The Traitors viewers praise 'the best TV show I have ever seen' after dramatic finale

Viewers of BBC reality show The Traitors have declared it to be "the best TV show I have ever seen" in the wake of Thursday night's spectacular final episode.

The series followed a group of strangers living together in a Scottish castle — secretly split between "faithfuls" and "traitors" — with the latter group able to eliminate members of the former via nightly murders.

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Faithfuls had the opportunity to fight back during the tense daily Round Table meetings, in which they attempted to sniff out and "banish" the traitors.

On Thursday night, millions tuned in to watch faithful contestants Meryl, Hannah and Aaron oust the final remaining traitors in order to share the £101,050 prize fund.

Many of those viewers praised the show on social media, with numerous famous faces among those reacting to the twists and turns.

Comedian Ed Gamble lauded presenter Claudia Winkleman and declared The Traitors to be "a genuinely outstanding piece of television".

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Meanwhile, Inside No. 9 co-creator Steve Pemberton confessed he was too busy catching up on the show to enjoy the reactions to his own Christmas special, which also aired on Thursday.

TV critics also got in on the act, with Boyd Hilton writing the show "couldn’t have been better if it had been scripted by Agatha Christie and directed by Alfred Hitchcock", while Scott Bryan called the dramatic final 30 minutes "some of the best television I have seen all year".

Influencer and presenter Jack Remmington went one step further, calling The Traitors "the best TV show I have ever seen" and adding that "there’s no point in making any more telly ever again after this".

It wasn't all positivity, though, with actor David Hunter noting that some of the contestants were being hit with online abuse due to their roles in the game.

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He tweeted: "A gentle reminder that The Traitors is a gameshow and none of its contestants deserve an online battering just for PLAYING it.

"So unless you think it’s reasonable to tag your Auntie June and call her a f#cking snake after a game of Monopoly, I’d rein it in a touch."

The Traitors borrows its format from the 2021 Dutch series De Verraders — aka The Traitors — and there have been further international versions in countries including Australia, France and Russia.

An American edition of the show is set to hit TV screens in 2023 via Peacock, fronted by X-Men actor Alan Cumming.

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Naturally, given the success of the show in the UK, reports are swirling around of a potential second series, with rumours suggesting that a deal may already have been done between the BBC and Studio Lambert.

All episodes of The Traitors are available to view on BBC iPlayer.

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