TV review Captivating show is back with new twists and savvier players

Series three of The Traitors begins with an utterly gutting twist.

- Rachel Aroesti

Series three of The Traitors begins with an utterly gutting twist. Well, technically it begins with Claudia Winkleman opening a drawer of identical pairs of red fingerless leather gloves while conversing with an owl (yes, the show's ludicrously camp Highland gothic vibe is still in full swing), but after that it's emotional disembowelment all the way.

As per tradition, a new cohort of players meet on a steam train, where they merrily bond. Unlike previous series, however, this journey is a test: there are 25 passengers, announces Winkleman over the public address system as the train slows to a standstill, but only room for 22 contestants on the show: each of the three carriages must eject one person or lose up to £10,000 from the prize fund. Everyone sits in awkward silence until three noble souls take one for the team and clamber out.

Surely this can't be the end of the game for our self-sacrificial trio? Is there no reward for such altruism? Is the world really so morally senseless? Yes, as it turns out. As hope for some kind of amnesty dwindles, the message becomes crystal clear: in The Traitors, goodness gets you nowhere.