How to Win The Traitors

[Music] I'm usually pretty dismissive of reality TV but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that the traitors is one of the most captivating shows on television right now as each episode passes the stakes only get higher as the social ties grow stronger and the psychological strategies become dirtier the basic premise is that roughly 20 contestants enter a castle to play a murder mystery game each day they all perform group tasks to generate prize money which will be won by the final four contestants at the end of the show but hidden amongst them are at least three traitors who meet in secret every night to eliminate one player from the game and form psychological strategies to employ the next day after the group task everyone meets at the round table to cast dispersions as to who might be the traitor and the players all openly vote to banish one contestant from the game who then reveals if they were in fact a faithful or a traitor when the show ends if there are only faithfuls remaining they split the prize pot amongst each other but if there are any Treasures remaining they steal all the prize money for themselves naturally the show has attracted some criticism for rewarding the ability to lie and manipulate as That Could set a bad example for the viewers at home as the only way to win the show as a traitor is to exploit your fellow contestants trust but the participants do know it's a game they know what they're signing up for making this no different to a game of poker or the end of Golden Balls Leanne you've stolen all the money and perhaps the real reason for the show's unprecedented levels of success is that viewers at home feel the need to educate themselves on the realities of manipulation now more than ever given we live in the age of misinformation where we're unsure what sources to trust and who may be pulling our strings the traitors essentially functions as a crash course in the subtleties of deception where you can watch people plot how to orchestrate narratives around their fellow contestants to lead them to false conclusions we may all like to believe that we would be able to spot someone manipulating us but the traitors highlights how much our personal biases interfere with our ability to detect deceit on paper being a traitor is a massive Advantage as you can't be killed off in the night and you get to meet and conspire with your fellow traitors but it's also a heavy emotional burden to carry as whether you win or lose you will have to reveal to your fellow contestants that you were lying and cheating the whole time making the game a fascinating social experiment about how much we value our interpersonal relationships but in a game of such chance and unpredictability how do you win the traitors either as a traitor or as a faithful let's take a deeper look at what the first two seasons of the UK and US versions of the show have taught of so far although the longer the show runs there's no doubt that players will have to switch it up and play it every which way to out strategize their opponents now if you haven't watched the show I thoroughly recommend you do especially before continuing this video as there will be spoilers for the first two seasons of the UK traitor on BBC and the first season and a half of the US traitor which is currently streaming on peacock let's start with how to win this game as a traitor the first key is to sit back and listen listing is one of the most important skills as a traitor as by hearing who the other contestants suspect it allows you to formulate plans around those biases the bigger Personalities in the room won't be able to resist vocalizing their every suspicion and given their initial ideas are all probably wrong sit back and listen so that they can start creating enemies and conflicts within the group which can all serve as narratives for you to play with later which leads into the next Point don't stir confirm generally when someone sees you stirring the pot it makes you a suspect unless you have valuable evidence to work with remember that whenever you wrongly accuse someone in the room that person is naturally going to assume you might be a traitor and anyone who likes them more might suddenly turn against against you therefore you cannot be seen leading the charge against someone you know as a faithful as that will be a bad look for you when they reveal the truth instead you need to let someone else throw out the wrong idea and then confirm their suspicion back to them like here notice how the traitor Alysa lets Aaron throw out the bigger idea and then she just subtly backs it Alex could also just be the trait and just put herself in there just to defend like as simple as that but she intelligently ensures she doesn't take up too much the airtime so that Aaron gets the credit for promoting the wrong idea we see Alyssa do this again when Theo suggests Aaron was right for writing down a different wrong name than everyone else I think the only person that got it right last night was Aaron don't I was quite I respected him y yeah for not actually following like a sheep this is subtle Brilliance from Melissa as she lets Theo lead the thought and Jon finish the thought but she tactically ties their thoughts together under the label of respect to cement The Narrative respect is an emotional word that elevates the concept in both their minds so now if they want to be respected too they should vote for Imran by confirming the other players bias like this you enable them to fantasize that they might be the chosen ones seeing the real truth they might even believe that they're about to crush this game but really you're encouraging them to run in the wrong direction if you're trustworthy and tactical enough you can literally put words in other players mouths and later watch them parate your Arguments for you we either get a traitor or it's just a bad faithful so at the end of the day Los either it's not losing I don't think you are a traitor I think you're bad faithful to be honest the key is that you do have to play it a bit dumb if the other contestants think you're cool calm collected and calculating then you're more likely to