Did you hear Archdeacon Rachel Mann on BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day this morning? She reflected on the popular TV Show, 'The Traitors', where contestants navigate deception to win a cash prize.
While the show entertains with its manipulations and betrayals, Rachel highlights the deeper challenge of discerning truth, both in the game and in life. Drawing from the Bible, she reminds us that true self-knowledge and honesty offer a greater reward than the thrill of unmasking lies.
Good morning. Well, after months of anticipation, The Traitors is back. Since it appeared in 2022 this TV show has become a global phenomenon. The format is beguiling: twenty-two people are sequestered in a Scottish castle. Three are then secretly selected to be Traitors, whose job is to eject or “murder” the rest, known as the Faithful. The Faithful themselves try to identify and eject the Traitors. Across two weeks the players are whittled down until a winner takes a huge cash prize.
I am gripped. This year’s cast include a priest, a doctor, and an ex-soldier. People with high integrity inscribed into their callings; yet they must lie and dissemble to survive. The show encourages all of the dubious techniques any of us might use to get our own way: false accusations, charm, and whispered lies, to name a few.
Our fascination with deceit and betrayal is an ancient one. In his Inferno, Dante singles out Brutus, Cassius and, of course, Judas Iscariot as worthy of the lowest circle of hell. Dante treats their betrayals as the most sinful acts imaginable. Perhaps, part of the fun of The Traitors is that it is a safe celebration of deceit; it gives us a thrill of pleasure like an old-fashioned murder mystery. The wicked behaviour is kept safely away from the realities of life.
While The Traitors is, at one level, about betrayal and deception, I think it is really about how difficult it is to discern the truth. In the show, as in real life, those who have the appearance of goodness may not be good; those who appear shifty may be entirely honest.
The Christian tradition makes discerning the truth a high priority. Repeatedly the Bible asserts that humans bear the image of God. In trying to reflect that image, people discover they are living truer, more flourishing lives. So, getting to the truth behind the false images any of us might present becomes vital.
That is never an easy job. Nonetheless, Jesus says, ‘the truth will set you free’. He suggests that self-knowledge offers a reward that, unlike The Traitors, does not have a monetary value. The reward is an opportunity to live with an ever-clearer insight into others and firmer grip on oneself.
I have found that this clarity rarely offers the instant buzz given by the unmasking of deception found in The Traitors. I love how that show exposes our lack of skill at spotting manipulation and disinformation, but it is no replacement for the slow, hard work of trying to get beneath the deceptions each of us can offer up to others and, indeed, ourselves.