Following the huge success of The Traitors Ireland and the recent launch of the BBC’s Celebrity Traitors, two Mary Immaculate College (MIC) academics have been analysing what it takes to succeed in the hit reality TV show—from a psychological perspective.
Dr Suzanne Egan, lecturer in Psychology at MIC and Dr Marc Scully, lecturer in Psychology at MIC, have delved into the behaviours, strategies and mind games that defined the first series of the reality show, revealing how psychological principles can offer contestants a competitive edge.
Drawing on research in social, cognitive, and personality psychology, they’ve identified four key insights that might help future contestants outwit, outplay, and outlast their rivals in the castle.
They are as follows:
1. Manage your self-presentation
Strategic self-presentation is vital to success on the Traitors. Survival in the game rests on convincing the other players that you are “100% Faithful”; whether you are or not! However, you must also be careful about how you present yourself as a Faithful: adopting a leadership role, like David and Niall early in the series, or coming across as too ‘savvy’, like Mark, leaves you liable to murder by the Traitors. On the other hand, attempting to keep a low profile was frequently seen as suspicious.
Advice to ‘just be yourself’ is almost always over-simplistic, in The Traitors as elsewhere in life. As psychologists studying self and identity will tell you, we have numerous different versions of ourselves that we present depending on the situation. For instance, you would probably present a different version of yourself on a night out with friends than you would when visiting elderly relatives: this does not mean that one version is your ‘real’ self, and the other is somehow ‘fake’.
The nature of the game is that players can be recruited as Traitors and thus must switch overnight from truthfully presenting themselves as Faithfuls, to continuing to present themselves as Faithfuls, while actually being Traitors. Some players, such as Andrew, appeared to struggle with this switch, while others, such as Nick, appeared to embrace it. The ability to adjust how we act depends on how comfortable we are adapting to different situations. Those who are quick to read a room and change their behaviour tend to fit in more easily, while others prioritise consistency and act the same way no matter where they are or who they’re with.
It might appear as though high self-monitors are ideally placed to win the game, but even Nick was eventually caught in a rare unguarded moment by Kelley, paving the way for the Faithfuls’ eventual victory. Kelley herself, who was the player that came under the least suspicion for being a Traitor throughout, has attributed her success to being her ‘true, authentic self’ throughout the series. Of course, this is also a form of self-presentation! However, it is probably true that the fewer versions of yourself that you have to juggle, and the less conflict there is between your self-presentation within the game and outside it, is an important aspect to success.
2. Consider how to use your real-life identity
Contestants on the Traitors had an identity within the game, but also identities from their ‘real lives’. Some contestants chose to hide aspects of their identities that they felt would arouse suspicion in the game: for instance, Eamon chose not to reveal his career as a Garda, and Katelyn hid her background in psychology. Andrew and Paudie also attempted to hide their family relationship: despite one memorable slip from Andrew! Other contestants sought to strategically deploy aspects of their identities, with Ben arguing that his army career was evidence of his trustworthiness.
Alliances also often depended on pre-existing identities. Christine attempted to build an alliance with John based on their shared Corkness, while alliances based on gender clearly emerged in the later part of the series. The mix of contestants also meant that different identities and experiences could be compared and contrasted during the game. One notable moment was when Vanessa and Joanna discussed how their experiences as migrants gave them a specific perspective on interpersonal relationships in the castle. However, identity-based alliances often did not survive the vagaries of the game. John gave his much-coveted shield not to Christine, but to Katelyn, who, as a Traitor, proceeded to murder him!
3. Work on your memory skills
The importance and fallibility of the contestants’ memory skills came into play at various times. Memory skills were tested throughout the challenges, from recalling numbers and symbols to win more for the prize pot, to recreating the laughs of scary dolls after running to a phone box in a forest. Memory skills were also key to detecting clues to the traitor’s identities, remembering who said what when, to bring to the round table each night. However, sometimes recollections of conversations differed, even when people weren’t deliberately lying to each other. This was evident at the roundtable discussion between Vanessa, Joanna, Faye and Oyin, with each of these Faithfuls’ strongly believing their own version of events.
We know from psychology research investigating memory in real-world contexts, such as eyewitness testimony, that our memories are not always perfect or accurate and that errors can creep in. Often, we remember the gist of things, rather than exact details. Writing things down is a very useful and well-recognised memory aid, and one that perhaps helped Oyin be such an excellent traitor detector. In her post-series interview, Oyin mentioned how she kept written records in her journal each night of the day’s goings-on to help her figure out who was a Faithful and who was a Traitor. Perhaps this was one of the secrets to her success.
4. Engage counterfactual thinking
Finally, another cognitive skill that was evident throughout the series was counterfactual thinking, which is the ability to think about how things could have turned out differently. This kind of ‘what if’ thinking was evident in contestant interviews, Traitor discussions in the conclave, and in the chats we as viewers had with family, friends, and colleagues. It can influence our emotions, reactions and help us learn from past mistakes. If Paudie hadn’t chosen his son Andrew to join him as a Traitor, might he have stayed until the end? What if traitors Nick and Ben had chosen Oyin instead of Wilkin as their final murder victim of the game? It’s easy to imagine how just one thing being different could have changed the outcome of the game.
Whether inside the castle or outside in the real world, The Traitors offers a fascinating glimpse into human behaviour—trust, deception, memory, and emotion—all core themes explored in MIC’s psychology programmes. Dr Egan and Dr Scully’s insights show how psychology helps us better understand ourselves and others, proving that lessons learned in the classroom can illuminate even the most dramatic moments of reality TV.
