RTÉ greenlights The Traitors Ireland

RTÉ has commissioned Kite Entertainment to produce an Irish version of global hit The Traitors. 

The Irish iteration will follow the UK’s format of casting 22 civilians, rather than celebrities, for the ultimate game of deception and trust with the chance to win up to €50,000 (£42,000). 

The contestants will arrive at a remote castle in Ireland where they will all work together on challenges to help grow the prize pot. But among them are the Traitors who will attempt to secretly murder a ‘Faithful’ player every night without alerting suspicion to their identity. Traitors can only leave the game if they are banished by their fellow contestants at the round table every evening.  

Faithfuls who survive to the end will share the prize pot – unless there is still an undetected traitor among them who will scoop it all for themselves.  

Kite Entertainment’s managing director Darren Smith revealed earlier this year that the indie was developing a local edition of the show. He noted at the time that Irish viewers would not be overly familiar with the format, due to many missing its linear transmission on BBC1 and not being able to watch on iPlayer due to geographic restrictions.    

The series was commissioned by Gráinne McAleer, commissioning editor for documentaries and series at RTÉ, and will be executive produced by Smith. Casting is currently underway with the series expected to TX on RTÉ and RTÉ Player in 2025. 

McAleer said: “We are delighted to bring this really ambitious and entertaining format to RTÉ’s audience, and we’re confident that we’ll get 22 brilliant contestants whose attempts to outwit and deceive each other will make for compulsive viewing. 

“This is an exciting show to cast, we want to hear from all kinds of people; those who can make friends and influence people, those who can lie and connive their way to the top and those who can plot their own unique path to victory. If you think you can outsmart and out-schmooze, this could well be for you.” 

Smith added: “We’ve been fans of the format since seeing the original Dutch version a few years ago and are delighted that RTÉ, All3Media International and IDTV are allowing us to produce the Irish version. We’ll do our best not to let them, and most importantly Irish viewers, down. Now, we’re off to get ourselves a beautiful castle, a great cast, some cloaks and a brilliant host.” 

The Traitors Ireland marks the 30th international adaptation of the format, since its launch on Dutch broadcaster RTL 4 in 2021, which was developed by All3Media label IDTV and RTL Creative Unit. Studio Lambert makes the UK and US editions of the show for BBC1 and Peacock, respectively. 

Kite has form in adapting formats for the local market; it produces Gogglebox Ireland for Virgin Media Television, Prime Video’s first Irish original LOL: Last One Laughing and is working on a local edition of The Assembly for Virgin Media TV.