Rev Neil Urquhart's look at hit show Celebrity Traitors

And off he skipped, banished from Ardross Castle leaving behind a mixture of excitement, joy, and faithfuls kicking themselves that they hadn’t managed to root him out earlier – feeling rather ‘faith-fool’!  

With the cash prize of up to £120,000 accumulated from successful missions going to the winners’ chosen charity rather than their own personal pockets, it does mean all the celebrities are quite nice to each other, which plays into the traitors’ purse.

The tension mounts towards the final episode on Thursday. Of course, it’s only a game, a cruel game at times, and for sure the celebrity traitors of Ross, Alan Carr and Cat Burns have been playing blinders by slipping under the radar!  

While up in the northeast on holiday last year I sneaked into The Traitors’ Ardross Castle grounds. I got a few photos and video clips of the castle from nearby trees for a 60 second sermon, but got hunted for my troubles, scarpering from a chasing lady on my gravel bike.  

Common to all versions of The Traitors’ series is how astonishingly and hilariously wrong everyone gets their conclusions on who the traitors are, thus banishing faithful after faithful.

So, while the traitors sow seeds of suspicion on the innocent, and deflect attention from themselves, the poor faithfuls sink in a sea of subjectivity, their views floundering on fickle feelings and gut instinct about their fellow contestants rather than objective convictions.

A bit like Joe Marler in the present series suspecting Jonathan Ross with his Big Dog theory, in Series 2, to his credit Jason (Jaz) was the only one to suspect the arch-traitor throughout, playing his cards close to his chest till the final scene.

Qualification for such sleuthing sense was that he knew that anyone and everyone is capable of betrayal. His own dad, whom he once idolised, revealed that he had another family as well as Jaz’s. Jaz knew that even the most convincing faithful could turn out to be a traitor.  

It is good that almost all exposed and banished traitors speak of a great relief that they can be themselves once again and how hard it was to be so two faced. From the comfort of our sofas we can view shows like ‘Traitors’ as ‘just a game’. But Jaz’s backstory is sobering, and a reminder of the damage daily deception and betrayal can wreak in our world.  

Think of Jesus spending two years with 12 faithfuls, one of which betrayed him to death (Judas), another major player Peter who denied he knew Jesus on the eve of his killing.

Remarkably Jesus knew who the faithfuls and traitors were and loved them all the same, ready to forgive and free them to rise above their faults and fears to shine with God’s Love, filled with Grace and Truth.  

It looks like David Olusoga holds the tipping point for victory and loss in Thursday’s final. Will traitors Alan and Cat or faithfuls Joe and Nick persuade David to join them and tip the balance. 

It seems impossible in literature to create and portray a believable ‘perfect person’. What makes characters more believable and interesting are their faults and failings along with their talents and strengths.

Yet I challenge you to read the Gospels (universally recognised as reliably passed down from original eye-witness authors) and ask, “Is this man Jesus who he claimed to be, God in human form?” or is he a ‘treacherous liar’ or ‘raving lunatic’ – ‘Mad, Bad, or God?’

The answer to this question can join us with myriad ‘faithfuls’ gone before and open the door to the loving faithfulness, forgiveness and fruitfulness we are made and designed for. Grateful to be a faithful!