Behind-the-scenes secrets which prove The Traitors is more staged than we thought

The devil works hard, but the producers of The Traitors work harder. For season three of The Traitors UK to have been so dramatic, the producers have to set really strict rules for the contestants and stage several things. Here’s a rundown of all the behind-the-scenes secrets of how The Traitors is actually filmed. The producers turn down the temperature of the round table room to make the contestants grouchier and it makes total sense.

Claudia Winkleman doesn’t like looking at the contestants

Apparently Claudia Winkleman deliberately avoids looking at everyone so she doesn’t accidentally stare at the Traitors and give the secret away.

She told the BBC, “I am absolutely paranoid about ever looking at the traitors, so I sort of look just above everybody’s head.”

This explains why she always paces down the round table looking grumpy. I thought she was just trying to get her steps in for the day.

Nobody sleeps in the castle and I lowkey feel lied to

The UK and the US versions of the The Traitors are filmed in a glam Victorian castle in the Scottish Highlands. You can actually hire it out for parties. Hate to break it to you, but nobody actually sleeps there overnight. The contestants actually have to stay in a hotel by Inverness airport, which is significantly less boujie.

The Traitors location is less exciting when you know they sleep overnight at the hotel right next to the runway at Inverness Airport. #TheTraitorsUK pic.twitter.com/RNNwfwiy0I

— C A S P A R (@caspararemi) January 5, 2024

Alan Cumming (who hosts the US version) told the Daily Beast, “Spoiler alert: None of us stayed in the castle. None of us. The contestants all stayed in the airport hotel at Inverness airport. How glamorous—you come to Scotland, and you stay in the Inverness airport hotel.

Most Read

Five Guys worker responds after Bonnie Blue ‘harassed’ him to sleep with her at work

It’s everywhere, so here’s how you can find your Letterboxd Wrapped for 2024

Squid Game designer reveals sad and cruel relevance of the rainbow floor in six-legged game

“I stayed in a little house in Inverness. But I had a room in the castle where I would get made up and dressed. It had a huge bed in it. So I did actually sleep quite often, but not overnight.”

The cast stay at the Courtyard by Marriot Hotel. It takes about 50 minutes for the contestants to be ferried there each evening in the iconic black jeeps after each day of The Traitors is filmed. The hotel looks nice enough – it has four stars and a nice big bar – but it’s not exactly the same vibes as staying in a castle.

The producers turn down the heating to make the contestants as uncomfy as possible

Could it BE any more dramatic?
(Image via the BBC)

It’s been reported that the crew members deliberately turn down the heating in the room with the round table. The logic is that if the contestants are colder, they’re going to be in a worse mood and more likely to start arguments with each other.

Apparently the producers often play dramatic music like The Hanging Tree from The Hunger Games films before the cameras roll, in order to set the vibe.

There are duplicates of the rooms in the castle

There are actually loads of little rooms like these?!
(Image via the BBC)

So, the contestants don’t all get “killed” and interviewed in the same room. There are quite a few rooms within the castle which are set up to look the exact same. This is so the crew can film multiple interviews at once. And The Traitors cast aren’t quening outside the same room waiting to be filmed, and potentially overhearing each other. The audience is tricked into thinking all the interviewing happens in one room, like the beach hut in Love Island or the creepy wooden shed in I’m A Celebrity.

Nobody gets “murdered” at night. If The Traitors condemn someone, then the contestant gets an envelope saying something like “xoxo you’re dead” (or words to that effect) while they’re doing an interview in one of these identical rooms. This all happens in broad daylight, before they get driven back to the hotel at night.

The whole breakfast scene is a bit fake

A big component of The Traitors is the dramatic breakfast banquet each morning, when all the contestants arrive in small groups and cry about it a lot. But apparently the cast get breakfast brought to them in bed back at the hotel? So they’re not really having breakfast on the show.

John from the first series told The Sun, “We get breakfast served to our rooms in the hotel, before the on-screen breakfast.”

Apparently the breakfast food is really for the cameras and nobody actually eats it.

I'm sorry guys, it's time to come clean and leak something shocking about #TheTraitors. It pains me to tell you, but that breakfast is REALLY DRY AND NOT VERY NICE pic.twitter.com/aQUcr2khJ7

— Ivan Brett (@IvanBrett) January 4, 2024

Former contestants have spilled the tea on what the tea is like. It takes ages to film the breakfast scenes, because people arrive in small batches and the camera crew have to film everyone hugging and crying and overthinking things. So the toast and pastries taste a bit stale and sad from sitting out for so long.

There’s a max of two alcoholic drinks

Sad times. After the drama-filled round table scenes in The Traitors are filmed, everyone gets filtered into the bar area so they can debrief with each other. John from season one said there’s a two-drink limit. I guess they’ve got to keep their wits about them if they want to actually catch a Traitor for once.

The Traitors cast aren’t allowed their phones

Honestly, how do they fill the time without TikTok?! I guess the crew don’t want the contestants to Google each other and figure out what they’re lying about. Like, thirty seconds on LinkedIn would prove that Charlotte is not actually Welsh and Leanne is a veteran and they’re both inexplicably lying about things.

Featured images via the BBC / Studio Lambert

For more like this and for the latest memes, quizzes, updates and general pop culture chaos – like The Tab on Facebook.