If, like use, you’re obsessed with the latest series of The Traitors UK, you may be filled with the need, again like us, to know absolutely everything about the show.
Thanks to season one’s Wilf Webster, we’ve lifted the lid on some of the most shocking secrets from behind the scenes of the show.
Contestants have no access to the outside world
Much like other reality shows like Love Island and Married at First Sight UK, contestants on The Traitors are not allowed to contact each other or their friends and families back home while they're filming the show.
Wilf told us, “You don’t have your phone and things like that. No socials. If there was a TV, we weren’t even allowed the remote so we couldn’t access the internet. We couldn’t google each other or find anything about each other and stuff.”
This helped the contestants keep their head in the game, but likely also served to isolate them and raise the stakes.
Filming days are longer than expected
You may be watching the show thinking that you would make the perfect traitor, but how long could you keep up the charade? Wilf pointed out that filming days can go on for hours, meaning your guard has to be up constantly, and friendships grow even deeper than we see as viewers.
“You build really close relationships with people, and you’re with them 16 hours a day that we filmed, they don’t show all the fun you have because obviously it’s part of the game and they want it to be serious for the viewers... But there were times when we would sit and chat rubbish and just have a laugh.
“Sometimes we were filming to like two in the morning and stuff like that. I couldn’t sleep anyway, I was just anxious.”
There is a strict two-drink limit
We expect those in the Love Island villa to have a drinking limit because who could go on that show without a bit of Dutch courage? But The Traitors does not have the same reputation for drunken brawls as it’s already filled to the brim with cut-throat betrayals and tension.
Despite this, the contestants are given a drink or two, but no more than that.
Wilf explained, “They said it was a two-drink limit but we only had one. You see us drinking it after the round table, they said two but they always disappeared after one. We were like, ‘hello?’ But they don’t want us to mess up and get drunk and accidentally do something."
Producers have very little direct input
Wilf told us that he doesn’t usually watch reality TV as it’s clearly so scripted, but with The Traitors, that isn’t the case.
“I don’t like [reality TV] because I feel like it’s produced and when I watch it I can tell they’re being told what to say. And we were so lucky, when the assistant director opened the castle doors, they just went ‘go into reality’. And that was it. So, we had no direction or anything like that and it just felt so natural. We forgot about the cameras.”
Although they didn’t have any direct involvement with the contestants, the producers did pull all the strings behind-the-scenes. "We weren’t told how the game ended either. So, we didn’t find out until episode 10 or 11 when we were told that we decide when the game ends.”
The producers also separate the contestants and went to extreme lengths to keep them in the dark - literally.
“They do everything they can to keep us apart [at night]. You literally sit with a blindfold on as well in the car… It’s all a mystery. You don’t see anybody until the morning.”
The contestants get sent Traitors memorabilia from the show
We did wonder if the contestants get to keep anything from their time on the show, and thanks to Wilf we now have the answer.
“We did get our photos sent to us actually, the photos on the wall and they did send us the traitors board.”
So, does Wilf have a room in his house dedicated to the show? No, it turns out that in the real world he is much sweeter than his persona on The Traitors, and hopefully betrays his friends far less, too.
“I actually surprised someone, a super fan, at their wedding... He came up to me and was like, ‘Oh my god, you’re my favourite, could you come to my wedding?’… And then I looked at where it was, and I was like half an hour away. So, I signed the boardgame and gave it to them as a wedding present.”
You can tune in to The Traitors UK series two on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays on BBC One from 9pm and on BBC iPlayer.