At last, a great institution filled with trusted public figures. Shame the Traitors don’t run Britain | Marina Hyde

14 hours ago7 min read2 comments

The Celebrity Traitors finale wasn't just television—it was a masterclass in strategic execution that put Westminster's daily pantomime to shame. When Nick coolly revealed he'd written Joe's name on his slate, it was a political assassination more deftly handled than anything we've seen in Parliament this year, a move that would make Machiavelli blush.But that was merely the opening salvo. Six minutes later, host Alan Cumming dropped the strategic nuclear option, revealing he'd been a traitor all along—a twist so brilliantly executed it should be studied in political war rooms.This wasn't mere entertainment; it was a clinic in persuasion, coalition-building, and tactical betrayal that exposed the amateur hour playing out in the corridors of power. While Alan catapulted to national treasure status and rugby star Joe Marler executed a political-scale image rehabilitation that saw him leapfaring twenty-seven stardom categories, our actual politicians were busy with their own version of reality television—the kind where Justice Secretary David Lammy became the week's most spectacularly wrong David, narrowly edging out historian David Olusoga's Traitors misjudgments.What's fascinating isn't just the quality of the deception on display, but the radical departure from the past two decades of political-reality TV cross-pollination. Remember when politicians desperately tried to borrow the credibility of popular culture? When they'd name-drop Love Island contestants or clumsily reference Bake Off in speeches? That era is over.The Celebrity Traitors represents something new—not a template for politicians to emulate, but an escape hatch for citizens drowning in their leaders' incompetence. The show's brilliance lies in its transparency: everyone knows deception is happening, the rules are clear, and consequences are immediate.Compare that to our current political landscape, where promises evaporate, accountability is theoretical, and the only consistent strategy is self-preservation. While our leaders flail about with no answers to genuine crises, shows like The Celebrity Traitors provide catharsis through competence—even if that competence is deployed toward deception.The contestants understood their roles, played them with conviction, and faced judgment before a jury of their peers. Meanwhile, in the real halls of power, the traitors wear suits, give press conferences, and rarely face consequences for their betrayals.The most telling detail? No senior politician has dared to reference the show to curry favor with the public. They know better.The gap between the strategic brilliance on display in that Scottish castle and the flailing incompetence in Westminster has become too wide to bridge with a soundbite. The public can spot the difference between entertainment that acknowledges its artifice and governance that pretends to authenticity while delivering chaos. In an age of institutional collapse, we've found our most trusted public figures—they're just playing characters on television.

#featured

#The Celebrity Traitors

#reality TV

#politics

#Alan Cumming

#Marina Hyde

#editorial

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