived would instead take the entire prize fund for themselves.

### Twists

Given the franchise's recent history, a number of twists have appeared as various editions experimented around or attempted to differentiate themselves. Some recurring twists that have appeared across more than one edition include the On Trial twist, the Dagger and Double Murders.

## International Franchises

As of September 17, 2023, the franchise is known to have aired or be in production in at least 20 countries and territories. This includes one version in Russia that is not officially licensed. All other versions are distributed by All3Media.

## Awards

* On April 5, 2022, the franchise won Best Competition Reality Format at C21Media's International Format Awards 2022.
* On November 30, 2022, the franchise won a Rose d'Or, an award celebrating excellence in television programming, for Reality and Factual Entertainment.
* On April 17, 2023, the franchise was named as 2022's fastest-growing unscripted format in a report by K7 Media.

## Trivia

* Marc Pos considered giving up on the show when his son informed him of the existence of the video game *Among Us*, which the show has subsequently been frequently compared to. However, he believes that the game's popularity in turn helped contribute to interest in the show instead.

## References

1. ↑ ‘I’m 100% Faithful, You’ve Got to Believe Me!’: ‘The Traitors’ Creator Marc Pos Unpacks His Reality Sensation (EXCLUSIVE) | Variety — January 9, 2023
2. ↑ (NL) Bedenker De Verraders: 'Niemand wilde het tv-format hebben' | Veronica Superguide — March 2, 2023
3. ↑ (NL) ‘De verraders’, of hoe de show die jarenlang niemand hebben wou een absolute tv-hit werd | De Morgen — February 7, 2022
4. ↑ (NL) Wie overleeft het bloedstollende nieuwe programma 'De Verraders'? | rt.nl — January 25, 2021
5. ↑ (NL) VTM maakt Vlaamse versie van razend populaire psychologische spelshow De Verraders | VTM — 2021
6. ↑ (FR) Un nouveau divertissement à la télévision: «Les Traîtres» débarquent ce mercredi soir sur RTL-TVi! | Sudinfo.be — December 1, 2021
7. ↑ (NL) Startdatum en locatie van nieuw seizoen De Verraders bekend | RTL Boulevard — January 12, 2023
8. ↑ The winners of international fromat awards 2022 | FormatBiz — May 4, 2022
9. ↑ Winners of 61st Rose d’Or awards announced | Rose d'Or — November 28, 2022
10. ↑ Exclusive: ‘The Traitors’ named fastest-growing format of 2022, while ‘Masked Singer’ remains best-selling | TBI — April 17, 2023