be banished as the more the traitors win the more they'll turn on the most likely person to be masterminding their demise so you need to fly under the radar for instance Amanda played an amazing game in the UK's first season by being an earthy Welsh mother figure who didn't seem like she had a very clear strategy in mind I honestly think it's like a roulette game they know who they are and they're just going like that this throws the others off the scent and also makes everyone less likely to condemn Amanda for voting for the wrong person as it's not personal she's just randomly guessing another approach is being very emotionally transparent like Wilfred although this can backfire from pouring the emotions on too thick when someone you've only known for 2 days gets kicked off generally people who seem very emotional are not assumed to be very calculating or even particularly rational they fall into the feeling category more than the thinking category so by delivering these big exaggerated reactions and always having your emotions right on the surface people feel like they're getting a good read on you and sort of think you're a little bit incapable of outsmarting them being able to emotionally outpour at a moment's notice is also a very useful skill in case you're under Fire and need to turn the tables by playing the victim naturally once other faithfuls see your hurt someone will rush to your Aid to comfort you which makes the accuser look like the bad guy and communicates to the onlookers that you do have the support of others in the room but if you are going to accuse someone don't manufacture evidence repeat it this should be based on evidence faithfuls innocently like to believe that they are following the evidence as if this is a court system but the truth is that in the castle there's very little evidence to go off except other people's suspicions and Tiny hunches here and there so a traitor should always encourage the others to follow evidence as they can then influence how important that alleged evidence seems at any point in time if you're caught making up a lie that no one else can verify you'll be exposed and banished but as long as you have a piece of evidence guiding your thinking then others will join you and share in the blame for example Amanda would usually not turn on anyone but then when she discovers Maddie kept a secret that she has worked as an actor before she repeats this evidence to anyone that will hear it as if this is groundbreaking news that changes everything the only thing is the acting with yeah cuz she's been in exender she's been in casualty she's been extenders she's been in casualty she's been in a theater if players were thinking clearly they would see that Maddie choosing to admit that she acted before is a symptom of honesty as she's needlessly putting herself under scrutiny but because they like Amanda and Amanda seems to find it a bigger deal they now mirror her and pick up on the idea even more like a social contagion when it comes to who to eliminate from the game at night kill strategically this is not a time to settle old scores you always need to think two steps ahead of the group and control control the narrative as a traitor you actually get to choose where the group is most likely to look next as faithfuls usually naively follow the breadcrumbs you've left out for them as that's the only evidence they have this makes them feel like it's all making sense but they're actually falling right into your plan if one contestant had a petty squabble the day before then eliminate the squabbler to misdirect the attention away from you and frame the other player as the traitor instead but if someone is always stirring the pot and has created multiple enemies leave them in the game as the most aggressive contestants tend to banish themselves don't take stupid risks like killing players who might have a shield do take out players that no one else will banish and always break apart clicks as once there are groups of three or four people they could randomly turn on you at any time or if someone seems too smart and has yet to put the group's attention on you it's safest to eliminate them before the heat gets turned up this leads directly into the next Point avoid the Limelight if the UK second season's Paul taught us anything it's that hiding in plain sight eventually catches up with you it must be very different to be in the room with Paul than watching him on screen as his vacant eye bluffing and pantomime levels of overacting never passed the sniff test for me yet the other contestants somehow bought it hook line and sinker and he was considered the most popular player but he clearly flew too close to the Sun by keeping the Limelight on himself he was everywhere he willingly placed himself in the dungeon repeatedly confronted the few people that suspected him too openly and kept taking too much credit for kicking out the other traitors in fellow traitor Harry's words he was just doing too much while being popular is a good strategy if you try to double or triple Bluff constantly people will eventually grow suspicious of how you're still in the game as surely the traitors would have killed you off for being too influential therefore flying somewhat under the radar is safer than hiding in plain sight the smart play is to not put yourself on trial or in the dungeon as the group usually suspects there's at least one bluffing traitor on that list so banishes one of them and if you are told to murder in plain sight you're wiser to let a different traitor do it as it usually comes back to bite you if and when you are accused you need to have convincing answers already prepared don't let yourself be blindsided a weak traitor is easy to spot for example in the UK's second season we see Ash panic in the very first episode when Sonia jokingly asks if she's a traitor and starts pretending not to be able to hear her instead of just answering normally she then Rambles at the round table and manages to contradict herself within 10 seconds or in the US's second season Dan arrogantly perceives himself as a great traitor for flying so far under the radar but quickly gets called out for being too quiet