As viewers waited patiently for a new Traitor to be unveiled, it didn’t come as a surprise when another man was unmasked as the newest recruit.
Now with the final in sight, the programme has been hit with multiple ‘women problems’ after the three favourites to win the BBC show have also been revealed as men.
With more than four million nightly viewers, The Traitors is already one of the most successful television shows of the year.
Last week, viewers noticed more than one problem with the psychological murder mystery – it’s always women who get murdered and men who do the murdering.
Despite its popularity, the show has become embroiled in a sexism row as it nears its dramatic finale on Friday, with even host Claudia Winkleman, 52, pointing out the problem during an episode.
With The Traitors’ final in sight, the programme has been hit with multiple ‘women problems’ after the three favourites to win the BBC show have also been revealed as men (pictured Harry)
![Jasmine Boatswaine (pictured), 26, is 4/6 to be banished next while Mollie Pearce, 21, is 5/1 second favourite to be murdered](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/23/14/80360103-12996445-image-a-129_1706021229914.jpg)
Jasmine Boatswaine (pictured), 26, is 4/6 to be banished next while Mollie Pearce, 21, is 5/1 second favourite to be murdered
Two men – Paul Gorton, 36, and Harry Clarke, 22 – and one woman – Ash Bibi, 45 – were initially chosen to be ‘traitors’ out of the 22-strong line-up in the first episode.
Ash was the first traitor to be ‘banished’ after being thrown under the bus by her teammates and they proceeded to recruit three more men: Miles Asteri, 36, Andrew Jenkins, 45, and Ross Carson, 28.
After Ross was chosen to be a ‘traitor’ in the most recent episode, Claudia quipped: ‘Another man. Good, it’s like the olden days.’
The ‘traitors’ laughed, with Harry defending their decision as ‘strategic’ and just good ‘tactics.’
On Monday night, odds were revealed that the show’s favourites to win are also men.
Harry is the 4/6 favourite with odds to be the last Traitor standing whilst Ross is 2/1 and Andrew, 5/1.
Two women are favourites with fans to next leave the show too.
Jasmine Boatswaine, 26, is 4/6 to be banished next while Mollie Pearce, 21, is 5/1 second favourite to be murdered.
It isn’t just the ‘traitor’s’ decision to bring in men to their team which has been raising eyebrows, it’s also their decision to pick off the women in their nightly ‘murders’.
![Despite its popularity, the show has become embroiled in a sexism row as it nears its dramatic finale on Friday, with even host Claudia Winkleman , 52, pointing out the problem](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/23/14/80360141-12996445-image-a-130_1706021296404.jpg)
Despite its popularity, the show has become embroiled in a sexism row as it nears its dramatic finale on Friday, with even host Claudia Winkleman , 52, pointing out the problem
![After Ross was chosen to be a 'traitor' in the most recent episode, Claudia quipped: 'Another man. Good, it's like the olden days'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/23/14/80360265-12996445-image-a-132_1706021593077.jpg)
After Ross was chosen to be a ‘traitor’ in the most recent episode, Claudia quipped: ‘Another man. Good, it’s like the olden days’
While male Aubrey Emerson, 67, was the first person for the chop, he was then followed by Kyra Johnson, 21, Meg Corrick, 22, Tracey Griffin, 58, and Diane Carson, 63.
Male contestants have avoided being ‘murdered’ although many of them have been ‘banished’ at the nightly roundtables, where the others can try and decide who is a ‘traitor’ and oust them from the competition.
Claudia has said she found the statistic ‘problematic’ and was aware the older women in the competition didn’t make it to the end.
‘I would like to sit down and have quite a few conversations about it,’ she said on BBC Radio 4’s Women’s Hour last week.
‘I don’t want to say anything because what if people haven’t watched? I mean, lots of people haven’t and they’re listening now and they go “oh, this sounds all right” so I’m not going to say any names, but yeah, it’s problematic.’
She added: ‘But then you’ll carry on watching and you will see. And that is all I can say.’
Paul, who was finally banished last week after becoming the head ‘traitor’ and has been criticised for his Machiavellian tactics, has insisted he didn’t purposefully target anyone because of their gender.
He said it was a ‘compliment’ to be murdered as it means you are a strong player and a threat and that gender ‘doesn’t even cross your mind’ when you’re playing the game.
‘We didn’t go into any depth at all over gender or age. A lot of people were older,’ he told MailOnline.
![Ash was the first traitor to be 'banished' after being thrown under the bus by her teammates](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/23/14/80360255-12996445-image-a-134_1706021616146.jpg)
Ash was the first traitor to be ‘banished’ after being thrown under the bus by her teammates
‘We got rid of the people that we thought were the strongest and biggest threat.
‘There was no other depth to it… it was pure game play… it is a compliment if you got killed because you were too strong.
‘It is almost an insult for people to keep you in because you are not a threat and almost a pawn in the game. The strongest people we had to banish or murder, it is a compliment if anything.’
But some viewers were quick to note that there were sexist undertones to the series, with women cast as the victims and the men as the aggressors.
‘Glad Claudia took a jab about them recruiting another man considering they’ve only murdered women besides Aubrey, only recruited men and the only female traitor was first to be thrown under the bus. It does appear rather sexist at this point,’ one person wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Another wrote: ‘The Traitors most sexist setup. The women are getting murdered and the men are getting recruited as traitors.’
The back-stabbing game of wits sees the ‘traitors’ attempt to secretly ‘murder’ one of the ‘faithfuls’ every night without being detected, while they try to deduce who is being duplicitous.
The Traitors continues on BBC One on Wednesday at 9pm.