If you’re tired of watching the same set of people yell at each other over kitchen duties in Bigg Boss, The Traitors might just be your new guilty pleasure. While it’s hardly reinventing the reality show wheel, its first three episodes are a heady, if slightly chaotic, cocktail of murder mystery, deception, and delicious overacting. Add Karan Johar to the mix, strutting through the halls of Suryagarh Palace in ensembles that deserve their own fashion week, and you’ve got yourself a reality show that’s as much about mind games as it is about moody lighting and mood boards.
Directed by Nishant Nayak, this Indian adaptation of the American reality show of the same name, which itself was inspired by the Dutch series De Verraders, places 20 celebrities in one majestic castle in Jaisalmer with a simple premise: trust no one, pretend to trust everyone. Johar, revelling in his House of Gucci moment, plays host and pseudo-overlord, choosing three traitors to secretly “murder” fellow contestants each night. The rest must try to sniff out the snakes, all while trying to look good on camera. Spoiler alert: some try too hard.
Let’s be honest, this isn’t peak psychological drama. But it is fun. Pure, timepass masala fun. You’ve got a cast that reads like someone drew names from a hat filled with influencers, actors, rappers and random Kapoor family extensions: Karan Kundrra, Uorfi Javed, Ashish Vidyarthi, Maheep Kapoor, Elnaaz Norouzi, Raj Kundra, and Raftaar, just to name a few. There’s potential here for both fireworks and full-blown cringe. Sometimes, it’s both at once.
The tasks, supposedly testing “mental strength,” end up looking like an overfunded episode of Roadies. They serve more as set dressing than substance. One minute the contestants are trying to complete a team mission; the next, they’re accusing each other of treachery with all the subtlety of a daily soap. And yet, that is precisely the charm.
Where The Traitors succeeds is in its blend of opulence and paranoia. The Suryagarh Palace is cinematic. The Circle of Shaq (no, not Shaq O’Neal) becomes a daily battlefield of passive-aggression, side-eye, and speculative murder. The way people pretend to be allies while planning each other’s exits is honestly more gripping than half the streaming thrillers out there. Every episode ends on a cliffhanger that makes you want to click “Next” even though you know you’ll be fed more brain rot.
But this isn’t all roses and deception. There’s a certain hollowness that creeps in as you watch contestants who’ve done the reality circuit earlier stumble through the same tired performances. There’s fake drama, some glaring favouritism, and a fair bit of loud noise in place of actual personality. When influencers go up against seasoned actors or TV darlings, the balance is off, and not in a fun way. This review is based on the first three episodes. One can only hope the producers let the format breathe more in future episodes instead of cramming too many “moments” into each hour.
Still, The Traitors wins by being unapologetically over-the-top. Karan Johar brings his patented blend of drama and designer-wear. When he does appear, it’s usually in something that screams “couture” and whispers “chaos.” The show’s true currency, though, is the psychological warfare, not the flash. If it leans into that more, we may just have a solid new player in the Indian reality show space.
So, is it Squid Game? Not quite. Bigg Boss? Spiritually, yes. Splitsvilla with murder? You bet. But above all, it’s reality TV that knows it’s ridiculous, and revels in it. The reality show is streaming on Amazon Prime Video. The first three episodes are available for now and the rest will be added every Thursday.
Also Read: Full List Of Star Contestants Of Karan Johar’s New Show The Traitors