‘The Traitors’ is ‘Not Cruel, Just Brutal’ Says BBC Exec
variety.comK.J. Yossman “The Traitors,” the reality game show that sees contestants holed up in a castle working to eliminate one another in order to claim a grand prize, became one of last winter’s break-out hits when it dropped on BBC One.
But it nearly didn’t get commissioned. Syeda Irtizaali, BBC editor for unscripted, revealed when someone first suggested she take a look at the Dutch version (titled “De Verraders” and repped by All3Media International) she wasn’t convinced. “I think it’s a pretty difficult show to sell on paper,” Irtizaali said during a panel discussion about the format at MipTV on Tuesday morning.
She said it was a contact at NBC (with whom the BBC has a creative partnership) that told her about it, saying. “’There’s people being murdered, they’re wearing hoodies.
Watch it, I think you’ll like it.’” “I was like, ‘No,’” Irtizaali laughed. “So for a while, I was like, ‘This is not for us.’ And then of course, as soon as I saw it, the Dutch version, we knew this is the show that we wanted to get.
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