Weaver's Week 2023-01-22

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Get them, before they get you.

Contents 1 The Traitors 1.1 Studio Lambert Scotland, 29 November – 22 December 2022 (12 episodes) 1.2 Taking it day by day 1.3 Game on! 1.4 Who leaves? They decide 1.5 Who's next? 1.6 How was The Traitors so good? 2 In other news 2.1 This week we learned 2.2 Quizzy Mondays

The Traitors

Studio Lambert Scotland, 29 November – 22 December 2022 (12 episodes)

Twenty-two people. One hundred and twenty thousand pounds. A castle in the Scottish highlands. An open bar, and Claudia Winkleman. What could possibly go wrong?

The basic game idea is that there's a subgroup – the titular Traitors – who hope to survive until the end. If any of them do last to the end, they will scoop the prize pot. The remaining majority – known as the Faithful – are asked to find and eliminate all of the Traitors.

Each day, the players vote to eliminate one of their number, the person who they think is most likely to be a Traitor. Each night, the Traitors decide to eliminate one of the other players. With a handful of non-elimination twists, the 22 players were whittled down to five for the final episode. Some of them won (and "some" could include "one").

The series begins by introducing the contestants, briefly and succinctly. Some are at a station, others are already aboard the steam train. Soon enough, all are going along on this "murder mystery weekend". Well, "murder mystery fortnight". It's almost ten minutes into the show before the contestants pull up onto the forecourt of Ardrossan Castle.

Claudia Winkleman steps out of the castle, and greets the players. She asks them to order themselves, work out who is the most likely to win, who is the least likely to win. The game has already started. Andrea and Imran reckon they're most likely to win, Kieran and Amos say they're least likely to win.

"Every decision has a consequence. You two think you're going to lose, I'm going to take you at your word. So it is goodbye. I'd like you to leave the grounds. Immediately."

Wow! Bit of a wasted journey! Within the first 12 minutes, before anyone's so much as stepped across the castle threshold, two people have been eliminated from the game. "Now, who's up for a cup of tea and a magical scone?" asks the host, moving from heartless to hearty in the blink of an eye.

The Traitors continues in that vein for the rest of the episode, and indeed the rest of the series. We were taken on a rollercoaster of emotions, up and down and flung this way and that. The Traitors went from pathos to bathos, from "I hate you!" to "you're my bestie!" in the blink of an eye, and back again before we know it.

There is absolutely no chance to play along with The Traitors. As a viewer, you will not get to try and detect the traitors. We see the traitors being selected, we're privy to their discussions in the Traitor's Turret. Theatre students will know the idea of "dramatic irony", where the viewer knows more about what's happening than the characters do. The Traitors gives us viewers an all-access view of everything that happens.

For instance, we know that Tom and Alex were in a relationship before they applied to the show. Both tell their story to camera in the first episode, and Tom is visibly hurt that Alex is flirting with someone else. Both make frequent references to their coupledom, but only to the camera. Never to any of the other players.

Never, until Tom spills all, when he hears that Alex is one of three players "on trial". It's the event to define the series, the moment sentiment shifted from "this could be good" to "must watch". It's like Big Brother Fight Night, except without any actual fighting, and done around a giant breakfast table.

To explain the show further, we'll run through the rhythms of a typical episode.

Taking it day by day

Dawn breaks over the Scottish highlands. The players have spent the night in their own individual lodgings, separated from each other. Yes, even Tom and Alex aren't sharing a room – for all they know, Alex could be a traitor, or Tom could be a traitor. The luxury accommodation includes a private bath, wood panelling, and a massive bed. But has the contestant slept well? Has the contestant slept at all?

And are they ready for breakfast? Small groups enter a large dining room, laden with all sorts of breakfast food. There's fruit, pastries, juices and coffee, cereals and cheese and sausages and enough toast to float the Toast Marketing Board.

The room is decorated with oil paintings – a large one of Claudia Winkleman is by the door, a smaller painting of each player is on the adjacent wall. Those eliminated are scored through with a red cross.

