'I want to be a Traitor!': Inverness hopeful speaks after being revealed as a contestant in BBC smash The Traitors
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BBC smash hit The Traitors returns to our screens tonight (Wednesday) at 9pm.
The show has helped to shine a spotlight on the Highlands, thanks to its setting in Ardross Castle in Easter Ross, as well as the surrounding landscapes.
But this will not be the only connection to the Highlands in series two – for a couple of the contestants hail from the Inverness area.
These include Evie, a 29-year-old veterinary nurse, who signed up for the series as part of her personal list of 30 things to do before you're 30.
Related: Reality TV hit The Traitors, set at Highland castle, confirmed for third series
Related: Hollywood film crews bring multimillion-pound windfall to Highlands
Here, she answers questions about what attracted her to the show, and her hopes of winning the £120,000 cash prize.
Why did you apply to be on The Traitors?
I’d watched the previous series before and everyone I know has watched it and loved it as well. It was a real topic of conversation at work, and it’s filmed 30 minutes up the road!
I’m 29, so it’s the last year of my 20s and I think I may be having a bit of an existential crisis about turning 30, just overthinking it a bit too much. When I turned 29, I said to myself, “I’m going to do 30 things before I’m 30 that I’ve always wanted to do.” I ran the Edinburgh Marathon this year, I’ve visited Scottish islands and I do a lot of hiking. Working my way through my list I still had two more things to complete. I’d left two free to see what would happen, see if something came up, if I decided on something half-way through the year that I wanted to do then I'd do it. When I had one remaining, The Traitors series two came around and I said, “OK, that’s going to be my last thing. That's going to be my final 30 before 30.”
What did you think of the first series? Was there anyone’s game plan you admired?
I thought Wilfred was great! I know he got a lot of hate for backstabbing his fellow Traitors but I thought he was just brilliant. He really got it right in terms of understanding why you are there and understanding the premise of the game and ultimately, that you’re not there to make pals, although you probably are going to make friends, you’re there to potentially win £120,000. He was outstanding and I really wanted Wilf to get it. I thought he was fab. I also really liked Meryl, she was so funny and just got through being totally clueless of who the Traitors were even right until the very end!
What do you think you'll bring to the game?
I’m fun. I know people that say “I’m fun” aren’t usually fun but I do think I’m fun. I think I’ve got a lot of energy to put towards the missions. I also think I look like a Faithful. If I got cast as a Traitor, I think I’d be an amazing. Although watching my acting might be funny!
Do you have a game plan?
I want to be a Traitor. I think I would make a good Traitor because I look like such a Faithful. I don’t think people think I’m very mischievous, but I think that shows that I’d be really be good at it. So, I think my gameplan is to let people believe those preconceptions of me, I’m blonde and I’ve got the dimples, and I work with animals and I’m sweet. But there is a bit of an edge to me, and it’s an edge that has actually been carved out by my career, by veterinary nursing, because it is so tough. It’s really difficult, there are a lot of emotional tolls and there’s a lot of adapting to environments, stress, long hours, everything. The Traitors is a psychological pressure cooker, but I honestly do think you could apply that to working at the vets, you really could.
Do you think you’ll be good at the missions and what strengths do you think you might bring to them?
I think I’d be great. There’s not anything that scares me really. And for fun, I’m out hiking all the time. I’m up in the Scottish Highlands, I’ve lived here all my life. My ideal weekend is things like chucking myself up a mountain, or camping, or biking, getting dirty, or doing open swimming. So, I feel like I'd be really good at the missions. I’ve not got much fear. The only thing is spiders absolutely terrify me. Spiders are not my thing. But for £120,000 I would get into a vat of spiders, there’s an override in my brain and I think I would just do it.
If you are a Traitor, how do you think you'll feel?
I’d be alright with it! I think I understand that it’s a game. In real life you have to tell little white lies all the time, little deceptions, and you lie to yourself all the time, like “My diet starts Monday” or “I’m only going out for one thing.” However, I feel like in real life you stop yourself from the big lies, you stop yourself from big strategic manipulations. This game just allows you to be as naughty as you want to be. Literally, it encourages you to be as devilish as you can, and you might get a payday at the end of it. That’s amazing, sign me up for it!
Would you say you’ve got a good poker face?
Yes, I do.
If you are a Traitor, how far are you prepared to go to win the game?
All the way to the end, that’s it. £120,000, I mean that’s not pocket money is it, that’s a lot. There’s never going to be a chance for me to do it again. So, I’m here to play.
If you're a Faithful, what do you think your game plan would be?
I think showing up in the Missions. Some of the patterns from the Traitors are people that they know, or believe are Faithfuls, they keep them in because they’re good at Missions and I do think I’d be really good at those. I think I’d be good at winning money for them. I can put myself in that environment, I can put myself under stress and in the mud, and in the water and up the hills as well, so I think I would be a good Faithful. I think I would keep myself under the radar too. Watch me say all of this now, and then I’m not actually that good! Imagine... no pressure.
How good are you at spotting a liar?
I think I’m pretty good at trusting my gut. If I felt something was off, I’m quite good at spotting that. Again, in veterinary nursing, quite a lot of the time if you’re dealing with a client that is grieving or has faced some kind of emotional toll, a lot of the time they’re not actually telling you, you’re reading it off someone’s face, you’re reading it off their body language. I think I’m quite good at that, so I think I’d be able to use this skill and try and determine if something is off.
If you are a Faithful, what qualities do you think you're going to need to make it through to the final?
You need to be determined enough to win the money – can you tell I’m skint? We’re in a cost-of-living crisis here! In my job I have to meld with a bunch of people, so I think I can relate to people, I can empathise with them, I feel like I’m quite personable and people do end up chatting to me. I think I could make a good teammate for sure.
If you win the prize money, what do you think you'll spend it on?
Well, because I’m in animal charity work, I want to move to a different location, have a small holding and rescue a bunch of animals. Working in the SSPCA, there’s so many animals that need to be homed and at this point I already have two dogs from them, I had a snake and I’ve had a hamster, but I think I would really love to set something up that was a bit more permanent. You know, there’s always three-legged dogs or one-eyed hamsters and a bunch of chickens that need to be homed so I think I’d love to live out my spinster dreams with my small holding for all of them.
– The Traitors series two gets under way on BBC One and iPlayer at 9pm tonight (Wednesday), with the next two episodes also released simultaneously on iPlayer. Those episodes also air on Thursday and Friday,
