Celebrity Traitors Series 2

It can be a funny old thing, the celebrity version of a popular game or quiz show. Last year’s massive hit in the genre was the first series of Celebrity Traitors. Now, I have enjoyed The Traitors ever since it debuted – you can check out this post from 2022 as proof

Life After Mastermind: Channel Hopping

So I won’t lie, I really enjoyed the Celebrity show last year. I enjoyed it again this year. . . but not quite as much and not necessarily in the same way.

I’ve seen it said elsewhere that this series was ruined by Richard E. Grant revealing right from the start that he had been selected as a traitor and then by James Acaster’s capitulation close to the end. Well, I think ‘ruined’ is far too strong a word for it. However I do think that the series was changed by it and certainly it ended up not being what it might have been.

As we all know I’m not a celebrity and the chances of me ever becoming one are about the same as me swimming the English Channel (in world record time). So I don’t know first hand if what I’m going to say is accurate. I don’t think I have ever met any of the Celebs involved – I’ve been in the same building at the same time as Michael Sheen but didn’t meet him. But I am pretty sure that celebrities have a different motivation for entering than ordinary participants in the parent show. In the parent show I’d guess that the money is more of a motivation, but also the kudos of 1) having taken part and 2) winning. For a celebrity, I’m not saying that the chance of winning a significant sum for a chosen charity isn’t important. I’m sure it is. I’m also sure that being able to say that you’ve taken part in such a popular show is important. But also, it would only be human to consider what the exposure might do for your career – positive and negative.

Is this why the participants’ reactions to becoming faithful/traitor became so much more of a factor than it has ever been in any previous version that I’ve seen? Maybe. To name three examples, we had Richard E. Grant’s confession and James Acaster’s capitulation that I’ve already mentioned but then you can add to that Joe Lycett’s open canvassing to be recruited as a traitor, a move which had the same results for him as Grant’s and Acaster’s. Now, okay, none of the three got that close to winning as a result, but am I wrong to see something of a disrespect for the rules and conventions of the game? Maybe. We see so many of the celebs telling us what massive fans they are of the show, and yet we had three of them behaving as if they have never seen the show before and two of them pouting about not becoming a traitor or about becoming a traitor.

Which is not to say that the show was not entertaining. It was. But was it the Traitors? Not quite as we know it, Jim.