Small groups enter the room. All of the players still in the game – the faithful, and the traitors. All? No! One indomitable member of the faithful has received a letter. "By order of The Traitors, you have been murdered."

Whoever doesn't turn up to breakfast has been eliminated from the game, bumped off by the little group. They don't get to say goodbye, they simply don't walk through the door.

Straight away, the act of walking through a door gets invested with great meaning. The act of opening a door is meaningful. People try to read something into a knock on the door. The celebration as we welcome the last person to enter is tinged with sadness as we realise who hasn't arrived. And it's the same feeling for the players as it is for us viewers – although we get access to everyone's thoughts, we don't know who is eliminated until they don't turn up.

Claudia confirms the news, and reaches for the murdered player's portrait. Of course, they haven't been murdered, only a fool would think that she's literally involved in a murder cult. But just in case, we see the "murdered" player alive and well. Hopefully, that'll have staved off all the letters from the hard-of-thinking.

There's time to relax in the grounds of the castle, and discuss what's happening in the game. Who are the big suspicions? Who could it be, who do you trust completely? How does the fact that Jonny isn't amongst us change your view?

Game on!

Each show has a mission to win cash for the prize pot. The first episode was a bit underwhelming, light a fuse to a wicker figure. There was a complicated challenge to ring bells, recognise tunes, and match objects – might have worked well in person, but didn't make great television.

The one where they were strapped to a revolving wheel and forced to answer questions about each other, that was great television. And it was one of the rare chances to find out something about the traitors, not that it really came through. Then there was a case to herd sheep around a pen, as if this was One Claudia And Her Traitor.

High theatre for the next episode, where a masked congregation conceal various items of clothing. Identify the person, ask them for the item, and win. Then there was an excuse to dig people out of graves, and bring cash barrels to the top of a hill. Then there was an escape room, a quiz determined by car routes, a laser theft challenge, cross a river on a rickety bridge, and pick up money bags around the loch.

Unlike other shows such as Wie is de Mol, nobody has been tipped off about the mission. Nobody's got an advantage, neither traitor nor faithful. Everybody is playing for the common pot, a chance to work together. They'll come back to the question of who's going to win the money later. All of the challenges could just about be won in the time allowed, and most were – the final prize fund was £101,500 of a potential £118,000.

Yes, many of the challenges were familiar from other shows. There's a direct lift from Test Drive, one they could have used on Raven, and enough modes of transport for a Treasure Hunt (2) revival. But we weren't watching The Traitors for these references.

In the middle of the series, most of the challenges carried an "Armoury pass" – entry to a secret room where there's an immunity shield. Whoever has that shield cannot be murdered by the traitors. But they can be voted out – the shield will protect from murder, but not democracy.

Who leaves? They decide

After some more stuff in the castle, the players gather at the round table. It's a large oak table, with a star design in the middle and a raised dais where they have some very small cameras. Players are sat at equal distances around the table, they thin out as the series progresses.

At this table, the players discuss who they most suspect. Who should leave? What suspicions do you have? Why do you have them? How are the traitors acting; will they work together, or will they try to expose each other? We viewers have been privy to discussions earlier in the day, they help us to foreshadow how tonight's discussion will go.

They spend a lot of time at the round table. It's a lot of talking, and absolutely zero physical action. But it's gripping television. Especially when we remember that a) we know more than anyone round that table, and b) the players get absolutely no clues as to who the traitors are. Not a single one. There are no cryptic riddles, no hints in the colour scheme, the bottles of water do not carry any message.

The faithful players have only their wits, their suspicions, and their hunches. And their prejudices. First to be voted out was someone who didn't raise their glass in a toast to the faithful. Why not? Because she's got a deformed hand, would have used the prize money to get a bionic limb. Next episode, they choose to get rid of an Asian guy instead of a white estate agent.

