Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for the season finale of The Celebrity Traitors UK, now streaming on BBC iPlayer.
The most popular shows on TV are rarely the best. Rarely does a TV show become so public that the final episode is shown in bars and clubs across the country. And it’s even rarer that the knife-cutting tension in a movie is evoked by comedian Alan Carr.
But ‘The Celebrity Traitors UK’ has done just that. The first season of the BBC’s celebrity version of the game, an elaborate and unpredictable international franchise whodunnit, more than lived up to expectations. It surpassed them.
Celebrity formats typically exist to extend the continued popularity of an existing show, without necessarily adding to it. The reason it worked here is because the celebrities were clearly fans of the show and had their own strategies to begin with. Created by reality TV powerhouse Studio Lambert, Celebrity Traitors hasn’t given up on tinkering with the format, resulting in not only great gameplay but also some surreal moments, like the first episode where the celebrities enthusiastically dig their own graves.
People reading this from the US may wonder why there’s so much fuss about the British version, given that the US version of Traitor has had such a big name cast since the beginning. That’s easy. In the UK, not a single celebrity became famous by appearing on any other reality show. There were no bombastic figures or people trying to monopolize the cameras at the roundtable.
And while some names, like Sir Stephen Fry, were protected from early ouster or murder due to their celebrity status, resulting in early exits for actress Ruth Codd and YouTube prankster Niko Omilana, the gameplay never devolved into celebrities needlessly defending each other because they’re allies. thank god.
So what made this show so special at a time when reality TV is already saturated? Read on to find out…
Celebrities were…terrible.
Please don’t joke here. The celebs were completely hopeless until they stepped it up in the last few episodes and finally ousted Traitor host Jonathan Ross.
Celebrities are no smarter than the rest of us, but their high status, treatment, and constant attention can fool us into thinking they are. Here, celebrities expelled believers at the roundtable five times in a row. Five! At one point, almost 40% of the remaining contestants were traitors, a situation worse than any previous iteration of the British show. Like Kerr, if I were one of the producers, I probably would have ended up drinking a double rosé in the unthinkable and unprecedented event that Faithfuls was so bad that no one was actually left three episodes before the ending.
It was a tonic to see them do shit, but it wasn’t just the roundtable. Claire Balding is a well-regarded announcer with hundreds of hours of Olympic and Paralympic coverage, but within seconds she ruined everyone’s mission because she didn’t understand basic written instructions. Later, when “Bridget Jones” actress Celia Imrie was murdered in front of her eyes, journalist Kate Garraway wondered if someone had eaten sun-dried tomatoes for dinner. fun.
The most ridiculous and unsuccessful accusation in this series was, without a doubt, when Olympian Tom Daly accused Garraway of being a traitor after he said the word “freaking” after singer and actress Paloma Faith’s funeral (a line I never thought I’d write in my career, but here we are).
“Who says those words, ‘Amazing?’” said the confident Agatha Christie, Tom.
“Just because someone has a better vocabulary than you doesn’t mean they’re a traitor,” Kerr replied.
The fart was heard all over Britain.
Carr also delivered some of the best lines of the season, including when Ross wore what looked like a “Flintstones” costume and Carr responded, “Yaba dabba don’t,” but it was Imrie who became the nation’s favorite.
Even though she collaborated with Victoria Wood over the years, her comic timing and deadpan delivery were surprisingly pleasing. Before this series, who would have imagined that Imlie’s fart would be the best moment on TV all year? But it was.
In fact, the BAFTA Television Awards have an award for Best TV Moment of the Year, so there’s a good chance Imlie’s fart actually wins the award. Just imagine… I would like to thank the Academy *parps*.
Alan Carr, Accidental Serial Killer
It was an inspired choice to make Carr a traitor. After hopelessly trying to denounce Boulding and Imrie as traitors, quoting the worst civilian traitor of all time and having them say, “I’m worse than Linda,” the real joy was watching Carr become an accidental serial killer and then addicted to a lust for murder.
He passed through the Round Table even when he forgot he had a shield. In the penultimate episode, he is asked to stare at another celebrity and tell them he is a believer, and he becomes a corpse.
But strangely enough, Alan’s perception as a bad traitor was his greatest strength. It took away the smell from everyone. And when fellow traitor Kat Barnes began to feel guilty, Carr’s only response to Daley’s murder was, “He’s dead. Deal with it.”
It all came to an emotional climax in Thursday night’s finale. Kerr revealed himself to be a traitor after successfully convincing fellow finalists historian David Olusoga and “Ted Lesso” actor Nick Mohammed that he was loyal, but unexpectedly suffered from guilt and broke down in tears after winning the show. He apologized and said the secret “torn me up.” As a result, Mr. Mohammed, Mr. Olusoga and presenter Claudia Winkleman consoled him and reminded him of the amount of money he had raised for his chosen charity.
While most winners became villains, Carr instead became a national treasure.
And the fact that the best moment of television this year was watched by the most viewers, 11 million people, according to early numbers? Even better.
