Traitors finalist Jade reveals how video games taught her how to survive constant suspicion

Every series of The Traitors delivers the classic characters. There’s the loud ones who trust everyone (sorry Roxy), the amateur detectives convinced they’re one glance away from cracking the case, and the players who spiral into paranoia by episode two.

But this year, one faithful stood out for doing almost the opposite: Staying calm, keeping her head down, and somehow surviving despite being under near-constant suspicion.

That player was Jade Scott. And when she revealed to The Guardian that she was a serious gamer, it suddenly explained a lot.

BBC

“My first proper game was Minecraft when I was about 15,” she said. “That’s how I made loads of friends at school.”

From there, she drifted into more intense territory, including Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota.

“That’s when I started getting really into strategy,” she explained. “Thinking several steps ahead, understanding how people behave under pressure, all of that came from gaming.”

Which raises the obvious question: Does being a gamer actually help you on The Traitors?

In the year before filming, Jade had been playing indie games built entirely around deception and distrust. Both force players to complete tasks while hidden saboteurs work against the group, relying on lies, misdirection, and social manipulation to win.

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A post shared by Jade Scott (@jadiethscott)

It’s basically The Traitors, just with keyboards instead of cloaks.

“I was desperate to go in as a faithful,” she said. “At the time, I thought that role was much harder. As a faithful, you’re solving a puzzle. As a traitor, you already know the answers.”

Her plan was to attract a manageable amount of suspicion early on, hoping it would make her less appealing to murder. “I thought if people already doubted me, the traitors wouldn’t bother killing me,” she said. “What I didn’t anticipate was how much suspicion I’d get.”

Being constantly questioned was exhausting, and very different from online play: “With games, you’re behind a screen. You can talk freely, joke, and build rapport over Discord. In the castle, you’re completely exposed. There’s nowhere to hide, and every conversation feels loaded.”

BBC

Jade also tracked social interactions obsessively. “I wrote everyone’s name down and drew lines between people I saw talking, like one of those detective cork boards with red string,” she said.

“Looking back, the only two people I hadn’t connected were Rachel and Stephen. I was so focused on surviving that I missed what was right in front of me.”

Now studying for a PhD, Scott says the experience has had one unexpected benefit: “I’ve always dreaded my viva. You’re sitting in a room being challenged on your work.

“But after The Traitors, I feel like I’ve learned how to defend myself properly. If I can survive the roundtable, I can survive that.”

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Featured image by: BBC