THE TRAITORS is back and has been making the first week of January just that little bit more bearable, as viewers stay glued to their screens, watching the contestants’ lies and deceit.
Host Claudia Winkelman has chosen Linda, 70, Armani, 27, and Minah, 29 for her all-female line-up of Traitors, and they have so far successfully murdered one faithful, whilst another has been evicted from the game.
This series, a brand new twist has been added to the show, where the Faithful won’t know if they have removed a Traitor from the game until the finale.
However, body language expert Judi James has revealed that they are already giving themselves away, and speaking to Paddy Power Games shared the seven key traits that are letting The Traitors down.
Judi revealed that Armani is already letting herself down as a Traitor, by drawing attention to herself with her “over-kill” behaviour.
She said: “As a Traitor, Armani is acting like a ‘High Performance’ liar, someone who throws themselves into the delivery with enthusiasm and energy, thinking the more they speak the more they will be believed.
“Her body language involves exaggerated rituals known as over-kill behaviour.
“She even shed some tears last night and there were face-fanning gestures as she turned the spotlight fully on herself.
“She is often the one standing to attract attention and act as leader and she seems to see her tendency to ‘control’ the group as a useful mind-game, rather than keeping her head down and avoiding suspicion.”
Armani’s own sister Maia is in the game, meaning that she is more likely to be able to tell that Armani is lying.
Judi explained: “The hardest people to lie to are people who know us well as they will spot even the subtlest variations of vocal tone or body language behaviour in a heartbeat because they are the ones who know what ‘normal’ looks like.
“Maia spotted behavioural changes in her sister but, in a game of deceit and strategy, her decision might be to collude with the performance rather than revealing her suspicions too early.”
Having a good memory is essential to being a good liar, as it will help to prevent you from slipping up.
However, Judi revealed that Linda has already revealed that she may not have the best memory.
She said: “Poor Linda fell at this first hurdle in comedy style when Claudia barked out ‘Traitors’ at the round table and Linda’s head snapped round to listen as she clearly forgot her role of Traitor was supposed to be a secret.
“It’s all about the detail when you’re spinning a lie, police interrogations often involve multiple repetitions of the same question because it’s hard to keep detail in your head unless you’re telling the truth, which is something poor Charlotte should have considered before pretending (for no obvious advantage) to be Welsh.”
The Traitors first launched in the UK in 2022, after the Dutch format was acquired by the BBC.
Claudia Winkleman is the show’s host, and has now hosted all three series to date.
How does it work?
It is a reality game show that involves 22 contestants, and some of them are chosen to be The Traitors.
The Traitors sees a group of contestants taking part in “the ultimate game of truth and deception”.
The group of contestants are competing for the chance to walk away with a huge cash prize.
While navigating through a series of challenges, the team are also tasked with figuring out who the Traitors are in the group (usually three contestants).
Each night, the Traitors gather to “eliminate” one of the Faithful, removing them from the competition
Meanwhile, the traitors can be “banished” if they’re successfully outed as a traitor by a faithful.
The winners of the show are either the Traitor who remains undetected or the Faithfuls if they successfully eliminate all the Traitors.
The prize sees the winner could get £120K.
Linda struggled when her mistake was called out, and Judi revealed that her body language made her appear more guilty.
She said: ” Linda had been very tactile up until that point, using affectionate touch to create rapport and trust.
“The authentic, Faithful Linda would have grabbed at Jake to try to reassure him she isn’t a Traitor but instead she performed a gesture of massive rejection, holding her hand up, palm-out to suggest she saw him as a danger to her.”
Judi revealed that Linda’s body language has begun to change since she was announced as a Traitor.
She said: “Lying or masking produces a stress response in the body and Linda also started to scratch herself in a ritual of anxiety arousal when she was accused of being a Traitor.
“Her other ‘tell’ is a micro-moving of her jaw that hinted at inner anger at being pointed out.”
When Claudia tapped the three Traitors on the back they showed off their ability to spontaneously mask.
Judi said: “Armani’s lips fell open, suggesting she will struggle to supress her natural urges for honest body language.
“She also did a large swallow to suggest stress. Minah had a similar response, but it was Linda who managed to suppress to the point where she seemed to stay completely still as a deliberate strategy, which is why her later tells and non-verbal leakage was so disappointing.”
Judi said: “Lying will often prompt a desire to hide. This can involve keeping still, keeping your head down or performing a ‘Hedgehog’ response by hunching.
“Eye cut-offs are common as we believe (rightly) that the eyes are our most telling feature and either look down at the moment of lie or perform eyelid stutters or accelerated blinking.
“All three Traitors kept their eyes looking down when their blindfolds came off, while the Faithfuls were busy looking round the table for responses.
“Minah is performing the most cut-off rituals though, keeping her eyes down and her body hunched under pressure.
“She held her hand up to her face at one point to shield her expression from the person sitting next to her.”
