If you’re not familiar with “The Traitors,” a campy and fully unhinged reality TV show, let me catch you up. I, too, was pretty clueless until last week, when my wife convinced me to watch the three (!) new episodes that dropped all at once on Peacock. Now I’m thoroughly addicted and can’t wait to keep watching on Thursday nights.
So picture this: Alan Cumming hosts a weird murder mystery game set in a legit castle in Scotland. He fills the castle with well-known reality TV personalities and other celebs, picks a few of them to be “Traitors” and casts the rest as “Faithfuls.” He leads them through various challenges — some genuinely challenging, some silly/weird — where they strive to add money to the prize pot and each contestant hopes to win a shield that will protect them from getting “murdered” by the Traitors. Each episode, the Traitors meet, fully cloaked, in the turret (I’m not kidding) to decide who to murder, and each episode, the entire group of players meet at a roundtable to decide who they should banish. The Faithfuls are attempting to banish the Traitors, and the Traitors are attempting to pull the wool over the Faithfuls’ eyes so they can keep doing the murdering.
Why are they all doing this? Well, for one, it looks super fun to be in a castle in Scotland with Alan Cumming and his fabulous outfits, but for two, the prize money, of course. The Faithfuls want to banish all the Traitors because if they do, they split the prize money amongst themselves. But the Traitors want to stay in the game, because if they do, they win the money and don’t have to share with the Faithfuls at all! The majority of the players are Faithfuls, so it’s more lucrative for the Traitors.
Alan Cumming did not come up with this show — it originated in the Netherlands and there are now several versions of it in different countries — but truly, the man was made to host it. It’s very fun, very weird and very campy.
The cast this season is absolutely stacked, but for any Jewish pop culture enthusiast, the most delightful surprise is definitely seeing Zac Efron’s brother, Dylan Efron. He’s hot, he’s Jewish and he’s… shockingly good at playing “The Traitors”?!
Right out the gate, Dylan takes on a cool, calm, under-the-radar approach. He introduces himself to everyone, mentions he’s an ironman triathlete and seems to get along well with all the large personalities in the castle. His outfits are amazing, and I can’t emphasize this enough: He just looks really hot all the time. It’s also very endearing that he wants to be a Faithful — many of the characters cast on this show seem to be in it for the fun of being a Traitor, but this NJB wants to figure out who is lying and bring them to justice. We love to see it!
In addition to being well-liked and extremely good looking, I was surprised to see what a great grasp of the game Dylan seems to have already. After getting his wish to be a Faithful, he continues building rapport with all his castmates and is even secretly given a protective shield by Derrick Levasseur (of “Big Brother” notoriety, if that’s your thing). But by far his biggest moment yet is at the roundtable in episode three, when he formally accuses Bob the Drag Queen of being a Traitor. The audience knows he’s right (!!!), but Bob the Drag Queen is not going to be taken down so easily! He fights back, accusing Dylan of being misguided and then suggesting that if Dylan had a drag name, he would be Miss Guided. OK, absolutely obsessed with this. Petition for Dylan Efron to become a drag queen named Miss Guided in 2025, bevakasha? Leaning all the way into it, Dylan has updated his IG bio to read “Miss Guided 💅”! I die.
Luckily for Bob the Drag Queen and Dylan, the cast had other plans for banishment that evening, and both were spared. After the roundtable, they appeared to patch things up, which was definitely clever on Dylan’s part, as he saw what an opponent Bob the Drag Queen can be… But in a confessional right after their playful banter, Dylan confirmed that he still believes Bob the Drag Queen is a Traitor. He acknowledged that he’d have to play it cool for now, but our guy has sussed out one of the liars and he’s gonna keep trying to get him! Can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow night with Dylan Efron and the rest of the crew in this castle…
Spoiler/not spoiler: Dylan will be looking hot no matter what.
