PLAYING DUMB

As the thoroughly decent (and rather smart) Kasim is ejected from 'The Traitors', Helen Coffey asks whether intelligence has become a hindrance that should be concealed at all costs

- Helen Coffey

"People keep on telling me about how clever Kas is." These 10 simple words, though complimentary on the face of it, may have unwittingly sealed an innocent man's fate.

Uttered by Leon about his fellow contestant Kasim on the BBC's explosively popular strategy gameshow The Traitors, they planted a seed of suspicion that rapidly grew into a veritable jungle. For three consecutive nights, the poor good doctor was hauled over the coals at the Round Table, increasingly ostracised from the group and forced to defend his unimpeachable character, before being unceremoniously banished at the end of the fourth episode. He was, of course, a Faithful all along.

If you've never watched the show, the premise is simple: a group of strangers are thrown together in a Scottish castle to play the game. At the beginning, a small minority of players are secretly given the role of Traitor; everyone else is Faithful. Each night, the Traitors pick a Faithful to "murder", eliminating them one by one from the game.

Each day, the whole group has a Round Table discussion to guess who they think could be a possible Traitor, at the end of which one person is voted out or "banished". In the final round of the game, if there are only Faithfuls left, they split a sizeable prize pot between them. If even a single Traitor remains, that person wins all the money instead.

It's a masterclass in groupthink, mob mentality, anthropology, psychology, sociology, duplicity, manipulation, the art of persuasion - you name it. The format, now on its third UK series, makes for wildly compelling viewing.