The Traitors is, famously, quite a popular TV show, the niche party game of Mafia blown into a gripping televised opera of trust, betrayal and raw humanity. Unsurprisingly, it's already spawned an immersive theatre version right here in London, that allows members of the public to participate in their own short but pretty sweet miniature game of the Claudia Winkleman-hosted show.
For most people playing or just watching The Traitors, each day is filled with physical and mental stress and anxiety. For Colton Underwood, it's just another day at work. "Everybody's like, 'That show had to be so hard and so intense,'" he tells Bustle over the phone. "I was like, 'Compared to the other shows I've done, Traitors was a cakewalk.'"
Usually, The Traitors brings together stars in Scotland for a murder mystery game, where a few contestants are named Traitors and have to "murder" one of their opposing "Faithfuls" each night. Before the murder, the contestants argue who they think is a Traitor at a nightly roundtable, and vote for someone to banish from the game. But it wouldn't be The Traitors without some twists.
The new series of The Traitors kicked off on New Year's Day with Claudia Winkleman returning to oversee the ultimate game of deception. The Faithfuls, who remain unaware of the Secret Traitor, have already caught Hugo, their first Traitor. Stephen and Rachel, the other Traitors, are not without suspicion. With the identity of the Secret Traitor due to be revealed tonight (Wednesday 7 January) everyone's theories as to who it could be will be put to rest.
During Efron's Dec. 11 appearance on E!'s Hot Gossalongside his Traitors castmate Rob Mariano (aka Boston Rob), the pair was asked to prove their closeness by answering each other's middle name. Rob correctly said Dylan was, in fact, Efron's middle name. "Nicholas Dylan," he said. However, Efron said he was only "half right" because he actually has a second middle name. "Nicholas is axed off," he explained - and "because it's my first name, everything gets bumped up." (His other middle name, FYI, is Harrison.)
When November's Genius puzzle germinated in July, no one knew how popular its hidden theme would be by the time of publication. A celebrity version of The Traitors? sniffed the sceptics. We and they will already know the personalities. Typical terrible TV idea. Won't work. Eleven million live viewers later, we can now have a look at the filled version of Glyph's remarkable grid. Or rather, grids.
I got a call and they said, 'Phaedra, think Dynasty, Diane Diane Devereaux. You know, spiral staircases. A castle in Scotland.' I said, 'That sounds like me.'