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Bugs, Lasers & Bags Of Cash: Our Favorite Missions From 'The Traitors' Season 1
A reality competition show is only as good as its missions and "The Traitors" on Peacock is no exception.
How long has it been since host Alan Cumming hurled his last “muuuurdur” in the first season finale of Peacock’s "The Traitors"? Barely a month but we miss our Scottish castle full of reality stars and normies sorted into “Faithful” and “Traitors." So, as we wait for the reunion episode, which airs Feb. 28 on Peacock, we decided to look back at the best missions featured in the first season.
Across 10 episodes, the 20 contestants were asked to ring chapel bells, set wood effigies on fire and test their memories a lot. But those were just the simple challenges. Where “The Traitors” excelled was suddenly foisting a diabolical challenge on the cast which forced them to get their cumulative acts together for the good of their greed. Because every challenge passed meant more money in the overall prize pot, and that was plenty of motivation for the majority of players.
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For our money, the challenges of note were the ones that really made them work hard for that cash, which we believe these five challenges certainly did.
Laser Tag, Episode 9
At this point in the series, the cast was whittled down to just Cirie, Quentin, Andie, Christian, Kate, and Arie. Aside from Kate, who wanted out a long time ago, the other five were ready to go full “Mission: Impossible” for this challenge. They were separated into two teams of three and tasked with stealing artifacts from a room tricked out with a whole mess of lasers. If someone tripped a laser, they were out, along with the artifact and its assigned monetary value.
This mission had the requisite tension and personal performance stress attached to it, with the prize stakes higher than ever as the end of the game loomed. Plus, Andie got an MVP moment when they wiggled around those lasers.
Three Bags of Money Mission, Episode 10
The last mission was the most cinematic of them all, especially because they essentially dumped Kate into a loch and said, “SWIM!” The producers finally figured out a way to bypass her stubborn “nope” attitude, and it was delicious to watch. To her credit, though, pampered Kate swam to that buoy and did her part, alongside Arie, in helping retrieve all four bags of money. And then Andie, Christian, and Cirie kind of ran around like spastic marbles on the land looking for the rest of the bags via clues. Christian got the thoroughness prize this time for finding that last hanging bag with seconds left, making for some great last-second buzzer drama.
Whisky No-Go, Episode 6
There’s nothing more Scottish than having to roll whiskey barrels in the cold. When you add reality stars to that mix, and plenty of ennui about the task, you’ve found a good time. Once again, Kate had the biggest attitude about this mission, shedding her tiny barrels with the finish line in sight. But the rest of the group, even if they whined a lot, rolled eight of those big ‘ole barrels across the finish line, including all three of the massive Armory Pass barrels.
This mission really separated the hardcore players going into the final portion of the season. It turns out, money and self-preservation are great motivators!
Cabin Creepies, Episode 8
This was the mission where the show went full “Fear Factor,” and we loved it.
Having experienced a spate of relatively innocuous missions for several episodes, the remaining team members walked into the cabin challenge with no idea what was waiting for them inside. Tasked with figuring out the combinations to padlocks, the separated teams were given the extra distraction/misery of having bugs rain down on them or literally having to put their head into a box of creepy crawlies. Way to make them work for that money, Alan! Plus, watching it gave us full-body itches for hours, so extra thanks for that.
We’re still not OK.
Buried Alive Mission, Episode 2
It was a brilliant move to have the innocuous symbolic burning of a wicker beast in the first mission lull the participants into a false sense of security about what they were going to face in this series. Then reality hit them with the graveyard mission. The dumb-dumbs of Amanda, Arie, Bam, Kyle, Shelbe and Stephenie blindly volunteered when Alan asked, and were then promptly escorted to a graveyard and buried alive in coffins. Harsh lessons learned, my friends. Perhaps more sobering was learning how bad the rest of the participants were at being functioning teams. Three teams of four had to follow clues around the castle property which would eventually lead them to the graveyard where they had to dig up their teammates. Except it took all three teams forever to finally get to their destination and then it was a mad flurry to dig. The Blue team was so bad at it, they ran out of time and got no money. More importantly, this mission really showed off who were the smarter competitors and the players to keep a serious eye on.
You can watch all of "The Traitors" Season 1 on Peacock. And catch the reunion special when it premieres on Peacock on Feb. 28.
