When The Inheritance aired on Channel 4, I was pretty dead set against watching it.
After all, every preview said it was simply another version of The Traitors – and as a fan of that programme, I should have been on board.
But I was disappointed – and judging from viewers’ reaction – I wasn’t the only one.
The new show from Studio Lambert (the producers behind the Claudia Winkleman-fronted reality series) has a… suitably dramatic premise.
There might not be any black cloaks, but it features a fabulously rich benefactor played by Elizabeth Hurley, who dies (becoming known as The Deceased), then entrusts the Executor (aka Rob Rinder) to bestow her vast fortune on the most worthy contestant.
Thus, 13 hopefuls enter a stately home where, through a series of challenges and passionate pleas, they must convince the others that they deserve to go home with the final fortune.
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Channel 4 promises a ‘game of wit, willpower, persuasion, and betrayal’ with plenty of twists and turns along the way.
Despite having everything going for it, from star-studded talent to juicy contestant dynamics, the show’s premiere averaged 540,000 viewers – one of the poorest reality TV show launches in Channel 4 history. Things got even worse on Monday, with the show shedding 100,000 viewers from the first episode.
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And I’m not surprised.
Now, I love a game of strategy as much as the next person.
As someone who was tired of the constant output of reality romance shows, when The Traitors first hit screens, I, like most of the nation, was utterly enthralled and found it a refreshing change of pace on TV that seemed to be exactly what audiences were looking for.
Metro columnist Adam Miller shares his four-star review of The Inheritance
Between the conventional ‘heroes and villains,’ almost all of the cast are genuinely funny. In just one episode, there are endless one-liners, and when battle lines are drawn, the verbal blows shouted across the stately home are simply gold.
The Inheritance is the closest contender in the last four years to be held in the same esteem as The Traitors—and even manages to resolve my only gripe with Claudia Winkleman’s juggernaut.
The opening episodes of The Traitors – or even Big Brother – are always, without fail, infuriating because the best characters get picked off too soon.
The show doesn’t cull anyone—at least not in the beginning—and the most unhinged personalities get their chance to wreak the havoc they were recruited for before they’re cut, long after we’re done with them.
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A smart, involved show that rewarded close viewing and gave you something to chat about in the office and with friends.
It was a show with chaotic members of the general public getting into absolutely bonkers shenanigans and a high-stakes premise that you could really get behind (all hosted by the inimitable Claudia Winkleman, of course) – who is the titular snake in the grass.
The sustained popularity of the show, bringing in over 10 million viewers last season, has proven that viewers are desperate to see these types of series on screen.
It has spawned a million memes, a celebrity spin-off, and even a live show.
But it works because it is the original, the one-of-a-kind accept no imitations show. And there seem to be plenty of imitations.
It feels like now every network is attempting to recreate their own ‘Traitors effect’ (even the BBC itself with the recent Destination X) and encouraging, rather than shutting down, any attempts to talk up similarities.
Seriously, if the comparison isn’t being pushed by the network itself, then viewers and critics are happily calling everything they come across ‘the next Traitors.’
But, as the meme goes, we have the Traitors at home.
If we look at reaction to The Inheritance, one X user Andrew Wharrier called it ‘a bit of a copy cat’, Super TV said it was ‘Traitors with slightly longer challenges’ and Cam called it a Traitors ‘rip-off’.
Meanwhile, the show itself certainly does have many parallels, including the elaborate estate that it’s set on (it’s giving Scottish highlands), the time-pressured challenges that secure the group money and the final deliberations where contestants must plead their case for the day’s jackpot.
Instead of trying to convince their fellow castmates that they are not traitors, they are vying for the money they won during the challenges that day. In fact, for me, the only notable difference seemed to be that the contestants aren’t trying to root out the double agents.
In order to make up for this missing element, the physical and mental games they must overcome take up more screentime, which is a shame, as that was my least favourite element of The Traitors anyway. I’m much more interested in psychological warfare.
This is not to say that there aren’t compelling aspects of the show. I think the premise has some potential, and I even enjoyed the Traitors-esque debate at the end of the first episode as they argued amongst themselves about who had worked the hardest.
Yet, in a landscape more and more populated by Traitors copycats, it was never going to be enough to break through. For me, what made The Traitors so enthralling is that, on British TV anyway, it felt like a breath of fresh air.
If TV networks want to see this same success, it’s not about replicating the show, whether in concept or aesthetic, but instead bringing something fresh to the genre that is special for how it stands apart from The Traitors. That becomes the next big cultural behemoth, not a poor imitation of one.
So the next time I see a ‘new’ strategy reality show on screen, I hope it’s as far away from The Traitors as possible.
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