After Richard E. Grant cheerfully announced that he was a Traitor in the opening episode of BBC's smash hit show The Celebrity Traitors, it felt that the Faithful team couldn’t go wrong. Swiftly banishing the actor, then successfully banishing reluctant recruitment Traitor Hannah Fry soon afterwards, the Faithful were smashing the game, at one point celebrating an unprecedented 50/50 success rate at the roundtable. Until...
The Traitors trio, also known as the ‘trustworthy trio’ AKA King Kenny, Maya James and James Acaster have run rings around the Faithful, even being named by the gang as the three most trustworthy contestants in episode eight following a challenge. Hilarious, yes, but how could there be absolutely no suspicion on any of them?!
Their names have literally never been written down at the roundtable. Not once. Not by one person.
© CREDIT LINE:BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan CherryThe internet, as it turns out, has its theories, so from the persuasive nature of some of the Faithful cast members who are consistently ‘in charge’ of the roundtable decisions to just how solid the Traitor trio are, I want to dive into why the Faithful have been so bad this year…
First things first, I think the Traitors trio are absolutely solid. As a presenter, Maya has a warm, friendly, welcoming energy that automatically makes people feel safe and want to trust her (and they probably all really want to be her friend too, because let’s face it, she is cool).
© CREDIT LINE:BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan CherryThen there’s James A, who made such a point about playing a Faithful game that his recruitment shocked even him, and has since played Faithful so convincingly that he regularly tells the camera that he basically believes himself to BE a Faithful. Finally, their recruitment of Kenny was a masterstroke. Kenny was completely believed as a Faithful by everyone, and remained cool as a cucumber following his recruitment. I think the only way he’d possibly be discovered now is if Maya is rooted out as a Traitor, considering the pair of them are close allies. But as it is right now, that is not happening.
© CREDIT LINE:BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan CherryBut the Faithful's poor game can’t be put down to the cleverness of the Traitors alone, as they have all made some mistakes in the past that could have led the Faithful to them. For starters, if the Faithful had taken Sharon’s perfume bottle theory seriously, they would know that someone in that room had killed Ross in plain sight. Even WITHOUT the theory, it’s all they have to go on - and yet they’re still not even considering it. As James A put it in episode eight: "None of this comes back to us, because they keep doing it to themselves!"
Unfortunately, I think that they keep being distracted away from the few solid facts that they have, and I think there is a bit of an all-boys club who are the loudest voices - particularly as the female contestants have dwindled after being selected almost exclusively for banishment - with the exceptions only being Richard E Grant - who literally told everyone he was a Traitor - and Joe Lycett, who literally told everyone he wanted to be recruited.
Looking at their voting record so far, we’ve had Myha'la, Julie, Jerry, Hannah all voted out at the roundtable, while Leigh Anne and Joanne have consistently come under fire and have needed to defend themselves - and, of course, the show’s cliffhanger ending last week saw the final vote between Sharon and Joanne for who was to be leaving the show. Ultimately that’s five women vs two men being banished on the show.
© CREDIT LINE:BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan CherryBasically what I am saying is that the Faithful team is crucially lacking a natural leader to challenge the louder voices - and it has been to their detriment. Michael has been described as the ‘father’ of the roundtable, thanks to his fame and slightly more senior age to most of his fellow players, and the gang regularly listen to him and his advice at the roundtable - which has been wrong throughout. Sorry Michael. I still love you.
Similarly, James Blunt has cheerfully acknowledged how terrible he is at this game, but it hasn’t stopped him from rallying his fellow players in that Sharon has changed behaviour and therefore must be a Traitor, without any consideration that he might once again be completely wrong.
© CREDIT LINE:BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan CherryAs for the other players? I’ve been the most impressed by Bash, who has at least suggested Maya as a potential Traitor. Then there’s Sharon, who is probably the best Faithful among them having worked out the perfume bottle in the library theory, but is not being heard or taken seriously by her fellow players.
I think it’s such a shame that in that last episode Sharon clearly felt utterly defeated by her fellow players, especially after being accused of changing her behaviour when she had just started finding her confidence and voice to speak up against her (wrong) fellow Faithfuls.
© CREDIT LINE:BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan CherryThen you have Joanne, who has filled the space of chaotic Faithful energy and frankly has believed every single theory that has been put to her, with hilarious effect, but not necessarily helping the Faithful cause.
And Leigh-Anne, who was brilliantly astute in the last roundtable by suggesting that they needed to look at the final person to be recruited as a Traitor who is influential at the table or could be flying under the radar, with the conversation ultimately being driven by James and Michael to go for "someone who would keep under the radar", in keeping with their Sharon theory.
© BBC/Studio Lambert/Cody Burridge/BBC CreativeI also think Romesh has a really good chance of finding out one of the three, as he appears to be taking in everyone’s opinions, especially as he was determined not to vote for Sharon as a Traitor, but he needs to speak up more, which he appears somewhat reluctant to do.
TV show edits aside, the only way that the Faithful can possibly hope to win this game now is to take their fellow players seriously on their theories and not simply let the loudest, most authoritative voice at the table decide on their actions. And this isn’t me blaming Michael and James, by the way, both of whom I adore. They want to root out Traitors, but they’re only going to do it if everyone is on an even foot in the game and, unfortunately, thanks to their differing levels of fame, they’re just not.
© CREDIT LINE:BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan CherrySo will the Faithful finally break out of this cycle of allowing the biggest voice to make the biggest decisions, will we have a last-minute change-up in their tactics, or will they be gifting the Traitors a trio victory for the first time in the show’s history? Either way, I can’t wait to tune in and find out!
