Traitors contestants lift lid on behind-the-scenes secrets

Do the players eat the breakfast on the table each morning? Where do they sleep? Former Traitors contestants reveal show’s secrets

Former contestants from the UK version of The Traitors have revealed some of the show’s behind-the-scenes secrets.

The BBC’s hit reality show, where contestants must trick and deceive each other for the chance to win their share of up to £120,000, first launched in 2022 and returned to screens earlier this month for series two.

Ivan Brett, who appeared on the first season of the BBC series, has been answering viewer’s burning questions about the making of the series. Some of the questions included where the contestants actually slept each night, what food they’re served and whether they really ate the breakfast laid out on the table each morning.

Writing on Twitter/X, Brett revealed that the breakfast is part of the set and the food is actually “stale”.

“The rest of the food was actually delicious and varied, everyone’s diets and tastes accounted for. But the breakfast was set dressing and set dressing is not tasty, it’s stale,” he wrote.

While The Traitors is filmed at Ardross Castle, a 19th-century house and estate north of Inverness in the Scottish Highlands, it has been revealed that the competitors don’t actually sleep on the castle grounds.

When the sound of the gong goes at the end of the day, participants are seen getting into vehicles and driving off to their individual sleeping quarters where they await their fate. As the Faithfuls nervously sleep, the Traitors meet in the conclave to decide who they will murder.

Contestants at the round table in ‘The Traitors’ (BBC/Studio Lambert)

But many viewers have been left wondering where they actually go when the bell chimes. It turns out the contestants sleep in a much less historical setting: a lodging near Inverness Airport. Actor Alan Cumming, who hosts the US version of the programme filmed in the same place, revealed to the Daily Beast that none of the contestants stayed in the castle.

Claudia Winkleman presenting ‘The Traitors’ UK edition (BBC/Studio Lambert/LLARA PLAZA)

In a TikTok video, Alyssa Chan, who was a Traitor on the first season of UK The Traitors, said there was “no way” for Faithfuls to work out who they were when they went back to the accommodation due to the amount of security guarding them.

“There was security with us the whole time,” she said. “Everything was so well done and well produced that if you did want to play a dirty game and find out who the Traitors were, there was literally no way you could.”

‘The Traitors’ star Amanda Lovett (BBC)

In an interview with OK Magazine, Amanda Lovett, a much-loved Traitor from series one, said that when the contestants get ready to film the round table scenes, the producers would play the Hunger Games song “The Hanging Tree” to get them in the mood before they placed their votes and decided who to banish each evening.

“They would play the music ‘The Hanging Tree’ before we actually started talking, so we were all.... ‘Ooooh’, yeah it was really suppressive. [We were all] getting ready to banish each other, I suppose.”

The Traitors series two airs Wednesday to Friday at 9pm on BBC One.