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THOSE who watched the recent series Celebrity Traitors on BBC will know what I am talking about, but for those who didn't, here is a recap of this reality show with a difference. 19 celebrities played a psychological game while residing in a castle in Scot- land, in which three 'Traitors' were se- cretly selected, who had to eliminate the 'Faithful' players without being discovered. Each evening a faithful was 'murdered' in secret by the traitors, and the next day the group voted to banish someone they suspected to be a traitor. What the contestants experienced over several weeks was a fascinating ex- periment in mind games, betrayal and deceit—and the way people can so easi- ly influence one another on who to vote off. Even those who were previously sure of their vote, ended up caving in and going with the flow, not trusting their instincts but giving in to peer pressure. The audience at home (who were privy to who the Traitors were) often could not believe how off track the participants were week after week, wrongly voting off faithfuls instead of traitors. I imagined the whole of the UK (and those of us watching in Mal- ta) emitting collective groans as viewers face palmed in unison. This was another significant aspect of this reality show because it was not something you could stream and binge watch, but you had to wait week after tantalising week to see the next episode, making it a shared viewing experience in real time, which is becoming more and more of a rarity. In fact, discussing what happened the next day was part of the fun. Most of all, however, the show dis- played just how the concept of group think can often overtake a nucleus of people who are in close proximity to one another over a period of time. What does this have to do with the price of eggs, I can hear you asking. Well, I couldn't help but draw parallels with the way groups of people are often swayed to think one way or another on current issues, if there is someone loud- ly persuasive and manipulative enough in their midst. You just need to substitute being in the close confines of the castle for being in the close confines of your own social media algorithms and voila'… much group think ensues. One can see this happening all the time, most recently this week when the mistaken (for want of a better word) claim started circulating that it is be- cause we joined the EU that Malta has been flooded with Third Country Na- tionals (i.e. non-EU). You would think that the clue would be in the name, but no matter how much common sense and logic were being used to dissuade this belief, once it was out there, it just mushroomed and enough people were convinced for it to be quoted as 'fact'. Despite the evidence staring everyone in the face (that the numbers exploded post-2013, i.e. after the Labour Party was elected when it embarked on its current economic model which relies heavily on a foreign workforce) there were still those who maintained with a firm conviction that nope, it's the EU which did it. It reminded me of how the evidence of a smirking, giggling Alan Carr being a traitor was so blatantly obvious, and yet some of the participants kept shak- ing their heads, muttering no, it CAN'T be! Not Alan! With this seed of doubt planted in almost everyone's brain, they pulled the rest of the others along with them in this belief, and guess who won the show and had the last laugh? Yep, you guessed it, Alan Carr. Unfortunately, in real life, when we are having to deal with the very real problems which a lack of foresight and forward thinking has lumped us with—resulting in uncontrolled overpopulation—not many are having the last laugh. Except perhaps those who have become rich overnight due to this policy. The figures don't lie however; I guess it all depends if one wants to base their opinion on what is factual rather than what someone has conjured up because it suits their narra- tive and agenda. The cherry on the cake was seeing a FB poll asking whether we should leave the EU, and more people joined the fray against the European Un- ion. God give me strength. And isn't it ironic that the same party which used to scare voters about voting yes for EU membership because Malta would be over-run by an influx of for- eigners, has now turned around and drowned this speck of an island NOT with EU nationals (who won't work for minimum wage) but with TCNs who are desperate for any job and can only afford to rent beds rather than a whole apartment. It is also pretty useless to keep complaining (as so many do) if we do not face the truth about who is to blame for the current situation and hold them accountable. The last survey, in fact, pretty much reveals that trouble is brewing for the Labour government as it is now only leading by 7,600 votes. It is clear that no amount of tax rebate cheques in the mail or new tax bands for parents will compensate for the issues which hit us smack in the face every day. No one has articulated this better than political pundit Wayne Flask in one of his recent FB posts: "Construction, traf- fic, overpopulation: The two parties are careful not to speak about these issues in public, because no one wants to in- troduce a solution for them… I think rather than tax cuts, many families in our country want to go back to the pre- vious quiet lifestyle they enjoyed up to a few years ago, once there is enough employment for everyone, and they do not want to keep losing their spaces to money laundering and the egoism of the business class, especially the new one which we had never heard about prior to 2015." Basically, the choice which lies before us is whether we would rather keep sac- rificing our country to the altar of mon- ey or whether we want to slam on the brakes. We can have more streams of low paid workers from third countries applying for work visas to fill the staff shortages of yet another shopping mall or we can apply pressure on THIS ad- ministration to simply… stop. And please, let's not keep allowing ourselves to be swept away by more misguided group think (and falling in- to the Brexit trap) by using the EU as a scapegoat—for once, let's be honest and call out the real traitors. The show displayed just how the concept of group think can often overtake a nucleus of people who are in close proximity to one another over a period of time. 3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 NOVEMBER 2025 OPINION What Celebrity Traitors can teach us about group think and human behaviour What the contestants experienced over several weeks was a fascinating experiment in mind games, betrayal and deceit Josanne Cassar She has worked in the field of communications and journalism for the last 30 years