A game show from two decades ago has re-emerged online and inevitably drawn comparisons to the current smash-hit .
Last month of the reality series hit screens, with Traitor Harry .
Although the series is based on the Dutch series De Verraders, which itself is styled on the party game Mafia, some have after a clip from an old BBC series was posted online.
Apart from the striking similarity in the fact its title was Traitor, the 2004 series has near-identical gameplay to the current show.
This week the Back the BBC Twitter account posted a YouTube video of the show, which was hosted by presenter Tony Livesey.
In it, contestants sat in a circle to then try and figure out who the dishonest ‘traitors’ were to win a cash prize.
‘Extraordinary find here. BBC actually first aired a version of #TheTraitors in 2004. And it’s brilliant,’ the account captioned the post.
A synopsis from the show from the time explained how it all worked :’The first of a nightly psychological elimination game show in which nine contestants must work out which of them has turned traitor in order to win £5,000. All claim to be telling the truth, but two are lying. Can they be spotted?’
However, the series only ever ran for five episodes.
One of the former contestants, Pete Liggins, commented on X that the show was being considered as a replacement for The Weakest Link in the late afternoon slot.
But, he added, ‘I guess cost too much/was too complicated a production in comparison.’
Traitor, which can be watched in full on, didn’t feature any outdoor challenges like the current series, while the contestants were also all replaced each episode rather than staying the same throughout the series.
Audiences were also given the option to stay in the dark about the identity of the traitors and were told to look away from the TV if they didn’t want to find out.
Since De Verraders launched in 2021, the series has been remade internationally in 23 other countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Other countries to have picked up the format include Denmark, Greece and Poland.
The Traitors UK, US and Australia are streaming on BBC iPlayer.
