The US version of the popular reality show recently scored a season 2 renewal.
The US version of the popular Dutch reality TV show, The Traitors is officially an all-around hit. Yesterday, Peacock announced that following its premiere early this year, the psychological game show had become the most-watched reality show on its platform, and as a reward to its faithful fans renewed the show for a second season. In addition to premiering on Peacock, the US version of the show was also made available to UK audiences via the recently relaunched BBC Three and now according to Barb data supplied by Liam Hamilton, the show has now become the most-watched show on BBC Three besting fellow reality TV competition shows such as RuPaul’s Drag Race UK and The Rap Game both of which are broadcast on the network.
According to the data, 1.2 million people have tuned to BBC Three to view the show since its premiere on the network on January 13, a day after it premiered in the US on Peacock. Those numbers do not include data from streaming as the show is equally available to stream as a box set on BBC iPlayer. The data tells just how much the UK audiences are missing their version of the show which premiered late last year becoming an instant breakout hit for the BBC. Season 2 of the UK version was yet to receive a second season order when Peacock announced that it was making a US version of the show. With the US version now set to return for a second season fans are in for some more thrilling drama of scheming and backstabbing.
From all indications, Marc Pos, the mastermind of the original show, De Verraders which aired in his native Netherlands, rightly predicted when he stated last year that a US version of the show had the tools to be equally successful as other versions that have aired across Europe. “It’s worked in Norway, in France, in Belgium, in the Netherlands. Now it works in the U.K. Why wouldn’t it work in the U.S.?” Pos said. “That’d be strange [if it didn’t]. I’m very confident it will work there because it’s about [the worst qualities] of humankind and I think the Americans are not excluded from this sentiment!”
How Does The US Version of ‘The Traitors’ Differ From The UK Version?
The basic concept of the game show remains the same for both formats, however, there exist some moderate differences. Contestants are gathered together in one location (the same Scottish Highlands where the UK version is set) and are tasked to play an ultimate game of betrayal and backstabbing with a huge prize tag at stake. The contestants are split into two uneven groups of “faithfuls” and “traitors,” with the identity of the latter group hidden from the rest of the contestants whose duty is to through careful strategizing identify who the traitors among them are as they progress through different tasks set before them during the day. The traitors must make sure to operate stealthily till the end of the game, the success of which guarantees the last traitor standing the ultimate prize.
The major difference between the two shows is that while the UK version featured regular members of the public as contestants, the US version blends ordinary citizens with celebrities (alums of popular reality TV shows) to make up a total of 22 contestants. Also while the cash prize for the US version is $250,000, the UK version had a slightly lower winning prize of £101,050. Both have been equally thrilling as the numbers have shown.
All 10 episodes of The Traitors Season 1 are available to stream on Peacock.
