The Trust: A Game of Greed is an American reality game show broadcast on Netflix in 2024.[1] Eleven strangers are offered $250,000 split equally among themselves and have to decide whether to eliminate each other and whether to accept offers that affect the money in the prize pot.[2]
Format
A communal pot of $250,000 is initially shared equally among 11 contestants who socialize together in a luxury villa. Trust Ceremonies are held in which each contestant is given the opportunity to vote a contestant out of the game. The person who receives the most votes is eliminated, but there is no elimination in the case of a tie or no votes.
Participants play games that can add money to the prize pot. These include games that reveal secrets about each other, games that ask them to rank each other based on personality and games that ask them to reveal their voting history. Some contestants are offered access to The Vault, which gives them the opportunity to take an offer, which could benefit themselves or the group. The series is hosted by journalist Brooke Baldwin.[2]
The series was filmed over roughly three weeks in Casa Kimbal, Cabrera, Dominican Republic.[6]
Analysis
The series drew comparison to The Traitors, a Dutch reality game show franchise that divides contestants into Faithfuls, who aim to win games, and Traitors, who aim to sabotage and eliminate people.[7][8][9]The Trust explores human behavior and psychology: alliances form immediately on the basis of gender.[7][9] Mistrust is sewn by the production by revealing that one contestant is a millionaire and using divide-and-conquer tactics, such as singling people out to receive Vault offers.[7] Judy Berman of Time said the program was edited to portray meritocracy: in this view, each contestant is equal and their choices determine their success. Nonetheless, there is significant wealth inequality between contestants and the black women are seen as threatening by white contestants or treated as an "exotic other".[9]
Reception
The series has a 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on seven reviews.[10]Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the show a positive review, writing "We know what to expect, and 'The Trust' delivers, from the suspenseful techno-beat soundtrack to the swooping overhead drone camera shots to the 'confession room' interviews."[11] Rebecca Nicholson of The Guardian gave the series 3 out of 5 stars, calling it "a budget bootleg version of The Traitors".[8] Steve Greene of IGN wrote that the premise was unoriginal but the show had "tiny flashes of something interesting under the surface that keeps The Trust from feeling completely unnecessary.[12]
