5 Unexpected Rules the Cast of 'The Traitors' Has to Abide By

Since its debut in 2023, Peacock's The Traitors has been regularly called the best show on TV. It's an unlikely superlative for a game show, but The Traitors has it all: an inventive concept, great casting, a charismatic (and incredibly dressed) host, and a visually stunning backdrop. At the 2024 Emmys, it earned five nominations and took home three.

Inspired by the Dutch show De Verraders, The Traitors brings a cast of former reality TV stars (and one tangential royal) to a castle in Scotland for a game of murder mystery. Putting that many Real Housewives under one roof was bound to result in some drama, but when cast members are tasked with rooting out the "killers" among them, the backstabbing and alliance-building reach new heights.

The end prize is a sum of up to $250,000, but the money is almost beside the point. Watching contestants strategize as they attempt to sniff out the traitors among them is more gripping than a psychological thriller. Those just tuning in may be (understandably) confused by the game's many twists and turns. If you ever played a game called mafia or werewolf as a child, these rules might sound familiar.

When contestants arrive at the castle, a select few are secretly assigned the identity of traitor. The rest of the cast remains part of the faithful. The goal of the faithful is to banish each traitor before they're all killed off. The goal of the traitors is to keep their identity a secret as they remove the faithful one by one. Each night, the traitors meet and choose one faithful to "murder." The faithful then receives a "death warrant" and is removed from the game immediately. In the morning, the cast meets for breakfast and learns who has been eliminated.

Each night the cast meets to discuss who the suspected traitors are. Each person casts a public vote publicly for someone they believe to be a traitor. Whoever receives the most votes is eliminated, and reveals whether they were a traitor or a faithful.

Each day the cast competes in a challenge that can increase the prize money or offer temporary immunity. At the end of the game, if the faithfuls successfully root out all traitors, the remaining faithfuls split the prize money. But if there's even one traitor left, the traitor will take home the prize. To make it even harder, the faithful are never told how many traitors are among them, and it can change as traitors recruit new members.

Security helps keep the identity of the traitors secret.

Executive producer Mike Cotton told Variety, "We have to be really careful that the Faithful don’t know who the traitors are. It’s a massive military operation each night to get the Faithful to bed in individual rooms and get the traitors back out to have their meeting." Season one and two cast member Kate Chastain told Vanity Fair, "There were security guards making sure you never left your room."

The cast remains a secret.

Before they arrive in Scotland, contestants are kept in the dark about the identity of their fellow cast mates. And since their phones are confiscated upon arrival, they can't look up anyone they don't already know. Casting director Deena Katz told Time, "Because it's a game, you don't want them to be able to research each other or talk to each other or form alliances before."

Phones aren't allowed.

Season 2 cast member  Mercedes "MJ" Javid explained on the JUST SAYIN' podcast, "When we got off the plane I was like oh you're taking our phones right now. You're gonna take everything... They take your chargers, your watch, your passport, your wallet, your money...Absolutely everything."

Cast members can't talk strategy outside of the castle.

Javid explained, "There's a lot of discouraging of chatter. You can't talk game when the cameras aren't rolling." Former cast member Dan Gheesling reiterated the rule, telling Business Insider, "You're not supposed to talk about the game when the mics aren't ready or the cameras aren't on, because if we say something important and it's not on camera, they can't use it on the show."

Drinking is limited.

Despite how messy things can get, The Traitors isn't the kind of show where drinks flow freely. Former contestant Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu told Entertainment Weekly, "You can only drink one drink a night anyway, it was quite restricted." While Kate Chastains said, "I really missed martinis...It turned out to be BYOB, but they forgot to tell us. There weren’t a lot of options there."

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