“The Traitors”, a reality TV show, offers a useful economics lesson

C laudia Winkleman, a television presenter with a helmet of shiny hair, is not a typical economics teacher. Yet students should consider her game show. Those learning outside Britain may opt for any of the 20 or so versions of “The Traitors” screened elsewhere, including a popular American option that has featured celebrities such as Deontay Wilder, a boxing great, and John Bercow, a disgraced British parliamentarian. The game, which involves lying and betrayal, is a chance to study both the theory and reality of game theory, as well as to watch the panic on the face of someone who, having decided a fake Welsh accent would make them more trustworthy, comes across a native Welsh speaker.