Definitive Ranking of all Seasons of The Traitors
From the worst of the worst to pretty damn good, here's my take on all English-speaking seasons of The Traitors.
Many don’t realize that The Traitors started as the Dutch show De Verraders. After just one season of the De Verraders, The Traitors landed in the UK. Another year later came the first season of US Traitors.
While I haven’t yet wandered into the Dutch version, readers, many of you know that I’ve watched all the English-speaking seasons (most of them multiple times, oops!). My fascination with this show stems from one of my favorite genres of tabletop games: Hidden role games. These games (like Youth Group standard Mafia) require a degree of secrecy and deception—but how honest you are is widely up to the players themselves. Werewolf, One Night Ultimate Werewolf, Secret Hitler, Spyfall, Among Us, Werewolves Within, The Resistance, and Coup are all at-home (tabletop or computer) games with similar rules to The Traitors. I love playing these games, and sometimes, I’m even good at them.
Now that US season 3 has finished airing (no spoilers for last night’s finale, don’t fret!), it feels like time to embark on this definitive ranking. Whether this inspires you to binge all the franchises (you should!) or run for the hills (wait for warm weather!) is up to you. Regardless, please note that at the time of writing (March 7, 2025) I have not yet watched NZ season 2 or UK season 3 and they will not appear on this list. (I only have what pittance Peacock gives me.) Also, I’ll try to keep this as low-spoiler as possible. Sometimes the SHAPE of a spoiler is necessary for a respective list placement.
8. Australia, Season 2
This is a SKIP. A key character in this season, one of the Traitors, is so so nasty and scary. In the picture above, he’s the guy in the letterman jacket. In the show he regularly refers to himself as “the sheriff” and I hate him. He is so likely an actual sociopath that he makes the season unwatchable and not fun. This is a shame because outside of him, the season has a few things going for it: a Traitors superfan, fun accents, Australian celebs/reality stars, and a therapist who is allergic to voting correctly. But it’s just not worth it to have to watch the sheriff.
The only thing that makes this season ALMOST worth watching is a fabulous finale involving a “Traitors’ Dilemma.” (It’s like the prisoners’ dilemma that you probably learned about in college math for non-majors…or at least that’s where I learned my game theory!)
The ICK Factor: Sociopath guy
The IT Factor: Traitors’ Dilemma
7. US, Season 3
Sorry, y’all, but this season was BAD. It was doomed from the dot. Production chose their Traitors poorly, but the constant bombardment of Traitor-on-Traitor crime sealed the deal. When the Traitors go after each other this hard, it never ever works: let this season serve as a warning for all Traitors who come hereafter. They all went home because they acted stupid. It’s a shame because the cast had a lot of potential.
The ICK Factor: Danielle
The IT Factor: Gabby made us root for the Faithfuls.
6. US, Season 2
Again, it’s Traitor-on-Traitor nonsense that screwed up this season. Dan was such an awful Traitor, and he messed everything up for Parv and Phaedra on his way out.
Between that, Trishelle existing, and Peter being a horrible white knight all game long, it’s a surprise to me that this season ranked this high. We have Sandra, memes, and Phaedra’s skills at making good TV to thank for placing this season above two others.
The ICK Factor: Peter, bad ending
The IT Factor: Phaedra has IT, baby!
5. UK, Season 1
We’re solidly in the middle of the pack now. This season is perfectly fine, honestly. And there’s a lot to like! Don’t forget that it is the first English-speaking season! It solidifies a few tropes that are now inextricable from The Traitors. It’s also a solid introduction to UK seasons: they cry. A LOT.
The magic of this season, and the reason it couldn’t slink any lower on the list, is that there’s a secret couple. Not only that! Another player falls hard (and fast!) for the girl-half of the couple and pure chaos ensues. The worst I can say about the rest of the season is that it fades to the background: uneventful, unexciting, unimportant.
The ICK Factor: boring second half
The IT Factor: Secret Couple mixed up into a love triangle
4. NZ, Season 1
Another pretty boring season, here! Sorry! The middle of a list is like that! The best I can say about it: there are a lot of hotties! And yeah, it’s nice to see a new location and the US/UK challenges are all the exact same (literally! it’s weird!) so AUS and NZ are refreshing for that reason too. The only other thing of note about this season is that A LOT of players get the chance to be Traitors—strange for pacing, but not altogether boring! Still overall, Traitor turnover is a con—there are no stakes when the faithful are so regularly banishing Traitors.
The ICK Factor: Going through Traitors like coffee filters
The IT Factor: Getting to practice your Kiwi accent
3. UK, Season 2
This is a pretty good season. All in all, I don’t have that many complaints about game play here. All the goods about UK Season 1 and more to boot! The fun accents make it pretty easy to ignore that we’ve seen all the challenges already (even down to the poisoned chalice) in US season 2.
Plus, we’ll see your secret couple and raise you: Secret Mother and Son: this is good TV. Now, I’m not sure how or when or even WHY, but production clearly hinted at this secret pair to the cast–why else would anyone ever even WONDER if there was a secret mother/son duo in their midst? I wish they hadn’t, but enough whacky stuff happens in the chain reaction therein…it’s good!
There are hot people! There are tears! Some classic annoying hangups make you scream at your TV “Don’t be such an idiot!!” But, all in all, this season is rock solid and leads up to a stellar, heartwrenching finale.
The ICK Factor: Annoying hangups
The IT Factor: Secret Mother and Son
2. US, Season 1
Not a lot to say, here. This is a season that will get you hooked on The Traitors. And Cirie is still the best to wear the cloak, no doubt about it. It’s the rest of the cast that keeps this season from the number 1 slot: The annoying curly hair Traitor with his hats, the Bachelor’s moral hangups, and even Kate’s complete refusal to participate after her friends are killed. I love Kate and dammit if she doesn’t know how to make great reality TV, but it’s hard not to be annoyed while she tosses (literally) barrels of money (literally) aside (literally). Still: she’s funny.
The ICK Factor: Kinks to work out, annoying non-celebs
The IT Factor: Cirie
1. Australia, Season 1
This. THIS. is The Traitors. I’m as surprised as you are! Despite being away from The Castle (TM), Australia delivers the platonic ideal. The gameplay is at an all-time high. There is Traitor-on-Traitor drama, for sure, but it plays out so uncomfortably that it is difficult to label as a con. The Traitors are GOOD, and so are the Faithfuls. A step taken, a step lost. A number of my all-time favorite players find home in this season: Teresa, Kate, Alex, Nigel. There are sweeties and true creeps: a perfect balance. They get caught up by red herrings, they catch on to big slip-ups, and they do it all season long. From beginning to end, this season is consistent and action-packed.
Also a psychic (!!!) stands up, points to who she thinks are Traitors, and walks out of the game. If that’s not peak TV, I don’t know what is. It gives this.
The ICK Factor: Marielle is a full narc
The IT Factor: Really good game playing, Psychic, Hostage negotiator, and a finalist you never meet
Vertical Integration Section
Each time I send this email thingy around, I’ll include little updates on what I’m up to!
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Great article and having enjoyed one of the worst seasons (Season 3) thanks to your recommendations I'll happily sail on to better seasons. Thanks for the great round-up of seasons.