As the nation settles into 2026, one topic has dominated newspaper headlines and water-cooler conversations alike: the dramatic format twist in the BBC's smash-hit reality show, The Traitors. Yet, beneath the universal acclaim for the series' ingenious new 'secret traitor' mechanic, a more troubling narrative is emerging—one that raises serious questions about the experience of contestants of colour on the programme.
A Pattern of Early Exits
The recent celebrity edition of the show set a curious precedent. The first celebrity to be banished was the immensely popular 27-year-old YouTuber Niko Omilana, a figure known for his charismatic campaign in the 2021 London mayoral election where he garnered nearly 50,000 votes. His departure was baffling; fellow contestants inexplicably froze him out long before the round table, despite his undeniable charm.
He was swiftly followed by 48-year-old EastEnders actor Tameka Empson. While her exit could be partly attributed to the show's apparent bias against middle-aged women, it continued a trend. This pattern has not been confined to the celebrity version. In the current civilian series, a contestant named Ross, a 37-year-old personal trainer, found himself under intense and contradictory scrutiny from the very first episode, his fate seemingly sealed by perceptions rather than evidence.
An Atmosphere of Unfounded Suspicion
The early stages of The Traitors are notoriously arbitrary, with faithful contestants possessing little concrete information. However, the scrutiny faced by Ross appeared particularly baseless and severe. He was criticised for a bewildering array of non-crimes: for reacting to accusations, for not reacting, for appearing knowledgeable, and for seeming ignorant. His every move was pathologised as traitorous behaviour.
He was only spared initial banishment by the presence of another target, Judy, a 60-year-old child liaison officer, whose 'manner' was deemed suspicious. This highlights a core issue: the game often punishes those who don't conform to an unspoken, perhaps homogenous, standard of behaviour.
Compelling Entertainment or Social Experiment?
To be clear, The Traitors remains a masterclass in tension-filled entertainment, the kind of rare cultural unifier that transcends political divides. The critique is not of conscious racism or malicious intent from either producers or players. The format is designed to exploit human psychology and inherent bias.
Yet, the cumulative effect is striking. If the BBC revealed in a decade's time that the show was, in fact, a covert social-experiment documentary on unconscious bias, the evidence from these early series would make the revelation utterly believable. The game mechanics—reliant on snap judgments, groupthink, and parsing social cues—create a perfect petri dish for ingrained societal prejudices to influence gameplay.
The conversation about why people of colour seem to be disproportionately vulnerable in this environment is not an attempt to spoil the fun. It is a necessary examination of the subtle forces at play in a show that holds a mirror up to its audience, reflecting back not just strategy and deception, but the unexamined biases we all carry.
