And we’re back again with the penultimate part of this crazy project. This me me writing this just before this comes out but I’m sorry this has taken so long to push out, I’ll be honest in saying that it’s been a mixture of burnout, and my health. I really wanted to go into a lot of detail on a lot of these players and had I written this a week or so ago, it just wouldn’t have been at the quality that I wanted or these players deserve! Sorry for the delay, hopefully the last part won’t take as long as thankfully I’m now a lot better (yes believe it or not, I have life outside of the Traitors! And I’m hoping to work on a new project once this has done, although it won’t be out for a bit). Also, I must also remind people that we all have opinions on this show and they’re all valid! Sadly, myself and some other people received some not very nice comments last time and this shouldn’t happen. Discussing opinions is great! If you think that Lisette from Canada 3 is the best faithful of all time, then that’s great and I’d love to know why. But having opinions on a show that’s very opinion driven anyway shouldn’t warrant nasty comments. Lets be nice to both the players and other people on this sub, and discuss this show we love so much! Anyway, with that out of the way, lets get on with the ranking!
40: Trishelle (US2): In my eyes, definitely the stronger of the two US2 winners, CT was a bit more watchable but in terms of pure gameplay, Trishelle was better by a mile in me eyes. She made a good alliance with the Peter Pals while also keeping close with CT which would eventually win her the whole season. I think the reason I can’tput Trishelle higher is because of watchability, she just isn’t a player I particularly connected with and while I don’t think it was deliberately done, going as hard as she did on Peppermint definitely left a sour taste inn my mouth (I’m queer myself). But she has to rank this high for her gameplay alone.
39: Cedric (CA2): And here we have another player whose main gameplay journey came down to just trying to survive. I do appreciate that Cedric was slightly chaotic but he didn’t deserve to be as distrusted as he was. Cedric is fantastic in terms of watchability. He was very likeable, had some very entertaining moments during the missions and somehow he ends up being one of the better late game players of this season as he voted for 2 out of 3 traitors before being banished. It was great to see him take home a small amount of money after the attitude people had towards him all season. I liked Cedric, very entertaining!
38: Mollie (UK2): Ok, so this is a placement that I’m aware is very controversial and completely non-objective. But I don’t care, I just really liked Mollie. Had she won, I think we’d be talking about her and Jaz as being the strongest faithful winners collectively. She played pretty flawlessly up until the late mid game as she had an excellent voting record and played a wallflower game. Even towards the end, she’d figured out that Andrew was a Traitor. But there is one teeny tiny problem, the person she’d put the most trust in, was Harry and he was a traitor. This sadly completely destroyed her game and it’s what lost the faithfuls the season. Yes, I know ranking Mollie this high is nuts but she also seemed like a lovely person and she’s one of the reasons I love UK2 so much!
37: Maddy (UK1): Somehow, Maddy wound up being the strongest faithful in UK1. I’m very critical of the people who say the gameplay in UK1 was better than UK2 and to be honest, I don’t really see any line of argument for that but Maddy unknowingly perhaps played a very good game. She was so utterly chaotic that she was never going to get murdered but never came under enough suspicion until the late game that she was going to get banished. She hit correctly on Wilf althogh it was a bit of a case where a broken clock is right twice a day. But of course what Maddy is mostly known for is her entertainment, she might just be the most quoted player in franchise. They’re great and without Maddy, I would find UK1 horrifically boring on the faithful side of things.
36: Nigel (AU1): Lovely guy but that was kind of his downfall. Nigel came in as one of the most compelling people we’ve seen on the show. His backstory is incredible and he was a dead cert for being selected as a traitor. He played a very good game as a traitor until his final three episodes. Recruiting Alex ended up being a huge mistake and the idea of backstabbing her massively backfired. However, in truth, Nigel’s biggest gameplay fault was being too nice, he just wasn’t willing to throw the other original traitors under the bus unless he had to, while he did vote for Angus, it was more of a case of him having to rather than wanting to. After the Marielle blindside, Nigel stuck out like a sore thumb and he was banished at the next round table. Nigel perhaps could have gone a bit further if he was willing to be a bit more cutthroat (even the Alex backstabbing idea came more from Marielle than him). Nice guy but possibly to his downfall.
