‘The Traitors UK’s 10 Worst Contestants Ranked

With the conclusion of Season 3, The Traitors UK showed the gameplay aspect of its format is only amping up more and more. From the increased availability of shields to the seer twist, players need to have their fingers on the pulse more than ever. Those who understand the inner workings of the game open up the opportunity to devious gameplay moves that have the potential to propel them to victory.

However, for every player who understands the complexities of The Traitors, there are those players who feel like they’re on a totally different show. From traitors who have no solid defense arguments to faithful who get offended that someone could even mention their name at the round table. Some contestants just don’t seem cut out for the vicious intensity of The Traitors, and their banishment or murders weren’t bad luck but lack of strategy.

10Linda (Season 3, Traitor)

Status: Banished Episode 7

Linda is the human equivalent of a guilty pleasure movie, so bad that you can’t help but love her. No traitor has been so unnecessarily obvious, and yet Linda managed to survive until episode 7 before she was banished. However, she was clocked from the very first episode when fellow contestant Jake saw her react to presenter Claudia Winkleman’s announcement of the word “traitors” and she dramatically turned her head.

Throughout the show, Linda gave comically bad acting performances, pretending to act as though she had no idea who was coming to breakfast. The highlight of all these moments were her crocodile tears at Livi’s murder, which immediately heightened the huge suspicion on her. Linda was never going to win the show, and it’s a miracle she wasn’t banished sooner. She gave viewers the perfect guide as to how not to be a traitor, and was excellent entertainment whilst doing so.

9Mollie (Season 2, Faithful)

Status: Runner-Up

Mollie’s shortcomings became so infamous that her legacy is painted all over the following season after her own. Essentially carried to the end through her allegiance with Harry, she made the big mistake of trusting him with every fiber of her being. Even though Jaz, a fellow faithful, laid the potential that Harry had played her all along, she still trusted him. Season 3 saw faithfuls constantly questioning who was keeping them in, and this is merely a symptom of not wanting to be the next Mollie.

Although there is an alternative universe where Harry is a faithful and Mollie shares the money with him, she played the game with no real sense of strategy and let other players dictate her fate. Mollie’s major flaw was lacking agency. She will forever be seen as Harry’s lamb to the slaughter and every year players will play the end game with more apprehension because of her.

8Tom (Season 1, Faithful)

Status: Banished Episode 5

On the surface, Tom seemed like an exceptional casting. He was a magician and claimed to read people for a living. He started off calm and measured, coming up with theories and being vocal at the round table, all facets of a good player of the game. His game slowly unraveled after he revealed to the group one breakfast that fellow player Alex couldn’t be a traitor because she was his girlfriend. A statement that holds no factual accuracy and simply proves to the group that you are already capable of lying. In one breakfast, he ruined his game and his girlfriend’s.

Tom slowly crumbled under the pressure of the game. His accusations were aggressive and caused intelligent faithfuls to be banished from the competition. However, his downfall led to one of the greatest quotes from the UK version of the show when Ivan left and told Tom that being a traitor was “not his card” – a subtle dig at his career as a magician not equating to him being able to read people, ouch!

7Armani (Season 3, Traitor)

Status: Banished Episode 3

Simultaneously fantastic at creating drama and a woeful traitor, there is a reason Armani did not last long in the castle. Her gameplay seemed to consist of making as much noise as possible and accusing an excessive number of people, sometimes in front of them. Although she attempted to play off her intensity as just part of her character, it is very telling that her sister figured her out immediately.

However, the move that places Armani on this list was when she decided to give fellow traitors Minah and Linda some advice. The look of shock on Minah’s face as Armani tells her she needs to speak up more says it all. Considering Armani was banished in the next episode, it’s a good job the other traitors didn’t follow her lead.

6Ash (Season 2, Traitor)

Status: Banished Episode 5

Although she lasted longer than Armani, Ash is without a doubt the least equipped traitor the UK version of the show has ever had. She was immediately questioned by the faithfuls, and reverted to pretending not to hear the question rather than composing herself. Always appearing like a fish out of water, she struggled to keep a poker face and almost instantly gave herself away.

The biggest flaw in her gameplay was sending herself to the dungeon, which essentially confirmed to her competitors that she was guilty. Her conversations were unconvincing and in a season with huge characters as traitors such as Harry and Paul, her flaws were even more exposed.

5Meryl (Season 1, Faithful)

Status: Winner

Meryl, the first person to win The Traitors by default. Her commitment to following the crowd should be commended, as she managed to rely on herd mentality all the way to the final. It is hard for someone to win the show and still be seen as a bad player, but Meryl’s rationale for voting always felt personal rather than relating to the game.

However, not only did Meryl add nothing to the gameplay, she cruised through the show adding no true entertainment value. She seemed like a source of lightheartedness for the group during missions, but this failed to translate on screen. It leaves Meryl’s legacy as flat and uninspired, but she did win over £30,000, so it just goes to show you can be bad at The Traitors and still meander to victory.

4Brian (Season 2, Faithful)

Status: Banished Episode 4

Of every moment of self-combustion across every version of The Traitors, none are as damaging as Brian. After being voted as the sheep of the group in the recent mission, Brian was questioned at the round table. There was no real suspicion on him, and he likely wasn’t the top target for banishment that evening. However, as soon as he started talking, he spiraled in the most dramatic fashion.

Whether Brian’s breakdown was a result of nerves or genuine panic, he showed in that moment that The Traitors isn’t an easy game. He simply wasn’t strong-minded enough for the extreme paranoia and sealed his own fate with his meaningless ramblings.

3Joe (Season 3, Faithful)

Status: Murdered Episode 10

The faithfuls in season 3 weren’t great at catching traitors and that was in part thanks to their herd mentality when voting. Joe was a huge part of that, often clinging onto the smallest pieces of evidence and blowing them beyond proportion. However, it is expected that sometimes faithfuls will get it wrong, but Joe seemed to be the ringleader in a lot of these situations and became quite dismissive of that fact after each roundtable.

One positive about Joe is that he seemed to keep spirits high whilst around the castle, and was genuinely liked by all the players – however, this doesn’t excuse his seeming lack of ability to listen to other perspectives when he had an idea in his head.

2Livi (Season 3, Faithful)

Status: Murdered Episode 6

Livi committed the biggest sin possible in The Traitors. She forgot it was a game. Her treatment of Freddie became extremely difficult viewing as she constantly raised her voice at him and took everything he said as a personal attack despite the fact she did the same thing to him. If you play The Traitors, you have to expect to be targeted, everyone will have suspicions as it is all part of the game.

Livi had the perfect opportunity to succeed in the game as a faithful. The best way to play the game is to have suspicion of you to save yourself from murder, but not too much suspicion that you get banished. Instead, she took Tyler‘s banishment extremely hard, and it made watching her on the show borderline unbearable. You can forgive people being bad at the game, but it is hard to forgive by berating other players for having an opinion.

1John (Season 1, Faithful)

Status: Murdered Episode 5

Aaron was one the most genuine players The Traitors UK has ever seen, so when John opposed him after the round table it was one of the most uncomfortable moments in the show’s history. He came across as extremely volatile and ended up causing conflict that was totally unrelated to the game. For a show that manages to be so uniquely British, compared to its global counterparts, the magic of the show is that the game feels separate from people’s genuine emotions.

John was a player that never played the game fairly and felt aggressive towards the other players. The way he snapped at others was totally against the spirit of The Traitors, hopefully the show doesn’t see a player similar to him again.