In the hit TV reality show, as in life, we like to think we are autonomous. In fact, we follow the herd

What explains the stupendous success of The Traitors? More than 9 million people tuned in to the first episode of this, its third season, and last week it overtook Strictly Come Dancing to become the BBC’s most watched reality show. With this sort of trajectory, I’m afraid we must prepare for thousands of imitators to follow in its wake. So what should they be trying to do?

Part of the attraction of the show is its host, Claudia Winkleman, who presides over the setting – a luscious castle in Scotland – in the manner of a campy gothic headmistress: talking softly to owls, ruthlessly ordering contestants into coffins and gunge, and all the while managing to navigate the set through the tiny sliver of daylight between low fringe and high roll-necked jumper.