and when asked to share his suspicions he embarrassingly refuses to offer a a single suggestion but you've never suspected anybody anything I think I'm starting to but I definitely don't want to say you don't want to show your cards yet by not committing to even one possible name he's demonstrating that he's never even begun considering who could be a traitor because he is one he's playing it so safe that he's actually giving his game away this leads to the round table which is really where the game is won and lost as it functions like a Salem wit trial players tend to vote based on recency bias and their mind can be swayed so quickly by a single slip up for this reason it's wisest not to dominate the headlines of your fellow voters imagination when you are accused remain calm don't get too defensive and subtly minimize the attention you're receiving speak less not more like energy has changed I I feel like there's like a weight on you let's look at how the faithful Jazz executes this plan when the traitor Paul tries to put the pressure press on him fair point Fair Point do you want to defend what you defend yourself or not really yeah yeah I don't think um there's a need to this may seem avoidant but the longer you're under the spotlight the longer the players minds are focused on you and when they come to write a name on the board they won't be able to get your name out of their head as they feel as if you're the person they remember suspecting the most so you're better off giving a short answer that nips it in the butt and then letting the mob move on to someone else as the second anyone else makes a mistake everyone will forget all about you the worst thing you can do is take it personally and start accusing multiple people at the table as every time you falsely accuse someone else you convert them to voting against you if you have to name someone else pick someone the group already suspects don't create multiple enemies at once as generally speaking contestants struggle to differentiate between people they personally dislike and people they don't trust those lines blur easily so it's best not to piss people off like the faithful Rachel foolishly did in the first season of the US traitors when she called to everyone at the table an idiot and proceeded to make snarky remarks as they each voted her out one by one I voted for you Rachel oh shocker you voted me out cuz you're a traitor and you need someone to vote out got it the smart way to play it is to always couch your language throw out an accusation and soften the blow by suggesting you're not certain about what you're saying heated rivalries may make for good TV but they're a terrible strategy for any traitor as if you roll around in the muck long enough you're going to get dirty therefore you should never push too hard on a faithful or you risk becoming the key name associated with booting that innocent player out it's better if someone else gets the credit for the false accusation and you could be the second or third player hopping on board that way you can always claim you foolishly followed the hert against your better judgment if two faithful start accusing each other sit back and let them go at it as they're stupidly stealing the spotlight and in the end you'll likely get two for the price of one as once one innocent Faithful Is banished the group is likely going to turn on the other and banish them next while the real culprits can hide in the shadows we saw Harry execute this plan perfectly in the UK's second season when he got the shield he framed The Narrative that only the players on the other team who didn't know he had a shield would have tried to kill him when reality he recruited Ross that night therefore after Ross goes Jasmine and Eevee are left behind as the two prime suspects and now have no choice but to Target each other and once one is banished incorrectly the group feels as if they must banish the other to close the loop they can't feel safe until Harry's false narrative is put to rest the only time a traitor should truly commit to an accusation is when they're knocking out a fellow traitor as that way they get the credit the problem with turning on your fellow traitors is that if you don't do it first then it will be done to you when the time is right if everyone is turning against your teammate then you need to vote them out in order to look innocent and if you can somehow flip it and be the one leading the charge then you'll double your power levels as the faithfuls will trust you more than ever but once you go for a traitor you have to finish the job otherwise you'll awkwardly have to face them later that night or risk them turning on you if it's a high-risk All or Nothing move we see this in the UK's second season when Harry Paul and Miles all turn against Ash at once they haven't had a chance to communicate with each other but Harry leads the charge by openly accusing her first which sends the signal to his fellow traitors miles and Paul Paul quickly joins in to throw some dirt but then the conversation moves away from Ash and onto another player for a prolonged period of time so they now risk someone else stealing the spot Spotlight and squandering their opportunity so check out how miles beautifully pulls the attention back onto Ash but not by offering his opinion but simply unlocking someone else's ask you Andrew the name that your you put forward yesterday I just want to know where that's come from that was all I spend time with that his Ash so Miles makes Andrew do his dirty work for him by putting Ash back under scrutiny and then notice how he tactically steps back and softens his accusation to ensure his hands are clean it's only because I am I'm back to Ground Zero I have no idea in a way he's conniving creating a dynamic where he and Andrew are having a private conversation in public about Ash but he's never once personally accusing her by taking this approach there's no head-to-head conflict so he doesn't give her the opportunity to damage his reputation the best way to prevent a traitor from turning on you first is to play to their ego and let them believe that they're the one leading the group as if they perceive