The Most Interesting Strategic Moments in Competitive Reality TV in 2024

It was a year of huge moments and big blindsides on our favorite shows. Here are ten of the most interesting and what made them special.

Traitors US 2 - “One Final Hurdle”

The great thing about new competition reality shows is that the strategy evolves. In the finale of Traitors 2, CT and Trishelle broke MJ’s heart. CT, Trishelle, and MJ were left at the end of the game. CT and Trishelle both decided to keep banishing players. Trishelle was weary of CT and CT wanted to split the pot with her. They knew that MJ was 100% not a traitor. After a 1-1-1 tie, CT convinced Trishelle to actually vote MJ out, even though they both knew that she was definitely faithful. The devious faithfuls split the prize money and sent a very pissed off MJ home with nothing. Traitors strategy is evolving every season and MJ was the unfortunate victim.

Big Brother Canada 12 - Episode 26/Victoria’s Nomination and Eviction

BBCAN’s final season had some big moments, although none was as huge as its two returnees having one of the biggest fights of the year at the final five, a typically boring round of gameplay. Anthony and Spicy V were these two powerful forces in the game, constantly playing around each other and playing together (*like a different dimension of Feras/Kirby). It ended with an explosive fight and shattered glass as Spicy V’s game came to an end. Pre-existing relationships can be damaging to a season, although sometimes they lead to moments of elevated emotion that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.

Survivor AU: Titans v Rebels - “The Best Actor Reward”

It’s hard to pick a single moment from one of the most ridiculous Survivor seasons ever featuring the all-time great Feras/Kirby dynamic. Titans v Rebels had shifting loyalties, great gameplay, bad gameplay, and full-on-chaos. The Valeria blindside was everything that Survivor Australia does well: campy, silly, and overly dramatic with signature performances from Feras and Raymond. Raymond wanted to boost his resume and he and Feras schemed to use Raymond’s Ultimate Vote Advantage (which is basically an idol that only works if everyone else votes for you) to take out Valeria. Raymond could pull this off because he had established himself as a total goof through the first 37 days of the game which goes to show how important perception is in Survivor. He took advantage of how others were seeing him and it made for great TV.

Survivor 46 - “Spicy Jeff”, “Run the Red Light”, “My Messy Sweet Little Friend”, “Mamma Bear”

The greatness that was Survivor 46 has been forgotten too soon. These people were crazy and unpredictable and if you like mess, this was a heck of a season, including a four episode run where Hunter, Tiff, Venus, and Q were all voted out while holding idols. It is confounding that that happened four times in a row and it’s going to be something that changes the meta again. The memory of all of these players leaving with idols in their pockets will prompt more players to play what they have while they have it.

The Circle 6 - “It’s Giving Sus”

There is an inherent need to people-please in a lot of these games, so when someone does what they want, it’s endearing. QT and Jordan went head-to-head and could not get on the same page about who to block. QT left the influencer chat and did what she wanted to do, which led to some heat between them. Normalize making the self-interested, unilateral move to try to win the game you’re playing!

Big Brother 26 - Episode 24/Joseph’s Eviction

The AI Arena made BB26’s eviction episodes must watches. In the final arena, Rubina won safety and Joseph and Kimo were left on the block. Joseph then left in a 4-3 vote where Angela apologized to Kimo for not being able to save him while Makensy changed her vote IN THE DR. Makensy actively thinking about whether to evict Joseph or Kimo made for amazing TV and it wouldn’t have happened without the AI Arena. Big Brother eviction episodes can often be slow for those plugged into the season and into the feeds; this episode was one of the best eviction nights in recent memory, casuals and feedsters alike.

The Mole Season 2 - Episodes 4 and 5

Sometimes we get too fancy with strategizing on these shows and that’s what happened on this season of The Mole. In episode 4, players were offered a movie night that would give them more info on who was the mole. Every single player except Q took the opportunity. He was blindsided by this - and also may have made himself the most obvious non-mole ever. In episode 5, Neesh bid the entire pot for an exemption, which is hilarious and kind of annoying. Netflix was probably thrilled that their players became such self-destructive gamebots that they would empty the pot without much pushing. This created entire ebbs and flows of gameplay where a more strategic player like Muna started just playing a straightforward game because too many players were getting too cute with their strategies.

Traitors: Canada 2 - “Tensions Rising”

Neda put on a masterclass of playing innocent to the faithfuls, pitting them against each other, and making the cutthroat moves she had to make to win the game. The biggest move was taking out fellow traitor, Kyra. No one was aware that Kyra’s faithful brother, Nick, was in the game and that he all but knew that his sister was a traitor. This made life hard for Neda, who even admitted that she was happy to split the pot with the other traitors if they played nice. Traitors moves fast, so when Neda realized that Kyra wasn’t on her side, she took swift action and in this one episode, Neda played, to quote her, the “I’m just a little girl” card to the other faithfuls, and took Kyra out in a matter of hours. This opened up the door to finally murder Nick, who Kyra had been protecting, and cleared the path to a W. Neda wrote the textbook on how to play an under-the-radar game as a traitor and if you’re playing this game without a big target on your back going in, study Neda.

Survivor 47 - “Operation: Italy”

Operation: Italy has to be included here. The planning, editing, and story made for one of the best Survivor episodes of the year, and maybe of all time. While this move has been dissected to death, one thing that stands out is that Caroline, its victim, was playing an excellent game. She was well-insulated, had solid allies, and if Rachel hadn’t won immunity in that round, Caroline might be our winner instead. Part of Operation: Italy is understanding the edit. From exit press, we heard that Andy, Genevieve, and Sam all had their different approaches and reasoning for the move. We didn’t get all of that, but we especially didn’t get Caroline built up as the true threat that she was. She nailed the structures necessary to make a run in the New Era and a little bit of bad luck, good competition, and strategic machinations sent her packing.

House of Villains - “Heavy is the Head that Wears the Crown”

After Mr. Pectacular and Wes got into it in the penultimate episode, it only made sense that their rivalry would come to a head in the finale. Jessie made Wes get on his knees and beg for his vote, and then Jessie betrayed him and gave Safaree the win. The thing about House of Villains is it really doesn’t take itself too seriously. This was an epic, old-school reality TV moment and we can only wish for more excessive and embarrassing drama in 2025.

Thanks for reading The Confessional this year. We can’t wait for 2025!!

-The Confessional (Rob, Kevin, and Team)

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