What does that tell us about the contestants? There was roughly one contestant of colour to every two white contestants; if we consider disability and sexuality, the straight whites might have been in a slight minority. To lose one minority player first of all might have been unfortunate; to lose two might be more than coincidence. It does seem that the most obvious reason to single someone out as "other" is being used.

Also note that – between banishments and murders – the first three people eliminated were women. Big Brother always got rid of women first. Is there something in the reality show environment?

Anyway. At the end of the discussion, the players vote, by writing something on a piece of slate with a chalk. What they write is meant to be the name of one of the other contestants, sometimes it is misspelt. Heaven help them next series, when they have Featherstonehaugh Cholmondley-Warrineragh on the panel.

Whoever's got the most votes leaves. We didn't see what happens if there's a tie. Before they're shown to the door, the banished player tells if they were faithful, or if they were a traitor. It's the climactic reveal of the show, and while it's not completely and ludicrously over the top, they do make as much out of it as they can.

Who's next?

So, the team have voted off a faithful. Again. Every [chuffin'] day. (The contestants can and do swear, this column has a self-denying ordnance.) The host Claudia Winkleman is sad. Claudia is disappointed. Claudia could tell the team to buck their ideas up, or shout at them. But she doesn't. Claudia is kind and generous, shares the team's emotion, amplifies it for the viewer who might not be paying full attention. (And who can blame them, we've had ten minutes of talking.)

Whether they voted off a faithful, or lucked on a traitor, the remaining players slope off to the other rooms in the castle. They tend to end up in the bar, stocked with all sorts of wine, spirits, soft drinks, beers. Ruminate about what's happened, if there were any clues for the next day's eviction. We viewers know who the traitors are and how they voted, the contestants don't, but the traitors will know who voted for who.

Throughout the day, the traitors have been in the background. They've been listening. Steer the conversation away from themselves, towards someone they've heard other people talk about.

And then the clock strikes – midnight if we're to believe the visuals, some earlier hour is likely in real life. All of the players are driven away to their own rooms, soundproof and away from the others. They can relax, unwind, sleep – if they can.

For while the others are away, the traitors will play. Gathered in a spooky turret, where even storm lanterns can't hope to cut through the gloom, the traitors plot. Who will they eliminate tonight? Who has been stirring up trouble? Who hasn't been trouble, but might be asking questions and unhelpful in the future?

A decision is made, a warrant is signed and passed to Claudia. Whose name is on the paper? That's for the next episode, when we find who isn't coming to breakfast...

How was The Traitors so good?

A lot of elements combined to make this hit series. Some of them are careful planning, but there's a good slice of luck.

The key element: De Verraders is a flexible format. It was developed by the team at IDTV – the same folk who came up with Wie is de Mol?, Lingo, and CupCakeCup. The idea is familiar and relatively well-known: some know of "Werewolf" and "Mafia", a party game of social deduction. Some know of "Wink murder", a warm-up exercise of sharp observation, beloved of drama teachers. Some remember Traitor with Tony Livesey, a one-week wonder on BBC2 that was just the round-table segments.

IDTV distinguish De Verraders from Wie is de Mol? by two key differences. Here, we viewers know who is working to undermine the group, it's not a guessing game. We can enjoy the dramatic irony, in a way that's completely absent from The Mole. The other point is that everyone's working for a common pot. In the Dutch original, it's represented by bars of silver (a throwback to the New Testament story about Judas Iscariot); for the BBC, it's more simple verradergeld – traitor money.

The other key format points are simple. Have a bonding exercise during the day. Break the bonds as the group chooses to eliminate someone in the evening. Test strength as the traitors eliminate someone overnight. How you get from one staging post to the next is up to the local producers.

Studio Lambert Scotland understood the show – and co-production money helped. To move from the sketch format to the fully-fleshed programme takes time and effort. The producers found a secluded location, isolated from the rest of society, let the players live in their own little bubble. There might be a world outside, but it didn't impinge on the players' experience.

Studio Lambert have a house style, honed on Gogglebox and The Circle – observe what happens, perhaps set things that should make for interesting television, and film what happens. The first stroke of luck was that almost everything they tried did make for interesting television. The rough missions were at the beginning, and they baclgrounded some of the characters a bit too far at times. But we never felt like we were missing out, or that we were being led down a predetermined path.

Drone shots and sweeping visuals are de rigeur in television these days, the isolated location gave plenty of scope for arresting images. The contents looked a million dollars, and it probably was a million dollars. The BBC show was filmed at the same location, and around the same time as NBC's version – that airs on BBC3 from this week.

By combining budgets, the producers could invest in challenges they were going to reuse – we expect to see another take on the People Strapped To A Wheel challenge, we expect to see the Laser Heist challenge, the Escape Room, the Rickety Bridge, and maybe the Helicopter Drop. Some of these challenges would have been within budget, but we don't think all of them would have been.

For all the expense, the most impactful physical props were the cheapest. A small piece of slate. Some sticks of chalk. A door. The star of the show is a closed door!

Casting was absolutely perfect Both the host and the players were excellent choices. Claudia Winkleman brought bags of energy to the host's role, enthusiasm and wit and a soft encouragement. She shared in the highs, consoled in the lows, and knew that food and drink is the way to people's hearts. During the roundtable discussions, Claudia lurked ominously in the background, like she was feeding from the chaos and nervous worrying she'd unleashed. Throughout the series, Claudia brought an undercurrent of decadence, we felt like the whole thing was always just about to tip over into drunken debauchery – on one night, she threw a lavish and boozy dinner party, then the next morning consoled everyone knowing that they were all badly hung over.

The main casting credit goes to the players. All human life was there, from the sweet grandmother to the naïve student, from the outgoing showman to the reserved bookkeeper. Whoever you were, there was someone on the cast you could identify with, or aspire to be. The cast skewed young, the majority were under 40. There was a fair cross-section of skin tones, of sexualities – sometimes declared, sometimes our assumptions. Two contestants had disabilities, including one indomitable spirit with dwarfism.

The group was friendly, and open, and bonded really well. We saw this on screen, these people had become close friends, they were all in it together. At the moment, we don't know if that's from the format (a shared drama brings people together). It could be from the specific care Studio Lambert Scotland took (we're pleased to hear that contestants had lots of psychological assistance during and after the recording). Or if it's from the particular people in the show this time.

And the choice of Traitors was excellent: a microcosm of the cast. Someone young and innocent. Someone who always came across as a bit shifty. Someone who could be the mother hen of the group. They won't always get this lucky with the cast. They couldn't have known they'd get so lucky with the initial traitors.

Nobody knew what to expect. Nobody could predict what would happen. The contestants didn't know much about how the show worked, and knew less than the viewers. And none of us can predict the future: we might be able to see how things will turn out later in the episode. But next time? That's a whole other question, depends on so many things. They'll never be able to call on this advantage again: like on Big Brother, like on Channel 5's The Mole, applicants next time will have seen series one and will expect to know the broad outlines.

The editing told a story Another of Studio Lambert's talents is how they can tell stories. Careful selection of footage, edit just the right points, know what emotional buttons to push. For The Traitors, the key button was tension. Set up a plot point earlier in the episode – or sometimes in a previous episode. Then let it develop, we've been foreshadowed and now we know what to watch for. With no effort to play along, we're able to enjoy the ride. We can side with our favourite contestants, hope that they vote out 'Erbert, or keep in Harsha, and that they don't bump off dear old Olive in the night.

Music was another key aspect. A portentous soundtrack, deep and meaningful, sombre and lightly gothic. Slowed-down and creepy versions of pop hits cropped up from time to time, little Easter eggs for those who recognised them.

Indeed, the whole atmosphere was consistent. The show looked lightly gothic, the creepy castle with its nooks and crannies, flaming torches, night settings and Claudia's clothes as the landed gentry. The footage was carefully prepared for colour and brightness – note how our photos of the church are much darker than inside the castle. This is a deliberate choice, and something we didn't consciously register when we saw it.