themselves to be in control they'll never see your betrayal coming the difficulty is that after openly killing off other traitors and taking the credit your new recruits aren't going to trust you as they've seen what you did to your last teammates if you are a newly recruited traitor and if you have already been suspected by the group they're likely using you as a scapegoat in which case you should probably figure out who the weakest traitor is and unexpectedly turn on them instantly to take the attention off yourself and level the playing field with the remaining traitor when it comes to winning the money at the end you likely need a second traitor that you can throw to the Wolves as the final four typically won't vote to end the game until they feel they found at least one more traitor you need the traitor narrative to be over so that they can feel they finish the game and are now safe if you suspect that anyone is going to vote to banish again you need need to do the same as only the traitors are incentivized for the game to end and by being the only one to vote to end you now stand out as the prime suspect in essence at this stage of the game voting to banish makes you look more like a faithful but if there are still two traitors remaining and you want to steal the money for yourself then if they vote to end and you vote to banish you can convince the other faithfuls that a true traitor would just vote to end the game and once they eliminate your fellow traitor they will trust you more than ever and end the game with you giving you all the money instead of having to split it 50/50 but be careful as it's not uncommon for the last traitor to be voted out to leave a parting gift and cast aspersions On You by writing your name as their final vote this makes it harder for the remaining faithfuls to end the game with an active risk still present which leads to the final key strategy in order to win the traitor as a traitor you must befriend a faithful closely someone that will vouch for you no matter what someone that when the time comes and there are only three of you left even if they think you're both faithful will choose to split the money with you instead of the other finalist I do trust wolf completely I can't second guess that now because I've trusted him all the way through this is the darkest aspect of the game because the traitor is really about social trust how real your connection and friendship truly is and the more time you spend together the more of a relationship is built and the more clouded your judgment becomes you begin to forget that it is just a game as it's now really about what this prize money could do to help your fellow friends so if you are in it to win it just like in life you can't do it alone you need other people's support you cannot stick to yourself you cannot be too shy you cannot be too cold you have to be open and willing to share your personality with the group but you also need to find that one person that will carry you with them them to the end and essentially let you take the money from them but those are just the ways to win the game as a traitor how about as a faithful although you're initially at a numerical Advantage there are so many ways to lose as a faithful if you're too loud the group might vote you out if you're too quiet the traitors might decide to kill you off you need to somehow strike a balance between being useful to the traitors and useful to the faithful for starters it's it's best not to throw out every suspicion you have right away by being too vocal you either risk wrongly accusing faithfuls and being banished or correctly accusing traitors and if you haven't got the numbers to back your theory yet then you'll quickly be killed off have to play it quite carefully if you know somebody's a traitor if you go all guns blazing you end up being a Target see what ideas other players have and then observe who is speaking up when and how much while it may be nice for your ego to come out as the chief detective the behavioral expert who can sniff out the truth all you're doing is putting a Target on your back but by seeming a little more malleable the game players strategists and traitors will all value coming to you as you make them feel validated for their theories as tempting as it feels at the time as they are dominating headlines don't always vote out the most antagonistic player that's creating the most conflict all the Glitters Is Not going old so if someone is very Brash and openly accusing others chances are they're probably not a traitor as they're flying too close to the Sun just because you don't like someone does not mean they need to be banished or are lying in fact their decisions enable you to pick up valuable reactions from other players so let them Grill everyone else and you can reap the rewards of the risks they're taking on the flip side of that if you find yourself wanting to argue with others at the the round table never be rude the KnockOn effect of being unlikable is that people start thinking you're in it for yourself they associate negative feeling with negative morality and start to suspect You always remain calm and respectful don't start cutting people off and don't snap back at people to let you finish too abruptly usually the person who comes across as the most aggressive and defensive gets kicked out as the calmer person optically appears to be winning the argument by not being rattled you don't have to be a robot you can seem emotionally affected but don't get angry or sned or vindictive or it will cause people to see a bad side to you that they won't be able to forget if you're entering the game with any allegiances like a girlfriend boyfriend or relative keep it to yourself as any Allegiance or click with another player is also likely to be cut apart by the traitors so it's best to appear like you're a lone wolf plus if the group find out later the traitors will use that de ception as evidence against you we saw this explode in the UK's first season when Tom foolishly revealed that he was actually Alex's boyfriend this puts The Unwanted Spotlight on the couple and it statistically feels likely that at least one of them is a traitor the