We’re all watching The Traitors, right? And I’m not talking about the cut-throat presidential nominations. I’m talking about the cloak and dagger action down at Slane Castle, Co Meath. I haven’t felt this invested in a television programme since a young Dublin lesbian called Anna Nolan charmed us all on the first series of Big Brother 25 years ago. She was robbed, you might remember, coming runner-up to a builder with big biceps called Craig. Still, Nolan went on to build a successful career in television, in front of the cameras at first and eventually as a producer behind the scenes. “It changed my life for the better,” the former nun once said. Reality television, for all its much ventilated flaws, can do that sometimes.
Obviously, I’m aware that a few of you are not watching The Traitors. You have better things to be doing. Reality TV brings you out in hives and you can’t understand why, when the world is in such a state of chassis, so much of the national discourse at the moment concerns a group of ordinary people from all over the country who are holed up in a castle playing a murder mystery game presided over by Sr Michael from Derry Girls.
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Presenter Siobhán McSweeney, by the way, is just one of many reasons to give Traitors Ireland a whirl if you haven’t done so yet. She is playing a blinder. Her witty asides, snappy put-downs, iconic eye-rolls, outstanding outfits – my children are sick of my gasps whenever she appears in another showstopping dress or suit or cloak or kimono – and obvious enjoyment at being queen of the castle are all television gold. I suppose my answer to why so many of us are invested in The Traitors is that sometimes, especially in times of chassis, we humans appreciate a wholesome escape. And if the lack of clothes on Love Island was a turn-off for some, The Traitors, with full-length cloaks, lots of cosy jumpers and blankets to fend off the castle’s chill factor, is a compelling and often hilarious show full of gas characters we can get behind.
To be honest, the UK version, presided over by fringetastic Claudia Winkleman, passed me by so I wasn’t aware of the rules. To recap, a group of contestants work together to complete missions and earn money for a shared prize pot. Among them are secretly chosen Traitors who are tasked with eliminating the others, known as Faithfuls, without being discovered. Each night, the Traitors secretly “murder” a player – this is done by signing a piece of paper as opposed to actual bodily harm – while the group gathers each night to vote out suspected Traitors. The Faithful try to expose and banish Traitors so they can share the prize money. Traitors who manage to remain undetected can claim the entire reward.
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The programme is, in some ways, representative of what it means to be Irish in 2025. Many of the mostly twenty- or thirty-something contestants when asked what they would do with the possible €50,000 prize money talked about using it to fund their dream of owning a house as though, instead of being a realistic aspiration, it was a fantastical notion, which of course for so many young people these days it is. There are four contestants Oyin, Vanessa, Will and Joanna who come from immigrant backgrounds and they reflect the beautiful, country-enhancing diversity that has emerged here in recent decades. Oyin, who I will come back to later, for example is a model and a gamer who has already established herself as a breakout star of the show.
My teenagers are mad about Limerick legend Paudie, a former prison guard and highly entertaining recently departed Traitor. Paudie is 68 and came in for a bit of barracking from some younger contestants. “Elder abuse!” my teenagers shouted protectively at the television when anyone so much as looked sideways at him. In an inspired piece of casting by producers Kite Entertainment, Paudie’s son Andrew was also in the show while the other contestants remained oblivious to that familial connection.
But my favourite contestant is Oyin Adeyemi. Firstly, she has the coolest hairstyle ever seen on prime time RTÉ television. But more importantly she has emerged as the most astute, perceptive, insightful and thoughtful person in the castle and possibly the country. One of her many shining moments came at the nightly round table where contestants gather to decide who to banish. As the three traitors Paudie, Katelyn and Eamon got into a heated and misguided argument, she listened intently and eventually asked “is this a fight between traitors?” which unbeknown to everyone else was exactly what it was. “Yes, Queen!” as certain people in my household would put it.
If you’ve resisted the show so far and feel it’s too late, all the episodes are on the RTÉ Player so you can easily catch up with a bit of a binge. It’s worth it, I promise. Traitors with all its style, craic, wit and wolfhounds not to mention fabulous use of Donegal tweed, is restoring my pride in this country at a time when it’s been dented by racist attacks, Tricolour-obsessed dopes and that malevolent eejit who wants a go at the Áras. Ireland is full? Full of great telly. And I don’t care if she’s only 23: Oyin Adeyemi for President.
