The Traitors (British TV series) series 1

The first series of The Traitors was first broadcast on BBC One on 29 November 2022. The series concluded on 22 December 2022 where Hannah Byczkowski, Aaron Evans and Meryl Williams won as Faithfuls, while Wilfred "Wilf" Webster placed as a runner-up, as a Traitor.

Contestants

22 contestants competed on the first series of The Traitors. In a minor twist, Alex and Tom had a pre-existing relationship as they were dating before competing in the series.
Amos and Kieran were apparently banished from the game on arrival at the castle, after placing themselves at the end of a line of most and least likely to win the show. However, they were both reintroduced to the show in a twist during episode 5.

Contestant	Age	Residence	Occupation	Affiliation	Finish
	23	Manchester, England	Masters Graduate	Faithful	Murdered
	45	South Croydon, England	Accounts supervisor	Faithful	Banished
	43	Hull, England	Ex-police officer & entrepreneur	Faithful	Murdered
	23	Burgess Hill, England	Scientist	Faithful	Banished
	32	Polruan, England	Author	Faithful	Banished
	49	Edinburgh, Scotland	Spa therapist	Faithful	Murdered
	24	Chesham, England	Magician	Faithful	Banished
	23	Melbourn, England	BMX Athlete	Faithful	Murdered
	21	Cork, Ireland	Business student	Traitor	Banished
	25	North London, England	Trainee lawyer	Faithful	Banished
	26	London, England	Presenter & actress	Faithful	Murdered
	30	North London, England	Doctor	Faithful	Murdered
	26	Leeds, England	Cheerleading coach	Faithful	Banished
	59	Bury St Edmunds, England	Head of School Welfare	Faithful	Murdered
	54	Swansea, Wales	Estate agent	Traitor	Banished
	72	Brussels, Belgium	Retired	Faithful	Murdered
	29	Swanley, England	Receptionist & actress	Faithful	Banished
	42	Stevenage, England	Solutions consultant	Traitor	Banished
	28	North London, England	Senior fundraiser	Traitor	Banished
Aaron Evans	24	Portsmouth, England	Property agent	Faithful	Winner
	32	London, England	Comedian	Faithful	Winner
	25	Edinburgh, Scotland	Call centre agent	Faithful	Winner

;Notes

Elimination history

'''Key'''

End game

'''Notes'''

Reception

Series 1 of The Traitors received mixed-to-positive reception, with critics praising the work of host Claudia Winkleman, the season's atmosphere, and its entertaining moments. Primary criticisms were mainly aimed at the show's cast and struggle to choose an age demographic. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an approval rating of 67% based on 6 reviews, with an average rating of 8.00/10. Isobel Lewis of The Independent gave the show 3 out of 5 stars, embracing the show's entertainment factor, writing "The Traitors definitely isn’t a perfect reality show, or even the best in its genre right now, but it is pretty entertaining. Plus, there’s something incredibly satisfying about watching a contestant claim that their fellow player is “a really honest person”, while we sit at home smirking in the knowledge that they're really a traitor". Rating the season 5 stars out of 5, Michael Hogan of The Telegraph praised the show's finale, saying it was "dramatic, deliciously dark and just camp enough, this was old-fashioned event TV". Fiona Sturges of Financial Times praised the show for its twists and turns, writing "On paper, it might sound like a zhuzhed-up version of Cluedo or the children’s game wink murder. In practice, it is a brilliant recipe for multi-layered manoeuvring and top-tier bluffing."
Alison Rowat of The Herald was critical of the show's identity, stating the season was "safe, sanitised and deadly dull", adding that " too silly for older viewers, too bland for the younger streaming crowd, it would be a better fit for BBC3 but here it is, occupying a prime slot over three week nights. Now there's a mystery." Rachel Cooke of The New Statesman was critical of the show, calling it "complicated where it should be straightforward; which aspires to a vague cleverness where it should really aim only for rank stupidity".

Episodes

Ratings

Weekly ratings for each show on BBC One. All ratings are provided by BARB.

Episode	Date	Official rating	Weekly rank for BBC One	Weekly rank for all UK TV
Episode 1		3.88	14	25
Episode 2		3.14	25	38
Episode 3		<2.71
Episode 4		3.33	21	37
Episode 5		3.13	24	45
Episode 6		3.37	20	36
Episode 7		3.76	21	29
Episode 8		3.75	22	30
Episode 9		3.60	23	33
Episode 10		4.09	18	30
Episode 11		4.32	16	25
Episode 12		4.73	12	15
Series average	2022	3.74