Tara Ward recaps the first two episodes of season three of The Traitors NZ. Warning: contains spoilers. 

Mike is standing at the gates of hell. The Auckland bakery manager has volunteered to leave his vehicle and move towards a mysterious masked figure wearing a heavy dark cloak, where he will engage in one of the most high-stakes games of rock, paper, scissors in the history of television. The loser gets $5,000 – but is sent home immediately, banished before this traitorous game has even begun. Mike plays his hand. He chooses paper, and is sent to an early grave by a pair of blunt finger scissors. 

We’re only minutes into the new season of The Traitors NZ, and already the show has dropped a massive game-changer. Now poor Mike won’t get to sit at the Traitors round table, or compete to win $100,000, or meet the show’s new host Madeleine Sami. He won’t even get to lock eyes with the taxidermied possum perched high on a shelf in gothic Claremont Manor. Mike’s fate in this game – much like that possum – is stuffed. 

“What’s your name?” a player asks him. “Doesn’t matter,” Mike replies, trudging back to his car to begin the long, silent drive home. 

Welcome back to the cruel hand of death, and welcome back to The Traitors NZ. The third season of the reality competition burst back onto our screens this past weekend and quickly reminded us why it’s the best reality television we’ve ever made. There’s a lot resting on the success of this new season. The show received New Zealand on Air funding for the first time, which brings with it extra pressure and scrutiny, and in the two years since The Traitors NZ was last on our screens, audience expectations have been raised significantly by several near-perfect servings of The Traitors UK and Celebrity Traitors UK. 

But as Mike’s ruthless demise showed, The Traitors NZ is here to play. The first two episodes raised the bar to new heights, with 21 likeable strangers coming to Claremont Manor in Canterbury to lie, sabotage and kill their way to $100,000. This season, the players are clued up on strategy and they’re all motivated to win. They’re fizzing at the bung to cheat and scheme their way to that prize money, and they’re relishing the opportunity to step out of their ordinary lives and become someone else for a few precious weeks. 

There’s 51-year-old receptionist Jill, whose strategy is to play the “clueless old mum” to hide her true cunning and knowledge of the game. Award-winning children’s author Rachel is observant and perceptive and unafraid to speak up, while Dave may be familiar to reality TV fans who watched Treasure Island: Fans vs Faves. There are several teachers, an audio engineer, an athlete and a stay-at-home mum. This diverse mix of everyday New Zealanders is the show’s biggest strength, as youth pastors compete against HR consultants, and professional DJs try to persuade professors that they can be trusted and that they are, indeed, faithful. 

The twists keep coming, even after Mike hoons it back to Auckland. Each player is given a tiny wooden box which may contain a secret power: the choice to become a traitor. There’s an astonishing reveal in episode two that had me squealing with delight. And then there’s all the illuminating moments that reflect our society back at us, like the depressingly predictable first murder and a physical challenge that quietly reveals where the power in the game actually lies. The first round table is a delight, with clueless faithful assigning guilt based on whether someone either blinked too much, or didn’t blink at all.  

New host Sami is a worthy replacement for Paul Henry. She brings the ideal balance of theatrics and humour, and will no doubt relax into the role as the contest unfolds. She makes a farewell speech at Henry’s grave (and later tells the players, “Daddy’s gone, the drama’s about to begin”), she gleefully sends contestants into a giant pool of gunge, and she appears out of the darkness at the round table, resplendent in a dramatic gold shirt with big sleeves. Is this the best job in television? I think it might just be. 

But the greatest thing about The Traitors NZ is that it continues to know how ridiculous it is, and it’s having a great time making entertaining telly. Already, this feels like the game we already know and love, but with so many twists and turns, it also feels fresh and reborn. The Traitors NZ’s return bodes well for another season of deliciously deadly television, finger scissors and all. 

The Traitors NZ streams on ThreeNow, and screens on Three on Sundays and Mondays at 7.30pm.