How The Traitors betrayed itself

January can only mean one thing: The Traitors is back. For those of you who haven’t been initiated into this cloaks-and-daggers drama, the premise is simple: the traitors attempt to remove players by ‘murdering’ them, while the faithfuls try to work out who the traitors are. Each night the group votes someone off after a round-table discussion. It’s real-life Cluedo, with extra high-camp theatrics – hooded robes, crossed-out portraits, handwritten messages, crocodile tears and croissants in the breakfast room – all under the watchful fringe of Claudia Winkleman.

The first two series were an unexpected success. In our fragmented streaming era, when people rarely watch the same shows at the same time, The Traitors brought back event TV and excited water-cooler discussions. Reality television shows nowadays shamelessly promote unrealistic, unattainable impressions of modern life, think the sparkling homes of Selling Sunset or the buff bodies of Love Island.