The Trust: La méfiance est de mise

The show concept really intrigued me. Had the contestants, the females, been more logical instead of emotional this show would have been one of the best shows I've ever watched on netflix.

With the exception of Simone and Winnie, the women casted were awfu, Tolu by far was the WORSE. It was sad to see a grandmother use a word like misogynist not understanding what it truly means. She accused that man of hating women for playing a game and making a decision based on logic and not feelings.

As a woman their behavior infuriated me. If this is renewed for season 2 I hope they do better casting of the women and have them do psychological tests. They seemed very unhinged. Again, especially Tolu.

What even is this? If this is all genuine and not a horrible script, then many of the contestants are just miserable, reactionary people. The premise is great and interesting, but many of the contestants' actions are nonsensical and annoying.

I don't know if it's edited weirdly or what, but I just don't understand all the rage and "fierce" dialogues in the second episode.

At this point, if someone coughs the wrong way, a certain group of high school bully is going to turn that into a court case, invoke a history lesson on how a cough destroyed Rome, and bully the person who coughed into the ocean.

It's a reality show, so I don't expect much, but I felt like this broke my suspension of disbelief a lot.

If you like other reality shows such as The Traitors, Survivor, The Mole...etc then you may like this show a bit, but be warned the cast isn't that great. The whole premise of this show is that everyone is a winner, and whomever gets to the end gets to split a $250,000 prize. The catch though is that if you chose to vote someone out that means that everyone's cut of the prize goes up due to there now being less people. Also There are things that happen along the way in which the cast can raise the total amount of money or keep more for themselves.

So you're thinking to yourself that sounds like it could make for a great show, but sadly you would be wrong and it all has to do with the cast. Most of the men in the cast act like they have a moral high ground and want to just go to the end with everyone. While most of the women want to get people out so they get a bigger cut of the money. Also none of them are all that interesting character wise. At no point did I ever find myself rooting for anyone. So if you like reality TV shows and you are really really bored you could check this one out, but don't expect anything great out of it whatsoever.

This show is as well as being an interesting reality format an insight into the self belief that some people have that the world owes them something. And often that is through victimhood.

As a format, the show is intriguing. Clearly riding on the Traitors, but in some ways I find this more interesting as power is very asymmetrical and can be wielded at any time. When it should be wielded, how it should be wielded, who you trust with your decision-making all play a part. The producers are really good at introducing games too which then upset the dynamics, or force things to be revealed and upset the applecart.

As a format to look into power dynamics, it's very intersting and quite addictive.

The contestants, well where to start. This is what will drag down the score for many. I am very curious as to why the producers clearly went for a gender dynamic that has really toxic women, and really quite nice men. They seem to have gone out of their way to get dynamic, to the point where the men come across as unrealistically reasonable, and modern and caring and every woman has an issue. That has to be deliberate.

What worries me is that it will fuel misogyny as it shows a really skewed dynamic between genders.

But we have people like Tolú who weaponises racial matters. She says being African is her identity, wears African colours, wears earings in the shape of Africa, wears a neckale in the shape of Africa that says "Africa" then bullies someone she reduces to "a straight white man" into submission because he referred to her by calling her African.

Lindsay who is what I suspect Americans would call a Karen. Her hostility, her tone, is toxic. She shouts even at the camera. Shouting is her one level and you can imagine you'd park too close to her car and she'd rant at you for 20 minutes. You know the energy from her straight away.

Julie who basically says because she had a tough time in life can basically do whatever she wants because she deserves it and others don't. It's scary seeing the self-justification that goes on to be cruel to others.

And it goes on.

But there are interesting nuances. I find myself at times like Tolú despite her very toxic way at keeping everyone in line through fear. Julie as time goes on you get to understand a bit more, and the dynamics that she's torn between. Nothing is truly black and white and seeing the other contestants grapple with these dynamics is what makes it interesting.

I wish they had a slightly balanced the cast a bit more and not had all the guys as ultra-nice and most of the women as toxic, as that to me will just encourage anti-feminist and misogynistic views.

But I'd say give it a proper go. Episode 3 I think is the low point as the toxcity is at full strength and it's hard to find a way to like these people or the show. But once over that hump, the dynamics get way more nuanced and interesting.

And you may even find yourself kind of liking someone you didn't like just an episode a go.

Great concept, love reality shows like this. Had hopes this one would be as good or as fun to watch at the Squid Game Challenge. But this one quickly (very quickly) becomes unwatchable because of the contestants. Did producers actively seek out the most insufferable, punchable, annoying, narcissistic people they could find? If they did, they succeeded. Especially the women. Angry, bitter, victim crying, manipulative women. A few of the guys seemed nice and honest but were immediately attacked by the angry women for being so. I could not eye roll harder. Major two thumbs way down. Come back with better contestants.