Brits are obsessed with Australian TV show the Traitors – so why haven’t Aussies heard of it?

Brits are obsessed with Aussie reality show The Traitors so why has no one in Australia heard of it?

I had just finished addictive reality TV series The Traitors Australia and my palms were sweating.

As the winner was announced my heart was racing and my jaw was dangling loosely somewhere around my knees.

This was seriously good television.

I live in the UK where people are obsessed with The Traitors Australia – hosted by Rodger Corser – which is currently airing on the BBC after the British version of the show won a cult following last year.

Since then, the BBC has snapped up the rights to The Traitors US and The Traitors Australia.

The Traitors Australia, presented by Rodger Corser, has a cult following in the UK and US.

Traitor fans have watched them all and the consensus is final.

The Aussie version is the most compelling and nailbiting of the three with a finale that will leave you with sore eyes after not blinking for 45 bottom-clenching minutes.

I couldn’t wait to discuss it with my Australian colleagues and friends.

Except... none of them had heard of it.

A Google search confirmed it.

There has been very little written about the show and it wasn’t even nominated for a Logie.

Its British counterpart has won a BAFTA, while the American version was nominated for an Emmy.

On Twitter, it’s Brits and Americans who are lauding the show’s format, posting memes and sharing screenshots.

“Just finished watching Traitor Australia, after UK and US versions. Pretty convinced it’s the most compelling new TV format of the last 20 years by a mile,” one British viewer said.

“Finished The Traitors Australia and honest to God I could watch people from every nation on Earth play this game and never get bored,” another wrote.

“Give me an endless supply of subtitled footage of international reprobates lying through their teeth to people who trust them. It’s perfect.”

The ‘traitors’ (above) have to ‘murder’ a ‘faithful’ each night. Picture: supplied.

So what makes this show so good you ask?

It starts with 24 contestants who are whisked away to stately home in the Southern Highlands, near Sydney.

On arrival they are told by Corser that there will be a prize-fund which will be added to as players complete various tasks throughout the game.

The only snag is, every night one of them will be “murdered” (removed from the show) by a “traitor”.

There are four traitors selected on the first night and every day they gather in “Traitor Towers” (how good?) to choose a “faithful” to die.

The faithfuls’ job is to work out who among them are the traitors and then flick them one-by-one from the show every day at a “banishment”.

Friendships are formed but then betrayed in this addictive reality series. Picture: supplied.

The problem is, the traitors are extremely good at lying and more often than not the faithful banish one of their own.

It is a game of deceit, drama, tactics and – above all – betrayal.

The closer the faithful come to the end, the more they realise that the people they trusted the most are the ones who have been lying all along.

For the faithful to win, all traitors must be eradicated or it will be the rotten apples among them who will take the sizeable prizefund home.

At the beginning of the show the players are all aware that this is “just a game” but with words like “traitor,” “murder” and “betrayal” being banded around it really doesn’t seem a game by the end. More like a fascinating social experiment.

I won’t include any spoilers here because when word gets out you will be watching this series, and probably the next series, which begins on Channel 10 on August 13.

All I can say is clear your calendar, cancel that Tinder date and put your phone on silent – this show makes MAFS look like paint drying.