HiFi Tuesdays and Greasy Pig cafe: Zack on The Traitors and his favourite Leeds nights out

Along with everyone else in the country, I was hooked to the first series of The Traitors and so you can imagine my excitement when it was announced that season two of the UK reality competition show was on the way.

This latest season was iconic, to say the least. We had mother and son, Dianne and Ross, evil genius Paul, and, most importantly, one of my personal favourites, ex Lupton resident, Zack Davies, who we spoke to about his time in Hyde Park and, more recently, The Traitors castle in the Scottish Highlands.

Surviving until episode 11, the 27-year-old studied law at the University of Leeds between 2014 and 2017, living first at Lupton in Headingley, then St Johns Terrace near the business school and finally opposite Greasy Pig cafe – which he tells me often frequented after a big night out on the town. “The massive hungover fry up hit the spot every time,” Zack said, a huge endorsement for the Greasy Pig from a trustworthy faithful.

Zack during his time at University of Leeds

I asked him how he had found living at Lupton, to which he replied he had fond memories. He compared the camaraderie he felt with his fresher flatmates at Lupton to the “trauma bonding” between the cast of The Traitors – very valid, since no one else other than the people living at Oxley can understand the effort of having to walk from the Arndale to campus every day.

Moving on to Leeds nights out, I had to ask what his favourites were. Zack gave honourable mentions to Beaverworks, Wire and the touring Bongos Bingo, but said a Tuesday at HiFi was his “guilty pleasure”.

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He then told me how he met his girlfriend, who also went to Leeds and who lived in James Baillie, during a night out at Fruity in first year. Zak said: “We bonded on a Friday night at Fruity and it’s been plain sailing from there!”. The definition of a modern day love story.

As a member of law society, snowriders and philosophy soc’s football team, Zack also said he completed the Otley run within the first few weeks of freshers – a a true sign of a faithful, if you ask me.

Talking more broadly about his time at Leeds, he described how it was a big step going from his small Jewish community in north London to the buzzing student scene in Leeds: “Over a short space of time, you learn to become an adult.” Truer words have never been spoken.

Moving on to The Traitors, I asked Zack exactly how he’d gone from studying at Leeds Uni to appearing on one of the most loved reality shows on TV. He explained how he applied for the show after him and his friends watched the first series together last year: “It’s a reality TV show for the gamers,” he said, “and I’m a massive nerd.”

Four months and multiple meetings later, he recalls being confirmed for the series just weeks before filming began – the same kind of nervous waiting you get when you’re listening out for your order number at Bakery 164 at the lunch time rush.

He said that he’d made some great friends on the series, shouting out Molly, Ross and Jasmine as being particularly close and telling me how plans to see Jaz – “Jazatha Christie” he laughs – up in Manchester. He added that despite all the suspense and drama in the show, everyone actually gets on really well: “There’s a WhatsApp group with everyone in it…there’s no beef behind closed doors.”

Zack proudly posing with his dissertation

I finished our chat by asking Zack for his best advice for Leeds students, to which he recommended making the most of your time at university.

“I think it’s so easy to get taken away with what happens after uni. Particularly as a law student, it was easy to get carried away with whether I got the open days, or vacation schemes.

“But I think when I speak to people now who didn’t truly enjoy the present of being in Leeds, and going on the nights out, or doing the weird social events for the societies that you didn’t want to do – I think they kind of regret that.

“I think it’s incredibly important to enjoy the time you have whilst you are there.”

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