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Daily Record
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
'I watched the American rip-off of The Traitors and it made me mad'
It feels like the on-sale version of The Traitors. The stakes aren't that high, the tasks not as intense, and the contestants don't seem to want to be there. If you live in the UK or are even the remotest fan of British television, chances are you've heard of The Traitors. It's the show where contestants arrive at a castle, a few of them are branded as traitors, and then they all spend several weeks competing in tasks and adding money to the prize pot, but most importantly, the traitors spend their time lying, deceiving, recruiting, and (figuratively) killing the other contestants, known as the Faithfuls - all while trying to keep their identities a secret. Hosted by Queen of the Macabre, Claudia Winkleman, The Traitors is a dramatic slice of top-tier reality TV and few other reality game shows come close. I know this because I recently binge-watched what could loosely be dubbed the American version of The Traitors. I say loosely, because there's actually an official US version of The Traitors. No. This is a story about Million Dollar Secret. Netflix's feeble attempt at a Traitors-esque reality game show - which on all accounts - falls flat. The concept is the same. Contestants arrive at a château called The Stag, one of them is secretly chosen to be the millionaire and given a box with cold, hard cash, and then said contestant has to spend the entirety of the show keeping their identity a secret from the other players while they all compete in tasks and receive various advantages. As with The Traitors, the millionaire can change and also be caught and voted out. This is aided by the show's ever-helpful producers who give out clues so pointed and obvious, they may as well label the secret millionaire and draw a neon arrow on their clothes. Hosted in a rather sombre fashion by English actor and comedian Peter Serafinowicz, Million Dollar Secret feels like the on-sale version of The Traitors. The stakes just don't seem that high. The tasks don't feel that intense. And the contestants - well, they just don't seem like they're all that interested in participating in a reality game show. Half-hearted attempts at tasks that aren't too exciting to begin with (Remembering a few symbols and inputting them in a padlock? Slingshotting colour-filled balloons at a wall? Dropping song titles in conversation? Hugging everyone?) If this isn't enough to turn you off, it appears that none of the players actually want to be the secret millionaire in the first place. Every time a new millionaire is chosen, contestants confess to the camera just how badly they don't want to be burdened with the role. Everyone wants the cash handed to them towards the end, when the numbers have dwindled and the task of keeping one's identity a secret is much easier. Where's the fun in that? My biggest pet-peeve with Million Dollar Secret is how personally the contestants take the lying. It seems that no one read the rules of the game before appearing on the show, because how can you be mad at the millionaire for lying and keeping their identity a secret? It is literally the purpose of the game. This transparently shameless rip-off of The Traitors may have copied the format of the show, but it wasn't able to emulate the intense, gripping excitement, and quite frankly, the brains, of its British counterpart. And critics and audiences couldn't agree more. While one critic review said, "Million Dollar Secret is transparently, baldly, shamelessly The Traitors", another called it "a lazy, one-note ripoff of The Traitors". An X user (formerly Twitter) commented: "Million Dollar Secret on Netflix wants to be Traitors soooooo bad" and another wrote, "Million Dollar Secret is a very poor man's Traitors. Also, it's so badly one-sided against the person who has it with badly done games and clues."
Telegraph
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Million Dollar Secret, review: Netflix's traitorous new game show is proudly lacking in originality
Not since Aldi brought out its lookalike of Colin the Caterpillar has there been such a shameless knock-off as Million Dollar Secret (Netflix). A bunch of contestants are installed in a country pile. One of them is selected by the programme-makers to harbour a secret, and if they make it to the end of the series without being found out, they go home with the big cash prize. Each night, after completing an outdoor challenge, the contestants gather around the table to air their suspicions before voting to eliminate the person whom they believe to be lying. That person then reveals, with a dramatic flourish, whether they were faithful or traitorous. Sound familiar? Host Peter Serafinowicz is only a fright wig away from being the full Claudia Winkleman, hamming it up with what he calls a 'sinister geniality'. In episode two he even starts wearing tweed. He plays the maitre d' of The Stag, a lakefront hotel in Canada where the action takes place (yes, the Traitors castle also had a stag head on the wall). It looks a bit like the Vancouver Island mansion where Harry and Meghan holed up when they left Britain in their, ahem, bid for privacy. The 12 players check in and each find a box on their bed. Eleven boxes are empty but one contains a million dollars. The recipient must pretend that they don't have it; if they're rumbled, the money passes to someone else. Everyone says they don't want to get landed with the money early in the game because chances are that they'll lose it, but they don't get any say in the matter. At least some of the contestants are concealing an aspect of their identity. Sam is a New York City cop but doesn't want the others to know. Lydia wants to come across as a sweet grandma from Texas, but neglects to mention that she's also a professional poker player. There is a bit of posturing: Sydnee, a glamorous type in a pink bikini top, declares: 'I don't anticipate losing.' Sydnee, The Apprentice auditions are thataway. The first person handed the million is Lauren, a mumsy type from the Midwest. She says that she hates lying, which makes you wonder what kind of show she thought she was signing up for. But, what do you know, she turns out to be pretty good at it and is soon throwing other people under the bus. There is some fun to be had in watching her carry out mini-missions which she must complete without attracting suspicion, such as hugging everyone or inserting song titles into the conversation. Serafinowicz says, with as straight a face as this show allows, that Million Dollar Secret is 'a unique game'. Please. The setting is straight out of The Traitors. The soundtrack is uncannily like the music in The Traitors. The scenes of contestants in their hotel rooms could be taken from The Traitors. I won't be surprised if the final sees them standing around a fire pit with Serafinwicz dressed in a cape and wearing nude lipstick. Judged on its own merits, the show is entertaining enough and will probably be a big hit. But it gets zero marks for originality.
