Recently, I started watching the show The Traitors: Canada, as it featured a few of my favorite Canadian competition reality television participates: Kevin Martin (Big Brother Canada 3 & 5), Kuzie Mujakachi (Big Brother Canada 11), and Erika Casupanan (Survivor 41). The Traitors: Canada follows a large group of people seemingly playing the traditional game of “mafia.” There are three anonymous “traitors” within the group, and those traitors vote to kill a “faithful” within the group each night. In the evenings, the group congregates to attempt to vote out one of the traitors. The cycle repeats until all traitors are voted out, or a traitor makes the endgame, winning up to $100,000. Specifically, of the players I was drawn to the show for, Kevin Martin has won the same amount from winning Big Brother Canada 5, and Erika Casupanan has won $1,000,000 from winning Survivor 41. Kuzie Mujakachi, on the other hand, has won nothing but fame from her respective season. This information may seem irrelevant in terms of the game; however, the traitors’ first kill exemplifies a struggle experience by Fitzgerald’s Gatsby and Daisy, representative of how having Mo Money indefinitely leads to dealing with Mo Problems.
When the game’s traitors were selected, Kuzie was selected as the second traitor, with Erika and Kevin reigning as faithfuls. The trio notably formulated an alliance, until faithful Collin Johnson painted a picture that enabled the traitors to make a kill that would frame him. Collin verbally stated that he “wanted whoever wins to be deserving and in need of the money,” implying that someone such as Erika (who had won $1,000,000 from Survivor), would be killed if he were a traitor. Compromising her own allegiances, Kuzie acted swiftly to make sure that Erika would be killed that same night. Erika, the most successful reality tv housemate on this show, happened to now align herself with some of the least successful, being the show’s first boot. As such, Collin was framed, and consequently voted out that following evening.
Paralleling this situation, Daisy Buchanan resembles Kuzie Mujakachi, whereas Jay Gatsby resembles Erika Casupanan. Both Daisy and Kuzie established their presences not through awards, accolades, or money (although both had such due to their established presences), but by their social allures. Both women masterfully manipulate the crowds into believing that they are harmless, when in reality, both women are capable of murder: especially towards those closest to them. Both Gatsby and Erika established their presences through a sudden gain in “new money,” and allowed themselves to be vulnerable to whom they believed they could trust, only to fall victim to masqueraded malice. Gatsby and Erika both were relatively content with their lifestyles yet still craved more as Gatsby sought Daisy’s romance, and Erika sought this new show’s grand prize. Daisy and Kuzie both also wanted more from what they already possessed, and with their greed, caused fatal detriments to those who would consider their relationships as “close.” The two women also not only caused the downfalls of Gatsby and Erika, but also their framework resulted in collateral murders as well, such as those of George Wilson and Collin Johnson. While The Traitors: Canada is simply just a metaphorical competition tv show, the first “fates” of the show truly align the characters with those of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, which is a parallel I simply couldn’t let go unrecognized.