Secrets of The Traitors – ‘freezing’ castle, ‘grim’ food and hidden lodgings

Millions of viewers have been glued to their seats watching the second series of the smash hit The Traitors.

Hosted by Strictly Come Dancing presenter Claudia Winkleman, the series sees 22 players whisked off to a Scottish castle to play a game of social deception. At the beginning of the game, three Traitors are selected and their goal is to reach the end of the series without being rumbled to claim the total prize fund.

The first series proved to be a hit, with an average of 3 million people watching Meryl, Hannah and Aaron snatch the money out of the grasp of Traitor Wilf. The second series has only built on that, reaching highs of almost 7 million viewers midway through the series.

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But there is a lot to the show that many viewers might not know about, from where the players sleep to how long the Roundtables can last for. So, as we celebrate the end of another successful series for the show, Daily Star looks at some of the hidden secrets that go into making the show.

Unfavourable breakfasts

Speaking about his time on the show, Series 1 contestant Ivan Brett described the breakfasts as being “grim”. He added that most food at the breakfast table was less than pleasant.

Taking to social media, he wrote: “I’m sorry guys, it’s time to come clean and leak something shocking about The Traitors. It pains me to tell you, but that breakfast is REALLY DRY AND NOT VERY NICE.”

As a result of the poor food quality, many players do not eat any of the food provided for them at the table. Instead, players usually eat in their hotel rooms before they start filming.

Long debates

Whilst viewers only see an hour of treachery thanks to the miracle of editing, the players’ days are incredibly long. The main event that dominates filming is the Roundtable, where players can openly accuse others with everyone listening on.

In the course of the show, the Roundtable usually lasts anywhere between five and ten minutes. However, there is a lot more filming to the segment than we as viewers get to see.

Series 2 Faithful Charlotte spoke on This Morning to reveal that Roundtables would often go on four “hours”. She explained that the reasoning for it is to ensure that everyone is put into the firing line so it is as fair as possible.

She also revealed that going into the Roundtable, BBC bosses like to ramp up the tension, as they play The Hanging Tree from The Hunger Games in order to rile players up. They also leave air-conditioning on in the Roundtable room, so that whilst the area is “freezing”, it continues to get people panicking.

Playing with money

In theory, the contestants playing the game are not paid to take part in the show. However, with the course of filming taking weeks on occasion, the channel felt it was unfair for players to miss out on salaries.

Speaking to the Mirror newspaper, TV columnist Sara Willis revealed that they get a daily wage to take part in the show that they do not miss out on potentially vital living costs away from the castle.

“It doesn’t seem fair that should lose money by taking part so they are ­reimbursed with around £100 a day,” Sara admitted. She added that players are unable to explore the entire castle during the course of filming, due to several rooms being taken up by tech crews.

Lush-ish lodgings

Whilst it may appear that the players are living amongst Ardross Castle and its lush surroundings, this is not the case at all. Instead of their lavish game-playing area, the players are shipped off some 45 minutes away.

However, the hotel the players stay may evoke ideas of grandeur and style, this is also not the case. All players are hidden away in a hotel at Inverness Airport, approximately 30 miles away from the castle.

As well as this, the players also have no contact with the outside world during their time on the show. Bosses have been known to remove TV remotes from their rooms so as not to give any semblance of news going on during filming.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk