The Master of the Game is a TF1 game show close to Traitors, which was successful on M6. What is the difference between the two programs?
The Master of the Game is a new entertainment show, broadcast on TF1 from October 4, 2024. The principle of the game: personalities are gathered in an old residence, one hour from Paris (the Château de Groussay in Montfort l’Amaury , in Yvelines), to carry out an investigation. This aims to unmask the owner of the premises, thanks to a series of clues revealed throughout the program. Some of these clues must be won in logic tests. The winning candidate will be able to win 100,000 euros for the association of their choice.
But the Game Master adds a difficulty to the investigation since the host of the place, whose identity will be kept secret until the end, has an accomplice among the candidates. The interest of the program therefore lies, in addition to the investigation, in the interactions of the TV stars, who will have to collaborate without being trapped by this traitor, who will seek to make them fail in their mission.
The main difference with The Traitors
“Traitor” is the word that quickly comes to mind regarding the Master of the Game. The TF1 show is in fact strongly inspired by Traitors, which has enjoyed success on M6 in recent years. If here the identity of the traitor in question is revealed to TF1 viewers from the start, so that they can enjoy his trickery, many points in common with the game on the sixth channel are obvious. Starting with the presence of Laurent Ruquierwho just won season 3 of Traitors on M6 with his companion Hugo Manos, a few days before the launch of the TF1 game.
In The Master of the Game, Laurent Ruquier, who has already played a guest star in Mask Singer, this time takes on the role of host. “At M6 I was a candidate, here I am a presenter […]the real stars are the investigators, I am here to support them”, he assured in remarks delivered at a press conference and taken up by Télé Loisirs. To stand out while Les Traitors has just completed its third season before the arrival of the Master of the Game, TF1 stressed that its game was aimed at a more family audience, without a “gloomy” atmosphere and with “humor at the center”.
The first channel and Fremantle, the company producing the program, above all highlight a fundamental difference: The Master of the Game is an investigation game, a principle which predominates where Les Traitors is directly based on a confrontation between “traitors” and “loyal”, in accordance with the board game “Loups-Garous”, from which it is itself inspired.
In the casting, well-known faces from television
In the cast of this first season of Master of the Game, we find some well-known figures from the small screen used to this type of program, in alphabetical order: Elsa Bois, DALS dancer, Max Boublil, Cartman, Valérie Damidot, Frédédic Dienfenthal, Arnaud Ducret and his wife Claire Francisci-Ducret, Jeanfi Janssens, Kody, Chantal Ladesou, Sarah Mortensen and Francis Perrin.