After The Traitors Season 3, I Think I've Identified The Biggest Gameplay Issue And How To Fix It

The Traitors' Season 3 finale, which aired amid the 2025 TV schedule, was the best of the series in my humble opinion. However, as I watched the final moments with my Peacock subscription, I couldn't help but feel the game was still flawed in some major ways. Beyond the fact that fans could desperately use episodes to show just how difficult it is to be a Faithful, I also have an issue with how the series rewards objectively lousy gameplay. With that, I also want to offer a fix.

Dylan Efron, Delores Catania, Lord Ivar Mountbatten and Gabby Windey became the largest group of Faithful to win a season of The Traitors. Yet I daresay only about half of them earned it. Even Andy Cohen called out Delores during the reunion for her bizarre voting record, which I've even speculated was intentional because of how the game gets easier for Faithful when you pretend you're clueless.

The Traitors' Format Consistently Rewards People Who Are Terrible At The Game

CinemaBlend has written at length about Delores' questionable gameplay all throughout Season 3 and our relative shock that she ultimately won a chunk of the prize money at the end. She only correctly voted for a Traitor 2 out of 5 times and would deliberately target a person -- like season darling Tom Sandoval -- when they weren't doing anything but sending out great vibes. Was she deserving of that share of $204,300?

I say no but, unfortunately, The Traitors rewards Faithful for playing the game poorly. It's in the titular contestants' interest to keep people around who aren't targeting them or are in the dark about what's happening in the game. Therefore those who compete like Delores does are often spared when it comes time to murder someone, while other more active players are chopped down.

I think some Faithful know this and deliberately come across as ignorant so they can get to the end where their odds of weeding out Traitors is much easier. I've even suggested to fellow fans of the show that Delores was intentionally throwing votes to float to the end, though that theory has been met with skepticism. In any case, it's something the series needs to address.

How The Traitors Season 4 Could Weed Out Useless Faithfuls

While it wouldn't completely fix the issue, one way The Traitors could combat terrible gameplay by Faithful is by granting safety to those who correctly vote out a Traitor when the time comes. Using this season as an example, anyone who voted out Bob The Drag Queen after his showdown with Boston Rob would've been granted a shield preventing their murder the following morning. Meanwhile, those who dissented would be up for elimination. That way, it would prevent players from fence-sitting and prompt them to make meaningful moves rather than skate to the end.

That said, I could see this "fix" creating issues as well. The Traitors' Roundtables have largely avoided unanimous votes in the series thus far, but that could happen more often when safety is on the line. Perhaps this feature would only last for the first half of the game and then be taken away in the latter stages?

Whatever the fix may be, I do hope the people on the show are brainstorming how to improve the game further as we look ahead to Season 4 and beyond.

All three seasons of The Traitors are available to stream on Peacock. As mentioned, we know that Season 4 and 5 are on the way, so stay tuned for more updates on when they will air.