What skills did you learn from being on the Traitors?
It’s hard to take anything away from being in an environment where you’re incredibly tired and emotionally overwhelmed every day for three weeks straight, but within that I still had what I’d like to think of as a significant character arc personally. I struggled with my mental health on the show, and battled on when times were getting difficult for me in the castle. I definitely came away feeling more confident and sure of myself than I was when I went in the show. I also thought I’d only be in the show for two episodes before everyone got sick of me and banished me, and ended up getting to episode 11 of 12 so I’m very proud of myself for that.
But dialling it down to actual skills, key for me, and I think what was demonstrated as a clear weakness in my journey on the show, was developing my listening skills. I think at times I can run away with my own thoughts, be very brash and instinctive and get zoned in on why I think a certain approach is far better than others (which I think might also be a symptom of living with OCD).
Watching the show back it became clear to me that while I like to think of myself as a compassionate and considerate person, sometimes the actions I take aren’t wholly consistent with that, so I would definitely say being, or at least trying to be, a better listener has come out of the show.
How did your public affairs background contribute to the skills you utilised during the show?
Obviously, a lot of Public Affairs centres on how you communicate with people, what messages you get across and in what way you can persuade people or bring them round to your line of thinking. That played a part for me inherently on the show. I think it’s hard being a faithful, you have to not only find the traitors, but there’s a second part to the game of trying to survive and not get murdered.
While I wasn’t the best at finding traitors, particularly for the right reasons, I had a lot of theories that at least I think I was able to put across well and bring people onside at the roundtables. I think also coming from a political background helped in building alliances with certain people and ensuring that my friends in the castle had my back.
How has your experience on the show changed how you approach your job now?
Like I said before, I think going on the show has given me a bit more pride in myself. I think I speak up far more at meetings now than I did before, feel more assured in what I’m saying and the validity of the points I’m making.
But honestly I think you need to take your experience with a pinch of salt in terms of how it might affect you in the real world. You’re doing 16 hour days and hardly sleeping out of fear you’re going to be murdered, so the skills you develop in the show are probably more relevant to surviving a Lord of the Flies type of scenario than pitching your corporate strategy to a Parliamentarian.
What would you do differently if you were to go on the Traitors again?
People keep asking me this and I keep giving the same response, there’s honestly nothing I would have done/could have done differently. I have a Plan A, and that’s it. I was unapologetically myself on the show (admittedly under emotional duress so I was amped up to about 1000% myself).
I do regret the way in which I treated some of my fellow contestants and the way in which I might have accused them maybe lacked decency at times.
But all in all, I would have done nothing differently. Maybe try to accuse Andrew or someone else who I might have had suspicions of in Episode 10 before they murdered me that night, I don’t think I was getting banished in Episode 11 so would have at least made the final which would have been incredible. It definitely wouldn’t have been as good TV as it was though so I’m not bitter about it…. promise!
What advice would you give to other public affairs professionals looking to go on the Traitors?
I think Public Affairs professionals might think they’re a bit too smart for their own good in the show, I think I certainly did at times, but I guess it depends person-to-person. You might think that your academic background or your work experience to date might make you a smooth talker, persuasive communicator and good at convincing others to your way of thinking, all qualities that could be beneficial in the game. But compared to other people that have been casted you probably aren’t!
It is incredibly likely that more than one person on the show is far smarter than you, in my case it was 21 other people, so while it’s valuable trusting your own instincts, be open to the opinions of others, and to the thought process behind their theories as well.
Is the role of public affairs more like that of a faithful, or a traitor?
I think the role of public affairs is more like a traitor on the surface for the reasons I said above which are skills that inherently go well with being a good traitor. However I think deep down we are really perceptive people, I think we’re able to read people quite well and usually have good instincts which make us far more of an asset as a faithful. Public affairs professionals also have outside the box thinking which is really important to add to the discussion in the show.
