Entertainment: celebrities, lies, intrigue: This is how the new “traitor” relay becomes

Sounds curious, but it is true: RTL and the Vatican currently have more in common than you might think. A new pope is being sought in Rome, which is why cardinals will soon disappear behind thick walls – into the so -called conclave. There is also a conclave at RTL – only it is not about divine inspiration, but about cold murder.

“The traitors – don’t trust anyone!” is the name of the show that goes to its third season on Tuesday (April 29, 8:15 p.m., RTL). Celebrities come together in the format in an obscure castle and try to throw themselves out of the game with intrigues. One method is actually the murder. But don’t worry: no valued celebrity life is really threatened. Only fictitious is murdered.

The first season ran in 2023, and in 2024 the reality crime thriller won the German television award. Accordingly, the expectations of the third season are similarly monumental as the setting, which can be classified somewhere between Agatha-Christie-Krimi and a light version of “Game of Thrones”.

Here it is explained what it is about – and what the protagonists say.

Anyone who has seen the previous relays will quickly find their way. If you don’t, you can imagine the show like a game night with celebrities and paranoia. Moderator Sonja Zietlow secretly selects several “traitors” from 16 innocent celebrities. Only the spectators and the traitors themselves know who the sinister task was transferred. The group has to find out who is a liar among them.

In secret meetings, the conclave, the traitors can eliminate their teammates. However, they have to be careful not to be easy. Because they too can be thrown out of the game if all candidates come together for a kind of general assembly and advise who they want to put in front of the castle gates. A silver treasure of 50,000 euros is the price.

Juliane Werding once sang the song “If you think you think, then you just think you think”. “The traitors” works in a similar way. You always have to anticipate whether the opposite thinks that you are a traitor yourself. Or whether it thinks I think it’s a traitor. Welcome to the brain node.

What the show also takes off: it somehow runs under the label “Reality TV”, but has little to do with the insignia of the genre – kept, foreign shame, wait for the first sex.

“It is also argued, but at a completely different level,” says moderator Sonja Zietlow (56) of the German Press Agency. The game is in the foreground. And you can quickly get to a point where you have to question your attitudes towards the protagonists. “Example: Joachim Llambi. Of course you think that he would be a good traitor,” says Zietlow. “But is he too? Or Motsi Mabuse. She is always so happy and a little bit. Of course you think: they can’t go wrong,” explains Zietlow. But is that true? Let’s see.

So you are in the middle of the celebrity troop, which this time goes into the nerve war. Among other things, RTL has committed the entire jury of his dance format “Let’s Dance”: in addition to Mabuse and Llambi, also Jorge González, who is known for his rather individually accentuated language, which is why one may believe that it could be particularly difficult to see through. The same applies to Timon Krause for other reasons. He is “mentalist” by profession and is therefore suspected of being able to crawl particularly well into foreign minds. Another striking personnel is Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, at least once soccer coaches.

Also present are moderator Charlotte Waldig, news moderator Jan Hofer, moderator Janin Ullmann, fashion influencer Joe Laschet, actor Ralf Bauer, singer Sandy Mölling, actor Wayne Carpendale and Tikk-Star Younes Zarou.

This is how the celebrities feel

Jan Hofer Fandelt visible with the new role – he used to present the “Tagesschau” highly Honorig, with “Die traitor” he should now lie, if necessary, work with fake news. That is really not his nature, he says the dpa. “Of course I am in a way controlled because I am used to having my facial expressions under control. But I’m not a good liar. I am not an intrigue. Bluffing is not my subject either.” After the broadcast, which has already been recorded, he also needed distance. “The game was quite stressful because reality and fiction blur,” he says.

Joe Laschet, fashionable son of ex-chancellor candidate Armin Laschet, brings political experience and Instagram flash. For him it was the first big television format ever. “I also took experience from politics into the game,” he says. “In the election campaign, I often got something – but actually it wasn’t aimed at me, but at my father or party.” Even as an influencer, it is often exposed to stupid sayings. “It is easy for me not to take it personally,” he says. With this attitude he also went to the show.

What is the relationship between the candidates today? “There were no open bills,” reveals Laschet. “But there was definitely a need for conversation!”