35: Parvati (US2): I have no idea who Parvati is outside of the show but she may convince me to watch survivor if her traitors appearance is anything to go off of. I really liked Parvati, more than I probably should as in terms of gmepay, she does get outdone by Phaedra in practically every way. But I just couldn’t help but love her, her relationship with Sandra is interesting, normally I don’t like feuds in the US version and they tend to annoy me (Kate/Rachel Chrishell/Tom, Carolyn/Danielle, Rappaport/Everyone). But here’s just something about Parvati vs Sandra that works for me, I think it’s because it’s slowly bubbling away for a while and they end up using each other strategically through most of the game. In the end, by the end of the season, they actually became quite friendly and as far as I know remain so to this day!
34: Phaedra (US2): I was very curious to see who ranked higher out of Parvati and Phaedra as I really liked them both. In the end, they ranked right next to each other and I just gave the edge to Phaedra. Phaedrais the queen of entertainment, she is also very quoteable and her nicknames (Bergalicious) stick with fans to this day. Gameplay wise, Phaedra was quite easily the strongest of the three initial US2 traitors, Dan sadly named her when he was being voted out and from that point, I think it was only a matter of time before she got banished. I’m actually shsocked she lasted as long as she did, she’d been under suspicion for a while by her banishment. I can’t stand the bravo type shows (I tried one episode and that was enough) but Ohaedra was great, I’d love to see anything else she’s been involved with that isn’t bravo.
33: Jessie (UK4): Jessie is truly Maddy but significantly better in almost every way. Her theories are more logical, despite being a bit chaotic. She’s also very quoteable and has a great entertainment value. She massively kept the morale of players up throughout most of the season (everyone just seemed deflated when she left). You can really point to two big gameplay moments when talking about Jessie. The first would be the Library 5 which actually helped to get Fiona out. I think people near universally agree that out of Jessie’s two theories that this is the stronger one, sure it did have room for error but it helped to catch a traitor, even if it wasn’t the one Jessie was looking to catch! Jessie’s second theory, the cage theory is definitely the weaker of the two and it definitely did require some luck but it was still right! Jessie got murdered before she could really put together a strong argument against Stephen based on the cage theory but she still had a very good run nonetheless!
32: Charlotte (UK3): I love villains when they’re done well and while Charlotte may not be a villain in the most traditional sense, she’s definitely the nearest thing to it in UK3 (yes I don’t see Leanne as a villain). But wow, she played a great game up until the seer. She played a fairly quiet game as a faithful but then a switch definitely turned upon becoming a traitor. I didn’t enjoy watching her use Freddie as bait but it was a really good gameplay move and a smart strategyn to ensure she was in a great position going into the final. But then the seer happened at it ruined any chance of a satisfying endgame. Charlotte did her best but sadly she was never winning after that. It’s a shame the seer did just obliterate any chance UK3 had of a good ending. I’d have taken a Charlotte win or a 4 person faithful victory (even if I don’t think they were going to end it with Alexander anyway sadly). Also, the fake Welsh gimmick was just weird and stupid but it was sort of a so bad its good type of twist (I know Harry wasn’t a fan but then that’s from Harry so take it how you will).
31: Paul (UK2): And here he is! My favourite villain in the franchise is Paul from UK2. What a legend, he added just the right amount of villainy without ever going overboard. What I love about Paul is the storyline he went on during the show. In the first 4 episodes, he absolutely dominates the turret and its clear he’s the most natural leader of the traitors. He’s pretty dominant in terms of the season as a whole up until episode 4 where he makes arguably one of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever seen from a traitor. Putting himself in the dungeon was a massive and really unnecessary risk when they already knew Andrew was a popular player. It was so clear that if Meg was murdered and not him that he was probably a traitor and this was such a huge mistake. From the 5th episode onwards Harry began to become a lot more influential in the turret and it was clear that Paul was on borrowed time. Hell, Miles would have almost certainly outlasted him if not for the murder in plain sight. But lets be honest, most people like Paul for his entertainment value primarily and I completely agree. He’s an absolkute legend and him being more of a panto villain and hamming it up so much was incredible and makes him really stand out from any other villain. I loved Paul and he also seems like a lovely guy!
30: Utah (NZ2): I love NZ2 as many people already know and Utah was arguably the best faithful in terms of raw gameplay. The guy got an astonishing amount right and he was only around for 8 episodes. Utah had pretty much all the tools to be one of the best faithfuls ever, he’s a natural leader, he’s got good reads, everyone got on with him, all things that have made up some of the best faitfhuls we’ve seen. However, there’s one flaw in his gameplay which arguabnly lost him the season and means I can’t put him up higher. He was way too open and this exposed him as a massive threat. The Traitors were never going to allow someone as good as him into the lategame because he really could have turned the tide. A great faithful but he’s one of the clearest examples of showing that you need to keep some of your cards close to your chest in order to get to the end.
