“Alex isn’t a Traitor, she’s my girlfriend!”, the ‘parting gift’ and “Faithful, Faithful, Traitor, Faithful, NOT SURE...” are all iconic Traitors quotes that have stood the test of time.
But as the show has grown, it feels like there's been more of a focus on chasing that iconic moment than actual game play - pretty understandable considering we've watched contestants go on to become stars.
Just look at what happened to Big Brother; the first season made television history when 'Nasty Nick's' underhand tactics were outed by 'Craig the builder' and the rest of the housemates. But as each year passed by, contestants became that little more self aware and performative - and the show followed suit.
And in some cases, viewers lap it up; in the early days of this year's Traitors, fans were obsessed with the secret relationships theory, but while they were famed as big reveals by contestants, it didn’t land with much impact and had no influence on the game.
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Don’t get me wrong, these viral moments are a huge part of what makes The Traitors , well, The Traitors – I’ll never, ever, forget Diane’s ‘but Ross is’ reveal in season two.
However, sometimes it seems like contestants are thirst trapping to be funny and memorable rather than hunting and playing the game, when really, playing it properly is exactly what creates those viral moments and allows them to go on to become 'celebs' outside of the show.
Viral thirst trapping
It’s fair to say that plenty of viewers this year feel it’s lacked that rumbling of tension, the subtle digs, the long, drawn out tactics; instead, there’s been pile-ons and contestants throwing out ‘quotes’ they hoped would do ‘something but it was not it’.
From poorly executed ‘one-liners’ to plenty of savage but disregarded side-eye, contestants have had their go at being the one to be plastered across social media in memes. And it's understandable, The Traitors has become a huge part of popular culture, going on the show can turn you into a British TV legend nowadays.
But really, the iconic moments have come from those who have really just let loose, got passionate and absolutely ran with it.
That’s exactly what we saw with Fiona vs. Rachel and Harriet’s roundtable vote. In fact, Harriet’s whole run from the confrontation to the explosive breakfast to telling everyone to vote from her is probably one of the major bits from this year.
"Harriet gagging the nation 10 minutes in Traitors uk you will always be famous," one viewer wrote as others called her 'TV gold' and said: "herstory was MADE." The same went for Fiona, labelled a 'QUEEN' that 'cemented herself as a Traitors icon'.
And yet those viral clips came purely from their own passion for the game – Harriet told us herself she was simply ‘hooked on’ the immersive nature as an 'imaginative' and 'emotional' person.
The same goes for the previous seasons, Kieran's 'parting gift' at the first UK final roundtable saw a Traitor absolutely screw over another Traitor out of pure betrayal of the game: TV gold. Paul's great bow as he was banished from season two was all part of his 'nice guy' game play and magician Tom's excruciating 'she's my girlfriend outburst' during a season one breakfast came from things simply getting too much for him.
But now these moments feel often like they're being specifically chased, viewers have seen the impact they've had and watched the cast find fame afterwards and so sometimes they're applying with a hope to mirror that (understandably really).
And that's the problem, all of these truly 'iconic', 'legendary' and proper telly moments were born out of pure emotion, pure vigour for the game and from purely being immersed. They cannot be engineered... no matter how hard some might try.
What do former contestants think?
Back when The Traitors first aired in late November 2022, much of the UK didn’t actually watch it until later and no one really seemed to have a clue just how big it would be, making the mad scenes and viral lines totally organic.
Even season one legend Amanda thought it was going to be like going on ‘Come Dine With Me’, as she assumed it would be 'one of those series you sort of watch and you forget who’s on it'.
But that certainly wasn’t the case; the Welsh dragon herself has been my group chat’s display picture ever since.
And she tells LADbible some players do look for a chance to go viral: “I think they’ve looked at previous players, and they take that sort of role from them - everybody wants that one-liner.”
As for game play, that’s changed, in her opinion, as it seems like ‘rather than going with gut instinct and their passion’ like they did, ‘they try to stay in the game for longer’.
However, she also points out that this year’s biggest moments came from emotion and passion – thanks, Fiona and Harriet.
Not everyone agrees, though.
“I might be naïve but I don't think that's why people are on, to get iconic moments,” says season two matriarch Diane. “I think the nature of the game takes over…
“You’re totally immersed either in catching Traitors or not being caught if you are a Traitor, so I don’t think there could be any time to consider doing something that would make an iconic moment.”
Series two compatriot Ash echoes her point: “People behave according to their environment, therefore, how could you possibly know what a line/moment will be? You have to remember, as normal, regular people in everyday life, we can be sad, happy, angry, funny and completely off the wall. We all have 'moments' in everyday life, and being in the castle is no different.”
However, Diane does say that when it happened this year, it involved Fiona and Harriet, and admits people's motivations for applying now could be influenced by the show's popularity and contestants finding fame in the aftermath.
Saying that many of them this year do 'want to play the game', Ross' mum explains: "I think it's more about what happens afterwards, because the world goes mad with people who are on The Traitors.
"And I think that might affect why you apply. I think that might have the only bearing, which I would rather it didn't but obviously, I'm not naive."
Her rosé wine killer Miles highlights both the greater impact of 'natural' reactions and the show's cultural significance: "I love that I was on season two because there were zero expectations and everything was completely organic. The moments that ended up being iconic were just… natural, unplanned bits of real life on the show.
"Now everyone knows it’s not always about how far you get, it’s about being remembered."
But is having a ‘memorable moment’ a Faithful win itself?
While some might say it’s more of a focus to go viral, season one contestant Ivan reckons it doesn’t ‘unbalance the game’, as it’s ‘never been balanced’ regarding gameplay anyway. And that’s part of why he loves it so much.
“I think players enter the game with a massive problem: the game is so chaotic that you have no control over your own fate. Pulling off a memorable moment is a win, of a sort, for anyone who can do it,” he explains.
During Ivan’s time, his virality came in his final line ‘to punish Tom for his so-called magician skills’ and for him, that’s his win.
“I got to create a moment people talked about,” he says. “We go into the game knowing we probably won't win, and even if we do, that's unlikely to be the crowning moment of our experience.
"So attempting to engineer something viral or meme-able is just a function of players taking control of their own experience.”
And like Ivan says, at the end of the day, The Traitors is all about making entertainment.
It’s just that next season, I would like to see more strategy going on, more determined, direct and ruthless game play from the Faithfuls rather than seemingly busting their guts to get a viral one liner.
The memes will birth themselves; the way to go viral is simply by getting into the game.
The Traitors continues tonight at 8pm on BBC One.
Topics: The Traitors, BBC, TV and Film
Jess Battison