Sometimes less is more We'd have loved a BBC3 spinoff series The Traitors: To The Faithful Departed. Rick Edwards sits down with the player voted off last night, and the player who didn't make it to breakfast this morning. He gently asks them about their experience on the show, who they think are the traitors, and what's going through their mind. The contestants might not need the closure, but we viewers do – a ten-second farewell message just isn't enough.

And we'd love the Beeb to pick up other versions – the Aussie take for BBC3 or the I-player, some of the Dutch series could pop onto BBC4 where they're happy to show subtitled drama from the continent.

The series ended on a victory for the faithful: one traitor left the show, implicated another, who panicked and implied that he was going to win the whole six-figure jackpot. Throughout the series, we had thought that the traitors had this in the bag; only in the closing half hour did we think that actually, they might not. This feelgood ending will make it so much more fun when the traitors win next time around.

That's assuming there is a next time. We've not heard confirmation of a new series from the BBC. They'd be barking not to renew it, but could they commit to making such a good series if they don't have an international co-production? Time will tell...

For now, we know there's a card game on sale, with a full board game to follow in the autumn. Let's hope they're not not going to be selling last year's hit.

In other news

We're very sorry to report the death of Emerson Milford Dickson. Many of us remember Emerson as the charming and witty host of Puzzled Pint London in 2015-16, or from helpful interventions at puzzle hunts like DASH or Come Out and Play. A school librarian by profession, Emerson was on the panel for the Carnegie Medal, and more recently the Polari Prize childrens category. Avid crossworder, occasional Learned League player, consigliere to gorgeous cats, generous wise and witty, Emerson died suddenly last weekend aged 42. We will miss him terribly.

Countdown has concluded its occasional Championship of Champions. The first quarter-final saw Florence Cappleman-Lynes beat Sam Cappleman-Lynes, wife betters husband in a cosy parlour game thanks to "thumbed" "haplites". A major surprise in the second QF, Dan Byrom beat Elliot Mellor, both players maxed on 12 rounds.

Ahmed Mohamed won the third QF over Luke Johnson-Davies; both began with a perfect 48 points in the opening rounds, and Ahmed's 132 the highest score of the tournament so far. A game of snap in the last QF: James Haughton and Adam Latchford were both perfect through nine rounds, and gave identical solutions for the first eight rounds. Later, Adam had to offer "featury" to stay level, it's not in, and James wins by those seven points.

James Haughton beat Florence Cappleman-Lynes, a match that went to a crucial conundrum. "Inclines" and "ostalgia" were James's winners, the latter is a bone disease and not nostalgia for East Germany. Florence narrowed the gap through James's error on the final numbers game, just about his only misstep of the game.

Two giants of the game went toe-to-toe on Thursday, playing tennis of the highest quality. But turning away from Andy Murray and Thanasi Kokkinakis for a moment, Dan Bryom and Ahmed Mohamed were just as good in the Countdown studio, matching each other in every single round. Domanial. Empire. Gessoes. Anerly. Bigarade. All of these are words, all of them scored. Locked together throughout, it was going to take the conundrum to split them. Ahmed solved "Popliteal" and eked out the win.

The final swung every which way. James put in a "bravura" performance, making up for Ahmed's winner "wanderer" early in the game. James took the lead with "abatised", and then the advantage from a horrible numbers game. But Ahmed wasn't going to be beaten easily, he spotted "magilus" for a winner.

Even so, James would win if nobody got the conundrum, and only two of the last six had been solved. Both of those solves came from Ahmed Mohamed, who took less than two seconds to turn "suitlapel" into "pulsatile". Ahmed won the Championship of Champions by 99-96, and becomes only the seventh player to win all their heats, the series, and CoC without losing once.

Poll of the Year results Our lovely readers voted The 1% Club as the best new game show of 2022, which surprised this column and many fans of The Traitors. Surprised, but no objection at all – it's a fine winner. Only Connect (2) remains the most popular programme amongst UKGameshows and Bothers Bar readers, and AshTheBash's Quiz Night the best streaming show. Fastest Finger First was the most regrettable new show of the year.

Ken Bruce will leave Radio 2 at the end of March. He's been the regular mid-morning presenter since time immemorial, and has talked to almost everybody in the world of music and entertainment. Because he co-owns the format rights, Popmaster will no longer be on Radio 2 after Ken leaves. A replacement in the late-morning slot has yet to be named, and it's not immediately clear which presenter called Scott Mills will commentate on Senior Eurovision for Radio 2.

Radio 4 has confirmed some comedy commissions. A new series of Room 101 will be hosted by Paul Merton, returning to the original radio roots where Paul discusses the worst things in the world with a single guest. The guest tries to convince Paul to admit the things to Room 101, full of life's detritus. Other commissions include a full series of sound-effects show You Heard It Here First, hosted by Chris McCausland. Paul Sinha's Perfect Pub Quiz also returns.

This week we learned

• Greendale, the village served on Postman Pat, is loosely based on the Lake District around Keswick. (House of Games)
• Papua New, Bissau, Equatorial, and just plain Guinea, the four UN members with "Guinea" in the name. (Only Connect)
• The work of NK Jemisin, science-fiction author, multiple award winner, and sometime Twitch streamer (University Challenge)
• Downstage is the front of the stage nearest the audience. If you keep going downstage, you'll fall down off the edge. (My So-Called Life and House of Games)
• Marcus Trescothick, the cricketer, was born in Keynsham. That's K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-Marcustrescothick. (Mastermind)
• The Netherlands play Test cricket. This came as a surprise to the KNCB, who have completely forgotten the one Test their women's team played against South Africa in 2007. (House of Games)

On first publication, we incorrectly reported this last item as an error, based on incomplete records presented by the Dutch cricket board. Our assertion of an error was itself not correct, and we cannot remember a single error in any of House of Games' 505 episodes.

Quizzy Mondays

Alex Shilton won on Mastermind, taking the Films of Wes Anderson. 11 on specialist, 13 on general knowledge: if he can avoid the heavy hitters in the second round, a place in the final may open up. Impressed by Adeline McCartney, who also scored 13 general knowledge points, but fell short on Rupert Brooke.

Cunning Planners took Only Connect – they'd opened up a lead in the Connections round and never looked like trailing. Spot of the night came from their opponents, the Jugadores, who knew Richmond is the largest park in London. Miss of the night was the music sequence, which somehow led to a mass singalong of the Vengaboyz' biggest "hit".

University Challenge ended in a draw. Newnham Cambridge had the better of the buzzers, one more starter than Cardiff, and conferred in a collegiate manner – almost giddy at times with the exuberance. Cardiff were right in a lot of speculative guesses, and the bonuses fell their way. 140-140 was a fair reflection of the game.

Regrettably, the format demands a winner and a loser from every episode. At the risk of sounding like Nicholas Parsons, let's have more shows where everyone is a winner! It's a shame Cardiff went out on a tiebreak, they were a cracking side and would have offered more entertainment than some teams already through.

Great news for all quiz fans, as Bridge of Lies starts a new series and Pointless has new episodes (BBC1, weekdays). Guessable is back for a new series (Comedy Central, Wed).

Competition on Sunday afternoon, as Young Masterchef (BBC1) goes head-to-head against a condensed Junior Bake Off (E4) with Harry Hill. Which is better? There's only one way to find out!

Overseas acquisitions: The Traitors NBC is on the i-player right now, and BBC3 from Tuesday, and BBC1 from Wednesday. And if you're interested in Survivor South Africa that appears weekdays on the Dave channel.

Picture credits: Studio Lambert Scotland, mutant-what-not, Magnum Media in association with Silver Star, BBC.

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