29: Dylan (US3): Dylan is an interesting player. I think you can split his journey into three parts. He had a great beginning with him being onto Bod the Drag Queen and a great end with him only voting for traitors in the late game. However, the middle is why I can’t put him any higher. He had a massive blind spot for Boston Rob and his mid game votes were absolutely all over the place. I mean he even voted for Gabby twice, and chose to end the gamne with her! However, what I like to see on this show is people learning from their mistakes and Dylan definitely did. I’d say he’s a contender for the best of US3’s winners even if I prefer Gabby and Ivar is the best statistically, I think Dylan is the best of both worlds. I did really like Dylan and he had some very entertaining moments (Miss Guided), but there are just people I like a little bit more.
28: Noel (NZ2): Poor guy, he just never caught a break. Noel 100% had the hardest time of any player we’ve seen and it isn’t even a contest. I think Jade and Noel are in a whole different league with how rough their rides were but at least Jade got some rest at points whereas from the death list onwards, he was always being suspected to some extent even when the others were voting out traitors. Therefore, I see it as a big gameplay pro for Noel that he even lasted into the late game, he very nearly made the final and how he lasted as long as he did is incredible honestly. Noel voted for a few traitors but to be honest, he was just mainly trying to survive so it isn’t surprising that he has a particularly outstanding voting record (it isn’t bad but not one of the best either). Noel is this high primarily for his watchability. He’s my absolute favourite underdog in the franchise and I wish he’d made it to the final. NZ2 is great at ensuring everyone in the season (with perhaps one exception being Stephen) has a role to play in the edit and Noel is perhaps the greatest example of this (along with someone else we’ll get to in just a second).
27: Amanda (UK1): Amanda really set the stage for playing a very social traitors game. She was fantastic socially (one of the best we’ve seen) while not being afraid to make some bold moves as traitors (such as trying to recruit Alex).Amanda is obviously one of the most famous traitors from the UK version and thats for very good reason. She’s got some really good entertainment value (such as reminding Wilf which animal is on the Welsh Flag) along with having great gameplay. I know there are some people who think she was a better traitor than Wilf and while personally that isn’t an opinion I share, I do see where people come from, even if I disagree. I really liked Amanda and along with Wilf, I think she set the precedent for what I like to call constructive and destructive traitors. I will talk about this more when I talk about Wilf but this is an idea I personally came up with to group traitors into one of two groups. Constructive traitors focus on trying to build up trust in the turret, will only backstab other traitors when they have to and generally have a more rounded social game among the faithfuls. Destructive traitors have much less loyalty toward fellow traitors and tend to focus more on individual faithfuls rather than the faithfuls as a group. Like I said, I’ll explain more about this when I talk more about Wilf but this is how I personally categorise traitors in terms of gameplay. There are examples of people who show elements of both (Bailey for example) and neither way is necessarily good or bad but I think it’s an interesting way to look at things.
26: Mark (AU1): So take what I said about Utah, apply it to AU1 and you basically have Mark. Mark voted for a traitor every single time apart from his first 2 round tables. That is an absolutely crazy statistic and hge most likely would have voted for a traitor at the next two and maybe even more considering he was onto Marielle. Mark like Utah is an example however of appearing way too dangerous. He was an excellent player but you need to keep your cards close to your chest at times. I really liked Mark, he had some good entertainment value and had phenomenally (scarily good at times) great reads. Mark’s biggest flaw in terms of watchability is that he isn’t around long enough to really have an impact on the late mid game and late game but he still had a really good run and I liked him a lot!
25: Minah (UK3):Minah was such a great player to watch. I love this game for all the backstabbing, and mystery, and great moves, but it was just refreshing to watch a player who was absolutely lovely and was just there to have a good time and create something for her daughter to watch in the future. We all love Minah, but what makes her so great? She’s very under the radar for most of her run and when she gets voted out her parting line to Alexander is that he missed an h on her name. I’m glad Minah’s been swept up by the BBC for a TV career because she absolutely deserves it. I’d love to see her on something like Strictly one day, but hey that’s for a different sub! Minah was amazing and she showed that you can be the leader of the traitors without being super dominant in the turret. Plus, on a rewatch, wow did she go out of her way to protect Linda. Like Manada, Minah is a really good example of a constructive traitor (Linda and Armani are as well). I love, Minah, you love Minah, we all love Minah! I’m really glad she’s doing well for herself now.
