Do The Traitors contestants know it's... just a game?

When The Traitors season three landed on screens on New Year's Day, we were thrilled to welcome our favourite reality show back into our lives, licking our lips (isn't that right, Harry?) at the prospect of treachery and deception. The first two seasons of the show successfully produced moments that have infiltrated pop culture, seeping into the seams of our daily lives. Who could forget Alex and Tom's big reveal from season one? The audacity of Paul's bow in season two? Diane's perfect delivery of a three word phrase that was slapped onto t-shirts, mugs and Glastonbury banners in the year that followed? It was TV at its finest.

But as season three continues to unfold on our screens - and the Faithfuls persevere with banishing their own each night - multiple tears have been shed around the table. There have been allegations of ostracisation, and tensions are running higher than Claudia Winkleman's spray tan bill. Haven't things all just got a bit... serious?

Much like seasons one and two, the premise of the show is simple: 22 contestants, who are competing to win £120,000, are placed in a castle in the Scottish highlands. 19 of them are Faithful, and three of them are Traitors. While taking part in Missions, the Faithful must try and figure out who the Traitors are, and vote to banish them each evening, while the Traitors are given the opportunity to 'murder' a Faithful each night.

So far, the Faithful have found one Traitor and accidentally banished four of their own at the round tables, which has pushed their suspicions of each other further than ever before. To the extent that, actually, things are stating to feel a bit personal, and actually quite mean. Yes, the Machiavellian nature of the game seeks to bring out the worst in people, but it's also meant to be... fun? Enjoyable? To watch and to play?

During one particularly painful moment, Kas, a 33-year-old doctor (and Faithful), told his fellow contestants he felt like he couldn't "play the game" because he was being suspected as a Traitor, and "most people are avoiding me completely" as a result.

Meanwhile, there have been tears at basically every round table, with Elen, Freddie, Charlotte and, most recently, Livi, bursting into tears. "It's hard to think everyone is talking about you," Freddie - a Faithful - admitted, while Livi said she would be "broken" over Tyler's banishment. Elen, meanwhile, sobbed as she was banished, and later admitted to being overwhelmed by the whole thing.

As one fan on X put it, "Is anyone else a bit sad about The Traitors this year? I’ve been really looking forward to it but I feel emotionally exhausted from watching it already - they all just seem a bit too mean this year. I miss the feel good energy it usually has."

Someone else said, "I’m sorry it’s so mean how people isolate potential Traitors when they’re constantly wrong. Like even [Leanne] saying 'He has been gunning for Freddie and now he’s talking to him' why wouldn’t you talk to someone?"

With large sums of money at stake, it's understandable that the contestants would want to take the game seriously. But there's a different between wanting to do well, and personally targeting those around you.

A good player should be able to share their opinions on whether other people are Faithful or a Traitor, without it impacting their personal relationships. You should be able to have a laugh over dinner with someone you believe to be a Traitor, while also voting for them at the round table. Such is the nature of the game.

Because that's exactly what it is: a game.

The Traitors continues on BBC One and iPlayer.

You Might Also Like

• A ranking of the very best hair straighteners - according to our Beauty Editors

• Best party dresses to shop in the UK right now

• 11 products you'd be mad to miss from the Net A Porter beauty sale