A compelling blend of treachery and thickos
Not since Nasty Nick on Big Brother two decades ago has there been a reality television villain to compete with Paul on BBC1’s The Traitors. For those of you unfamiliar with the show, 22 strangers are thrown together in a castle in Scotland. Four are Traitors, whose job is to murder everyone else, while the other 18 are the Faithful, and they are tasked with identifying and eliminating the traitors before they themselves are killed.
This year, they haven’t been very good at that, having erroneously despatched many of their own faithful in the nightly banishment, and only one Traitor, the pretty hapless Ash. In large part, this is down to Paul, the de facto boss of the other two Traitors, Miles and Harry, and who displays rat-like cunning as he selects the next victims. Paul somehow has made himself the most popular contestant with everyone else, except for Jaz, who can see through him like he was made of glass.
It is an extraordinary example of mass delusion. When Paul, Ash and two others spent a day in the dungeon, the Faithful agreed that if Paul was not murdered overnight, and instead popped up for breakfast, he surely was a Traitor. By that evening, they appeared to have forgotten this entirely, and instead voted out Jonny – a fellow Faithful.
It is a brilliantly constructed show, and brilliantly cast, with a couple of twists thrown in. No one else knows that Northern Irish Diane, the standout fan favourite, actually is the mother of another of the contestants, Ross, though even she has suspicions, misplaced as it happens, that her own flesh and blood might be plotting her death.
This week’s episode ended on a huge cliffhanger. Instead of merely leaving an envelope telling one of the Faithful they have been murdered, the remaining trio of Traitors had to find a chalice, fill it with wine, and convince someone to drink it.
We saw Miles ask Diane if she would like a glass of rosé, and hand the poisoned chalice to her, but we did not see her drink it.
She’s been really smart so far, so all we can hope for on Wednesday is a shot of her handing it to someone else, or pouring it down the sink. Either way, Miles’s unsubtle approach seems to have raised eyebrows, and he’s surely next for elimination. Or would be if the remaining Faithful weren’t quite so thick.
It’s January, and that can mean only one thing – Room to Improve is back. This week, Dermot Bannon was in Kilkenny with clients Ivan and Gráinne, who were renovating a derelict farmhouse they inherited, and adding an extension. On social media, there was the usual begrudgery, as it emerged the couple were able to avail of a hundred-odd grand in grants to help them complete the project. Isn’t that the entire point of grants to turn crumbling buildings into family homes? Instead of moaning, they should see this as a fine example of restoration and reuse.
The only problem with the opener was that the couple were very nice, with little disagreement between them and Dermot over how to proceed, so it was a bit disappointing for those of us who prefer tension to extension. If there’s not a row tonight about a kitchen, I’ll be as gutted as the farmhouse was before it sprang back to life.
Meanwhile, on RTÉ2, Selling Ireland’s Dream Homes took us to Bantry, and the mansion owned for 25 years by singer/songwriter Tori Amos. Who knew? It was an amazing place, with cabins in the grounds that looked perfect for parties.
Also under the hammer for over €1million was Westlife star Mark Fehily’s terraced villa in Co. Sligo, which had an incredible view over a lake, and a huge copper bathtub in which to linger as you savoured it. There’s another idea for Dermot. RTÉ One’s jaunty travel show,
High Road, Low Road, also returned this week. Two celebs travel to the same destination, where one enjoys the five-star experience (Future Island presenter Anna Daly this time), and the other gets the budget option, in this case social media star James Kavanagh, whose job is being James Kavanagh, I think.
The pair found themselves in Lanzarote, where James got to swim with sharks, though he seemed more besotted with the diving instructor than any of the marine life he encountered in the aquarium tank. Anna got the better part of the deal, with a swim-up suite that had steps leading right into the pool.
Like all travel shows, it’s pretty contrived, but the duo this week were entertaining, which also applied to Inside Penneys, RTÉ’s new documentary on our biggest global retail success story.
Here, the star was John McKenna, whose job is to identify trends and turn them into fast fashion. In the first episode, he was planning a catwalk show for store managers flown in from branches in the UK, mainland Europe and the US.
John was a hoot, strutting to Vogue, but there was also serious business. In an office in Dublin, decisions are made that determine how people will dress this summer, fascinating for those of us who only shop in Penneys. Hun.