Banishment is a key aspect of the game, offering contestants the only opportunity to remove a contestant from the game each night, in the hope they are a Traitor.
Format[]
All players still in the game - including those who are in the dungeon if it is in play - must convene at the Round Table and take a seat. After a short monologue from the presenter, they will start to debate with each other the reasons why they think they are a Traitor. These can last around a couple of hours in real life (the contestants do not have any sense of time and cannot take watches into the Table) but are edited down to around five minutes. The banishment is not a mission and does not award money, unless the Banish or Murder twist (see below) is used.
After the debate is closed, usually by the presenter saying "The time for talk is over" (Claudia Winkleman). The contestants will then pick up a piece of slate and then write down who they wish to vote for (similar to The Weakest Link). No vote is final until they are officially declared locked in. The contestants will then each reveal their vote and why, with most votes winning - a classic first-past-the-post system. Unlike on Survivor, for example, all votes are read out regardless of whether or not a contestant has enough votes to go. If a dagger is used by a player, their vote will count twice.
Apart from in Series 1 of the Australian version, shields only protect a player from murder, and do not protect them from banishment, and there have been cases around the world where players have been banished when they have a shield.
If two contestants are tied at the top, a revote occurs where the contestants in question cannot vote and all other contestants can only vote for the two players in question. Apart from the first season of the Belgium (Wallonia) version, where in the revote on the second tie vote of the season, only the person that did not vote for a tied contestant was able to vote on that revote, with the only options of voting being the tied contestants.
As seen in the first season of the Portugal version, if after a revote the tie continues, the tied contestants become ineligible to be voted for and a new revote takes place, without the possibilty of voting for the previous tied contestants; if the new revote is also a tie, the same process takes place again; if after the revotes there are only 2 contestants left, a last vote takes place, if this last vote is also a tie there is no revote, and the contestant with the most previous votes, including previous revotes, is eliminated.
As seen in the second season of the US version, if in the final 3, there is a tie, every contestant can vote for any contestant.
Due to the format of the game forcing Traitors to turn on each other and transition into fairly ruthless gameplay, the Traitors will often vote for each other. This can often have hilarious consequences when Traitors gang up to try to get another out and fail, making the next Traitors' Conclave especially awkward.
Banishments are often key in the End Game, where contestants will repeatedly banish throughout the final episode until either everybody votes to stop the game, or there are two/three players left.
How banishment comes about[]
The players will usually banish every night they are in the castle as part of the daily routine after the day's Mission. The usual sole exception is on the first night, to give the Traitors time to get to know each other before they start to be chased down by the Faithful. The other exception is the Dinner Party, where under the guise of a safe event, no banishment is made (unless the players vote to do so in the Banish or Murder twist).
Some versions offer the players a deal at the Dinner Party, where they may vote to either Banish a player or have the Traitors murder a player as normal. Banishment this time comes with a catch: the banishment will award the players money if they correctly banish a Traitor, and deduct the same amount if they banish a Faithful. Additionally, the vote for Banishment must be unanimous - if one player votes to murder, no banishment is held.
Trivia[]
- In the British version at least, players have said that they enter the Round Table to The Hanging Tree from The Hunger Games to ramp up the suspense, and cannot talk until the song has finished.
- It was also played for the viewers as an Easter egg during the final episode of that country's Series 2.
- The producers also often keep the air conditioning on at the Round Table.