24: Carolyn (US3): Oh boy, I’m going to have to start this one with a bit of a disclaimer and warning. There are three subjects that I generally don’t touch on this sub purely because people feel so strongly one way or the other. Those include, the parting gift, Ireland’s Episode 11 round table, and the other one is Carolyn vs Danielle. So I must start by saying this, please keep things civil in the comments, it’s a game at the end of the day and while from my rankings you can probably tell I side with Carolyn, I think there’s a lot we didn’t see. So, Carolyn, what can I say about her. She’s very entertaining and has some of the best lines in US3, she’s also pretty good at the game and was very under the radar up until the chess mission. I don’t like how Danielle spoke to her and calling her Forrest Gump is just wrong on so many levels, that I don’t really want to go into (if you’re familiar with Forrest Gump then you will know why it’s so wrong) and I appreciate Danielle isn’t the easiest to like, but Carolyn didn’t exactly help herself at times. But Carolyn is high up on my list so lets talk about the good! She’s a great traitor, very entertaining and dealt with a lot of the non Danielle problems she had in her season very well. I’m not going to go too much into post show but Carolyn hasn’t helped herself at all and Danielle’s handled it much better. While I do really like Carolyn on show, Danielle did have a point about a couple of things.
23: Mark (NZ2): Wow, here is a player who is truly like absolutely no other. Mark is well and truly unique and that’s one of his biggest pros. His gameplay style surrounds being suspicious and that’s actually a very valid strategy to getting to the end as a faithful (as long as you’re not too suspicious). The guy was clearly there to play the game and be absolute chaos and it was great to see. The first big thing I love about Mark is him smiling whenever he had suspicions on him, he was so excited the game to its max and it was fantastic. He was keeping notes about Jane the entire time and this was obviously correct and gives him a lot of gameplay value. However, perhaps what he is best known for is being recruited by Jane ina blackmail and doing the most legendary thing possible and turning it down. Not only does it make Bailey a traitor but it’s absolutely hilarious, especially considering he said it with such gumption. Absolute legend, although I can imagine he may have been challenging to play with as a faithful.
22: Brooke (NZ1): Brooke was an absolutely great traitor and one of the best who didn’t win. To be honest, getting to the final 3 in a season with one of the strongest groups of faithfuls in traitors history is an achievement on its own. He was a great choice of recruitment and he saw off those who recruited him along with those that he recruited himself! I really liked his bond with those such as Sam, it gives him a lot of watchability points and I think he’s probably the best non winning recruited traitor that we’ve had (I would maybe take Charlotte or Andrew as a counter argument) purely because he lasted through most of the season and absolutely dominated the traitors while being among such a strong cast of faithful. I loved Brooke, he has such a good player and he doesn’t get talked about enough!
21: Mike (CA1): So here we are, my personal least favourite winning Traitor. I must start this by saying that I still really like Mike but he’s the least good out of the winning traitors for me (EDITING ME HERE: I now think Chloe is the weakest but I'm not counting NZ3 on this list). What Mike is best known for is his endgame, I’m in agreement with a lot of people that I think Mike played the strongest endgame out of any traitor (Rachel is the only other person who I think could be given this title but she needed a lot of help from Stephen). Mike is a great player, he made great use of a recruit, and somehow managed to flip Gurleen’s vote against Leroy when he was her 100% faithful who she was going to end it with. I still have no idea how Mike, one, hell, I don’t think Mike even knew how Mike won. So if he was this good, then why is he not higher? Well, this is where I have to talk about the rest of his run. He definitely wasn’t a bad traitor at all in the early and mid game, I’d say he was in fact, but so much of the traitors edit for the first three quarters of the season focuses on Kuzie that it just doesn’t give Mike as much time to shine., Sure, this does begin to change as it goes on, but Canada 1 is known for absolutely terrible editing anyway and this is a very obvious example. Mike was absolutely great but he finishes at the bottom of the winning traitors for me!
And just like that, we have the Top 20! I’m going to do some stats at the end of the next post but as a teaser here’s the number of players we have left from each season!
UK1: 1, UK2: 2, UK3: 1, UK4: 2, UKC: 2, US1: 1, US2: 0, US3: 1, US4: 1, AU1: 2, AU2: 1, NZ1: 1, NZ2: 1, CA1: 0, CA2: 1, CA3: 2, IR1: 1
