The latest season of The Traitors Australia has ended, with Traitors and Faithfuls finally unmasked. After twists and turns, drama and betrayal, one thing has stuck with me since the final aired: the last words of the OG Traitor Kirby Bentley.
This article contains spoilers for the final episode of The Traitors Australia.
While it has been a nail-biting five weeks of episodes airing on Channel Ten, for those competing, filming took place over just twelve days in New Zealand.
No wonder tensions were so high for the final four.
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We had two Traitors, Kirby and Rhys Nicholson, and two Faithfuls, Krissy Marsh and Keira Maguire. After the drama of the last episode, it seemed like Rhys and Kirby were done for, or at least one of them was.
Rhys had basically been a Traitor for a few days, unlike Kirby, who was picked from the very beginning. But in the previous night’s round table, Kirby picked Rhys, essentially unravelling her game.
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Hard truths and shaky alliances
After breakfast, the final four speak to each other individually before one last challenge to raise the prize pot. Kirby is very honest with Rhys, but when she says she still wants to try and be at the end with them, they’ve had enough.
Rhys is genuinely hurt and feels their banishment is a foregone conclusion, and it is all Kirby’s doing. Which they are right about. And Kirby owns that.
Kiera and Krissy are solid in their connection as Faithfuls, but are they sure there’s one or two Traitors left in the game? This gives the Traitors some room to maneuver, but not much.
After a mentally exhausting challenge (want the full breakdown, watch the episode), the final round table sees Rhys banished from the game. But they don’t get to reveal whether they were a Traitor or a Faithful, and no one is sure where anyone stands.
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At the firepit, Krissy, Kirby and Keira must decide whether they want to end the game or keep playing. Krissy says she wants to end the game. She is sure Keira is a Faithful, and if Kirby is a Traitor, she deserves the money for playing such a good game, and that is her undoing.
Keira and Kirby both want to play on, and because Krissy didn’t, she is banished by the other two.
With Kirby revealing to Keira that she has always been a Traitor, the game is done, and Kirby wins a prize pot of $200,600.
She has played an amazing game, but what she said next is what really stuck with me after the episode.
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‘We have to be two steps ahead because of who we are’
“It’s so good not to lie anymore,” Kirby said. “I just won The Traitors when I nearly got banished on day two, day three, day four, day five- all the days. I nearly got banished every single day.”
“Everything that I’ve done has definitely been worth it. This is massive not only for my family; this is massive for Aboriginal people, for women. That we can navigate through life regardless of what we’ve been through because we have to be two steps ahead because of who we are. Everything that I do is bigger than just me.”
These words rolled around in my head all night. I have privilege as a cis, white, gay man that others just don’t. So the way they must navigate the world is different.
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Kirby giving voice to the fact that the skills she used in the show are also ones that women and First Nations people have to use all the time is something so many of us would forget, because we are focusing on the reality TV game.
For Kirby to take that moment and say that is so powerful and an important reminder. It needs to have a louder voice in all spaces, not just on TV, so it becomes more than a talking point.
This thought has changed the way I look at the game and how every person played the game. It also reminded me of my chat with Kween Kong after she was the first contestant murdered.
You never know where people sit, so you need to protect yourself, but for some, that’s not about the game; it’s what they do daily.
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Diverse representation that teaches us so much
The beauty of The Traitors is that there really is no way to control how the game is going to go. Just when you think you have a handle on things, it can all flip in a moment.
Twenty-two famous faces entered the manor, but only one was left standing. Even with a diverse cast of celebrities, how things played out in the manor could have meant the show’s final four were very white, very male and very blonde. That’s the Aussie reality TV environment we are used to.
The Traitors AustraliaSource: Channel Ten
But what we had at the end was queer, non-binary, First Nations and female representation that took the elements of the game to a thought-provoking level.
The authenticity of Krissy and Keira, the way they honestly engaged with everyone about how they suspected them, was a powerful thing to witness. It is also a great life lesson that you don’t have to act a certain way to achieve things in this world.
The nature of the game meant deception, lies and betrayal. But the way Rhys and Kirby went about it, and showed how hard it was for them, was also powerful.
We often can’t control our circumstances, but how we play the game is up to us all. This season of the series was amazing, and will go down in Traitors’ history. But when you look beyond the game and reality TV tropes, it says something so much more.
The Traitors Australia is now streaming on 10Play.
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