The Case for Localisation: Traitors Ireland

The Irish version of anything doesn’t exactly imbue confidence. A quick flashback to The Apprentice Ireland is enough to put a stop to anything like it. When Traitors Ireland was announced people were delighted because the Traitors UK was over and people were looking for something to fill the void, but no one at all thought it would be as successful as it has come to be.

Traitors Ireland has taken the country by storm, in a way that hasn’t happened for Irish television since the days of Love/Hate and Normal People. We’re a small nation on the periphery of Europe, and our malleable propensity to ingest cultures that are not our own is endless. So we are very acquainted with putting up with output from other countries in the English-speaking world, because let’s be honest for a long time it was better. But with the right producers, budget, casting and many other factors, you can tap into a latent, subconscious need for television localisation.

Certain behaviour is just so unique to Ireland and is very evident in the show. For starters we’re very astute, almost to a fault. As Irish people, our survival instincts depend on that propensity to figure people out and spot when something is out of the ordinary and goes back to days of old peering out windows and looking over fences. We can’t help ourselves, we’re nosy and that is emblazoned across the screen.

So what’s the difference between the UK traitors and the Irish one? Well there’s an awful lot of slagging first of all. “Jesus!” a faithful said when he saw a new arrival with a shield ready give to a fellow player surrounded by women “this won’t last John, I’ll tell ya!” He says. People are being called out left right and centre. We are also just not an earnest nation, and even the seemingly simple challenge of players explaining why they were trustworthy proved to be more exhausting than any of the physical challenges. We don’t like bigging ourselves up, because we know well we would be torn down for it. Maybe that explains the characters we have left in the final, 5 low key down to earth players, having banished the loud and suspicious ones long ago.

Then there’s the unique aspect of the sheer smallness of the country. And it is true when two Irish people meet they have about a minute to find someone in common they both know or they will spontaneously combust. One of the contestants said he was from an obscure part of Cork to conceal he (and his Daddy) were from Limerick, and sure didn’t another contestant know not only the exact town and the latest commercial developments, but the status of the pub on the main road. You could be caught out in seconds in your lie because the country is so small, but people are quick here.

“They’re murdering people from Cork” Christine-from-Cork says. “I don’t think that’s a pattern,” another faithful pointed out. Something in our cultural psyche suits this game, beyond the typical curiosity of a reality TV show in that you could put yourself in the contestants shoes, none is so easy to do than Traitors, especially the Irish one. It is a feather in RTE’s hat, having truly tapped into a national nerve, you just need to put money where your mouth is. True, high quality localisation in television that faithfully reflects the market will never betray you.