Be honest, The Traitors has probably taken over your life and you are 100% okay with that. If you're anything like us, you've been singing the theme tune in the kitchen, tuning into the televised podcast spin-off like a super-fan, and cancelling your Wednesday-Friday night plans so you can watch it. It's safe to say series two of the BBC gameshow has saved us from the January blues.
WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS UNLESS YOU'RE BANG UP TO DATE
And that's largely thanks to the show's supervillain, Paul Gorton. Paul started off strong and had the whole cast in the palm of his hand, but as time went on, and he started flying too close to the sun, he ended up being the one who got played.
In (yet another) shock twist that had us quaking in our boots (meaning we had to stand up from the sofa), fellow Traitor Harry turned on Paul at the round table and had him banished once and for all. heat sits down with the villain of the series to chat about his flawed game plan, whether he's forgiven Harry for throwing him under the bus and what he makes of all the memes.
Your banishment episode was huge. Did you watch it back?
I watched it with [his partner] Kate and we had a couple of friends round as well who are all massive Traitors fans. No one knew that was going to be the ending so as we were going along they were sat there going, "Oh nooo! No Paul!"
Did you have any idea that Harry was going to throw you under the bus?
It's interesting to look back and see where Harry started, because being at the table that was a surprise to me. But then after seeing what happened when me and Miles were going at it and him saying "are these two Traitors going at it", and Charlotte telling him I was planting seeds, there's no way he could have done anything different. He was like a lawyer! He had me convinced I was a Traitor. I was going to stand up and go, "Harry's right everyone, I'm going."
Do you think you underestimated him then?
The Harry thing I was totally blindsided by. I wasn't the mastermind or the king of the world or anything like that. I'd like to think he maybe looked at some of the stuff that I did and thought ok well Paul's taking it to that level, I'm going to try and match it or surpass it. I thought we were going to bring Andrew in because he was in the dungeon with me and that would perfectly round off that him and Ash were the Traitors, and me and Harry would go on to win the show.
Was that your game plan then?
My game plan was exactly what you've seen. I wanted to be a Traitor, I thought I'm going to do this Traitor act, I'm not going to break, I'm going to be dastardly and I'm going to cause mayhem. I wouldn't change anything that I did. The whole idea of being a Traitor is that you're only a Traitor in the turret, during the day you're 100% Faithful.
If you could go back and throw Harry under the bus would you do it?
With Harry, I didn't see him do anything Traitor related so I couldn't go for him. That's why when he went for me, I didn't throw it back to him because it just felt like I was throwing him under the bus because he'd got me. I have a lot of respect for him for what he did.
The bow! We've got to talk about the bow...
I did the bow because I was getting upset and I couldn't really get any more words out. I had no idea that my body was going to do that, but it does feel quite fitting. I played the panto villain and it felt like, "and scene." I felt so relieved and so happy. Seeing that room erupt, it was one of the best things I've seen in my entire life. Harry banging on the table, Jaz throwing chairs, people embracing, all because they found little, old me. It was magical.
Obviously you've been cast as the evil mastermind. How do you feel about those accusations?
I don't even see it as an accusation! I love how involved people got with the show. They bonded with the characters, they loved people, they hated people, everything felt like it was in keeping with the game whether it was love or it was negative.
The character that I was coming across with at the start was cold and had no feelings, but you can kind of see that dwindle away. I started becoming more myself and getting more emotional. I just couldn't keep up the facade of being the villain. And as the show went on, people transferred me from being a villain to being a panto villain. He's quite fun and entertaining and he's the guy people love to hate. Even I was watching it going, "Oh my god, we've got to get him off the show." I don't think anyone means it in a truly hurtful way.
Have you been recognised much? There are a lot of Traitors fans out there.
All I've had, and to be honest it's been quite overwhelming, is so much love. So many people asking for selfies and people messaging me online saying oh you're such a villain. I've absolutely loved it. They're all lovely and everyone's got the capacity to be positive, it's just sometimes on social media people have no filter. I think they mean that they hate the character I'm doing. I mean I'm in a show called The Traitors and I'm a Traitor. I promised Claudia Winkleman that I'm going to lie and manipulate so I can't let Claudia down.
Surely Kate is worried about how good you are at lying
Me and Kate, we've done 11 or 12 years together now, we've got out little boy who's two. She knows me inside and out and she's loved watching every minute of it with me. And she's been the best support. To be honest, Charlie was 18 months old when I went on and you're there for weeks and weeks. So she was at home looking after him and it was just magnificent the support that she's given me.
Even when you did the fake crying about her at the round table?
It wasn't a fake cry. This is the great thing with humans – that was me at my most vulnerable. I got upset in the dungeon because we were genuinely in there all day and we were freezing cold and we started to talk about our families and I got upset. At the round table everyone's staring at you and then I got accused and I was missing home so much that I got upset. And I can't say I'm crying because I'm a Traitor. I had to try and use it in the best way that I could.
Well you played a great game. You had a lot of people fooled. Has everyone forgiven each other now?
So the magnificent Ash, who by the way turned into one of the best Traitors because she didn't throw us under the bus and I think that was a brilliant move, same as what I did with young Harry, we're all friends.
We have lots of chats. I stay in touch with Harry constantly and we're all just one big family. The support we've given each other is just magnificent and you know I'm the panto villain, but we all know it's just a game. There are no grudges. We're all just living in a dream watching it back. I can't wait to see how things pan out.
NOW WATCH: Mitch & Ella B Play Who's Most Likely To: Love Island Edition
Nikki Peach is a news and entertainment writer at heat, Closer and Grazia. She is dangerously obsessed with The Traitors and has started cancelling plans with friends when it's on so she can feel part of the action. When she's not overanalysing reality TV or interviewing celebs about the latest shows, she's daydreaming about how she'd spend the Traitors prize money.