Matthew’s masterplan on Traitors could ‘backfire’ claims game theory expert

The Traitors star Matthew Hyndman’s bold bid to become a member of the hooded brigade could spell his end on the BBC series, according to a game theory expert.

The 35-year-old creative director, who has revealed how a church tried to ‘cure’ him of being gay, won the opportunity to put a series of questions to the Traitors in last week’s episode along with Harriet and Rachel, who is a Traitor herself.

Ready and poised to reveal his power play, Matthew began by asking the Traitors who they planned to kill next.

After suggesting that they murder their target, Jessie, he then told the Traitors that he wanted them to seduce him later.

However, according to game theorist Dante Kalise, the Faithful’s move could potentially ‘backfire’.

Speaking to Metro, Dante – who is an associate professor in optimisation and control at Imperial College – said: ‘Whether you want to be a traitor from the very beginning, or shift halfway, I think shifting halfway could be convenient in the more advanced game, as you have built some trust.

‘If you have been consistent so far, it’s probably difficult to identify… [but] what can backfire for some converted Traitors is that if they have been making consistent decisions, and being a Traitor makes them shift that decision pattern, so they become instantaneously unreliable.

‘That’s a big no for everyone in the late game. If you have been voting in a way for a number of weeks, and then suddenly you change your pattern overnight without a good reason.

‘You can change your patterns unless you are very open and explicit on why are you changing your decisions, and this is somewhat consistent, but if it’s not, it’s extremely revealing.’

Discussing last year’s Celebrity Traitors series, Dante explained that a similar thing happened with Nick Mohammed, who changed his consistent pattern, and it ‘backfired’.

‘Shifting patterns, revealing secrets or people hiding their occupation, this late will backfire when they reveal this, if they have to,’ Dante added.

‘Regardless of whether they are traitors or faithful, people are going to interpret this as a lack of breach of trust, and this is the psychological dimension of this.

‘This game is based on trust and signals that you send to the other people. This cannot be modelled mathematically, like, in a perfect way, but it’s clear that it has some important effects.’

Asked what the perfect tactic is to win The Traitors, the game theory expert said that the first week ‘should just be chaos, not giving any signal on who that person could be,’ but then after that, ‘rational decisions’ need to be made.

Speaking exclusively to Metro, murdered Faithful Reece Ward and banished Traitor Fiona Hughes alternatively argued that Matthew might have backed the Traitors into a corner.

Sweet shop assistant Reece supported Matthew’s move, while banished Traitor Fiona described him as a ‘strong character’ who had played a ‘wonderful game.’

The Traitors returns to BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 8pm on Wednesday.

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