The Traitors US and The Traitors UK are hugely popular reality competition shows, but there’s one major element that needs some improvement: the challenges. The UK version first came onto the scene in November 2022, with strong reviews and viewer engagement, as well as impressive ratings. The Traitors UK season 2 just returned to BBC One and has already provided twists, turns and nonstop drama. Meanwhile, The Traitors US season 2 is about to premiere with an entire lineup of former reality TV stars, including Survivor‘s Sandra Diaz-Twine and Parvati Shallow, Big Brother‘s Dan Gheesling and Janelle Pierzina, and Real Housewives‘ Tamra Judge and Phaedra Parks.
Both iterations of The Traitors are extremely popular and considered one of the best reality shows from the past couple years. However, not every aspect of the show has received praise. The competitions are coming under fire for being “boring” and “dull,” according to a Reddit thread created by Amber_Lamp3.
The vast majority of Traitors fans that replied to the OP’s comments expressed similar sentiments, saying that the producers need to make some changes in order for the challenges to be worth watching. As BenjaminBobba noted, “I think the main issue in terms of my investment is there [are] almost no real stakes to the challenges.”
How Can The Traitors Challenges Be Improved?
In the lively Reddit thread, some fans even admitted they fast-forward through the challenges. According to Scouse_till_idie, there’s a difference between how The Traitors UK pulls off its challenges that makes it slightly better. They said, “The UK ones have a bit more about them, when it delves more into the characters and opinions of each traitor but not much.” To put it bluntly, the challenges don’t “affect the game at all,” as noted by SparkleFritz. Interestingly, the Australian version, which was canceled last fall after only two seasons, has some “game changing” elements, but those aspects don’t have any value until afterward.
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The Traitors fans didn’t merely complain in the Reddit thread; they also left suggestions for how producers can make improvements. Srg11 wants to see “secret missions” within the challenges where contestants “can either add to the total or get some money for themselves regardless” of whether they are a traitor or faithful. Under the current format, the challenges are merely “filler.” Outside of the contestants being able to impact the prize money, SparkleFritz also wants to see some challenges that “change a little bit of the game.” That could take the form of earning a “secret banishment vote or another gives a shield nullifier.”
These fans wouldn’t be watching The Traitors if they didn’t love the show, which is evident in the ratings and the critical reception. It’s unfortunate that so many fans don’t like the challenges, which are a vital element of reality competition shows like Big Brother, Survivor and The Challenge. While it’s too late to make changes to The Traitors UK season 2 and The Traitors US season 2, producers should take fan reactions into account when going into pre-production on future installments. There were some creative suggestions in the Reddit thread, and it would be great to see producers increase the stakes even more, which would add a lot more drama into the mix.
Sources: Amber_Lamp3/Reddit, Peacock/Instagram