same can be said for revealing any kind of secret later in the game like when Maddie needlessly admitted that she had professionally acted before she originally didn't tell the group because she didn't want to be singled out but by choosing to reveal it later she looked even more guilty as now that became The Narrative of the day so either keep no secrets or keep any allegiances Under Wraps until the very end strategically it's a good idea to emotionally guilt the traitors about what they're doing so that it weighs on their conscience more as the end draws near openly tell them how much it would hurt you if they turned out to be a traitor make them promise they won't betray you pile the pressure on and look for reactions let the liar feel the penalty of their social crimes so that they grow more anxious over time and become easier to spot because I swear to God if I gets that final tomorrow and there's a traitor in it I don't I don't know if I'll recover as a faithful don't just sit back and wait for the traitors to make their next move if you do that you're always going to be a step behind and in a state of reactivity instead flip the script and set traps we can find a perfect example of this in the US's second season when Peter brilliantly tells three people he suspects are traitors that he got the shield when in reality Bergie has it Dan is one of the Prime suspects and nearly just got banished so he should obviously avoid this bait as Peter specifically told him but because his judgment is so clouded and he thinks he's better at this game than he is he tries to eliminate Bergie as Bergie already said he would vote for him tomorrow so now when no one gets killed tomorrow Dan is yet again going to be under intense scrutiny as he fell right in into Peter's trap so if you're a faithful you should be setting up lots of little tests like this having allegedly private conversations and seeing who that information trickles back to when and why one of the clearest ways to win as a faithful is to always look at who the most recently banished traitor voted for as they'll usually leave a clue behind on their way at the door it's rare for a traitor to get caught exclusively by faithfuls usually fellow traitor has betrayed them and perhaps was even leading the charge in order to take the credit for themselves if so always look at who that bitter traitor targeted on their way out the door as there's no honor Amongst Thieves they may have directly written down the name of their fellow conspirator on top of that always look at how the traitor gets banished as thrilling as the UK's second season was it is odd that no one ever questioned how Harry always seemed to know who the traitors were and also managed to figure out their exact strategy and reveal it to the entire group on their way out the door if we're being honest he did overplay his hand at times by being a little too clear-minded and certain of exactly what was going on but somehow his fellow contestants never even questioned how he never seems to miss whenever he goes really hard on someone so as happy as you are to finally get a traitor out don't Revel in it too much instead question the people that seemed to pant the hardest and the final strategy is to befriend a traitor as much as the traitors are potentially using your friendship to carry them to the Finish Line you can also use them in the exact same way identify when someone is creating a tight bond with you that's a little too close and begin to quietly suspect them never tell anyone else about it even defend them from criticism so that you're sort of their useful idiot but underneath that naive veneer always have that quiet question mark hovering somewhere inside this way the traitor will keep you in the game longer as you're a useful Pawn in their scheme but when it comes to the final round and deciding who you can trust the most turn on them question them and if you have any lingering doubt whatsoever eliminate them of course you might get it wrong but you have to think about who has the most power and influence over you why are they so excited to stand there at the end with just you is it really your friendship ship or is it so your personal bias will Cloud your judgment and win them the prize this is why the traitors is such undeniably compelling TV as it deepens our understanding of how manipulation actually plays out human beings are social creatures we form interpersonal connections and move in packs in order to survive it is our greatest strength but also our most glaring weakness as it makes us incredibly vulnerable to the power of suggestion ideas can snowball through a community faster than they can slow down and despite what we might like to think the truth isn't always obvious you can piece together what looks like evidence to form a cohesive narrative unaware that those breadcrumbs have been intentionally left out for you to follow so that the closer you think you're getting the further away you are or you can choose to Simply trust your gut conceding to the whims of your own personal biases and just hope that the people you happen to like the most are also the most honest but one thing is for certain if you are to win this game you need to question everything as often the person most likely to screw you over is the person you least [Music] suspect well if you've made it this far firstly thank you for watching but if you you could now give the video a like possibly even leave a comment and click on that subscribe button it will encourage that mysterious algorithm to do its thing

Channel: Just an Observation

Views: 37,304

Keywords: the traitors, the traitors video essay, the traitors analysis, the traitors review, the traitors psychology, the traitors manipulation, the traitors a game of manipulation, the traitors how harry won, the traitors cyrie, the traitors usa, the traitors uk, just an observation, how to win the traitors as a faithful, how to win as a traitor, the traitors paul, the traitors ash, the traitors dan, the traitors strategy, the traitors roundtable, why the traitors is amazing

Id: PWuERCM7oO8

Length: 30min 8sec (1808 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 07 2024