I Love The US Version Of The Traitors, But There's One Thing The UK Version Does Way Better

The Traitors UK and The Traitors US have many overlapping elements. However, a few critical differences help give each series its identity. The US version relies on reality TV stars to draw in major fandoms and create viral moments. The Traitors US cast reveal has become one of the major events for reality TV enthusiasts. The UK version sticks with unknowns and everyday people.

Both series’ casting formats work. Each version of The Traitors also tells their stories differently, both shows have eccentric but lovable hosts and tiny differences that make them great reality TV shows. However, The Traitors UK does one aspect better than The Traitors US.

Warning: Minor The Traitors US and The Traitors UK spoilers are ahead. Proceed with caution, or check out both series, which can be watched with a Peacock subscription.

I Prefer How The Traitors UK Presents The Weekly Challenges

The many international versions of The Traitors share similar or the same weekly challenges. The US and UK Seasons 1, 2, and 3 have used most of the same challenges. Therefore, you can’t help but compare the slight differences in how they are designed and presented.

The challenges feel different in each version. The Traitors UK’s editing emphasizes their importance to the episode. The US makes them feel like a supplementary element of the episodes, but not the most critical part of it. They have the same design looks but operationally have different purposes. I am usually invested in what happens during the UK's weekly challenges but don’t have the same level of investment when the US presents the same thing. And that has a lot to do with how each show treats and displays these tasks.

The UK Version Makes Them Suspenseful

The Traitors US and UK each lean into comedic and dramatic parts of their series. However, the UK version presents the weekly challenges more seriously than the US version. The US version often makes the challenges feel like part of a comedy show. For example, in The Traitors Season 3 Episode 5, "All This Murderous Power," there is a challenge to win a shield that involves removing photos of a person if you answer a question correctly.

There is a lot of suspense in this challenge. It’s essentially a make-or-break moment for several contestants. It involves betrayal, lies, deceit, and manipulation. However, it’s portrayed as this buffoonery moment for many contestants, like Bob Harper, who runs up before even hearing the question. He looks silly, not anxious. This is how the US generally treats these challenges. There is nothing wrong with that, and US reality TV shows tend to favor comedy over drama (as seen in many iconic reality TV moments).

I just prefer the way the UK presents them. For example, The Traitors UK Season 3 Episode 11 involves the contestants gaining a major power that gives them critical game information. The challenge has silly aspects, like pulling a doll string to be eliminated or to stay in the game. However, the editing had me on the edge of my seat. I cared whether the doll said a money value or eliminated a contestant.

It’s all about how the series presents these challenges. One leans into their importance in making or breaking a contestant's game, and the other tries to make you laugh as you watch these contestants crumble. I enjoy both approaches, but prefer the UK’s way more.

The US Version Is Missing Key Elements To The Challenges That Make Them Thrilling

One of my biggest fears about The Traitors US Season 3 was that this version would lose some key pieces that make a certain UK challenge great. So far, my fear has been coming true. The first example is when The Traitors US has the same challenge of three new players entering the game through coin distribution and cage lowering. The challenges are very similar in each series, but the UK version has a twist that only two of the three contestants will be given the chance to enter the game. It matters who gets the coins first.

The US version wants all three players to enter the game so it doesn’t matter who is lowered first.

The fact that only two of the three enter the game in the UK version makes the challenge more intense and exciting to watch. We don’t know these new players yet (as we only briefly see them at the start of the season). However, we immediately care about who stays and who will be eliminated. The UK version has this thrilling graveyard twist where one of the players will be eliminated because of a card game of chance. The US version ditches the card game part and lets the Traitors pick who to eliminate.

The US version is still interesting because of the three possible eliminated players. I cared who left. However, I was more invested in how the UK presented it because it is much more thrilling television. Additionally, it then ended dramatically: the Traitors showed up to tell the person they were murdered. We then get some little back and forth between one of the Traitors and the now-dead Faithful. It is such a good reality TV moment. We could have had similar tension or reaction if the US version used this format.

The UK Version Of The Traitors Use A Lot More Strategizing In The Challenges

Big Brother, Survivor, The Challenge, and even RuPaul’s Drag Race sometimes, involve a lot of strategy and strategizing. Therefore, these US TV shows are no strangers to strategy. Many of the contestants on The Traitors US are good strategists, so you would expect more challenges that involve strategy. Some challenges use it but it is not as prevalent as in the UK version.

It sometimes seems like almost every challenge in the UK involves strategy or thinking strategically. We see this happen in even something as simple as finding the most coins. A player knows that mathematically they can’t win the challenge, because they don’t have enough money in their bank, so they then give the coins to the player who has a chance to win and who they trust.

We haven’t seen this challenge play out yet on the US version, so someone may take a similar approach. However, in general, the challenges don’t seem to encourage strategy in the US versions, or the players aren’t thinking that way. In the fifth episode of The Traitors US Season 3, one of the contestants tries to use strategy but it backfires in a major way. It seems like that player didn’t fully think their plan through. Therefore, sometimes there is a strategy on the US version but, like Dylan Efron’s drag name, misguided.

Both Versions Make The Challenges Important To The Overall Story, But The UK Makes Them Consistently Important

The Traitors US Season 3 has a challenge involving three contestants being put in a coffin as potential players to be murdered by the Traitors. This isn’t exactly a weekly challenge as it is more of a murder with a twist and challenge for the Traitors, but it could fall into the blanket statement of overall challenge-esque aspects. This one incident has caused the two survivors to have suspicion put on them as potential Traitors. Therefore, the challenges definitely play a part in the US storyline as well as the UK.

However, the UK challenges seem to be a critical part of the storylines more often. I can think of several challenges that have created suspicion on contestants, or made players change their strategy. There have been challenges that made players distrust each other, led to murders, and gave players power that greatly altered the outcome of the game.

The challenges matter on the UK version and the US version, but the US ones seem to matter in terms of banking money but not always as a key piece to the storyline.

I love both Traitors series (and they are highly addictive) but I hope that the US version works a little harder to make the challenges more critical to the next season’s storylines.