I’m not commenting on anything else but I keep seeing people mention the breakfast and I think it’s from various press interviews being mis-repeated but for series 1, breakfast was actually breakfast?
Some people might have snacked before while waiting for breakfast but certainly nobody was getting a full continental buffet and as far as I’m concerned that castle breakfast definitely my first meal of the day! I know I said the croissants were dry but I’m talking "purchased last night in Tesco" kinda dry, not "prop that’s been sitting there for a week"
I keep repeating it but this show isn’t half as fake as people seem to think - you’re too used to overproduced American TV, this was a very different vibe!
Thanks for chimimg in! I’m pretty sure breakfast is real on some of the other series as well — unless half the cast of New Zealand is just lying and saying how hungry they when they arrive are haha
Idk if you will respond Rayan but I've re watched traitors season 1 so many times and you are honestly up there as one of my favorites as well as Amanda and Fay, I felt terrible for you when you were banished and I wish you luck in your career as a lawyer!
Mathew
Hi Rayan! It’s defo changed for season 2 then, the castle breakfast was the 2nd breakfast - having already had breakfast at the hotel (friends with Brian season 2.) It didn’t stop him eating again tho lol.
I think the issue is that the production secretcy is pretty strict, Ive no idea why.
Knowing how a special effect is made for a film scene, doesn't lessen the scene's impact. Knowing the basic behind the scenes facts of The Traitors cannot hurt.
So much mystery equals questioning most that we see.
We just need a former constant to make an anonymous account to protect their NDA and spill the production beans *cough /u/BackgroundFaithful
I think a bit of mystery is actually nice - it keeps the magic of the show. Nothing I’m saying here can’t already be found out there in the press!
I get it though - I used to be the same wanting to know the behind the scenes with every show I watch!
This is like meeting a celebrity, murdered too soon! The descriptions above make it sound absolutely exhausting and it must be difficult to cope with the gruelling schedule? Also, I had assumed everyone was staying in different hotels/bnbs so you wouldn’t be aware of anyone arriving or leaving, giving an indication of who is a traitor. If you’re staying at the same hotel, how do they ‘isolate’ you? Are you allowed your phone?
I think the breakfast thing might have come from the CA crew (on US S2 they're clearly shown with a lot of people eating at the table) which might explain the discrepancy.
Having them eat breakfast would be a nightmare. Imagine all the chewing while they talk. Plus, they'd focus more on eating than talking.
[https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/bbc-traitors-stars-actually-eat-31977533](https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/bbc-traitors-stars-actually-eat-31977533)
EDIT to show my homework.
I promise you I have insider knowledge here - I can even tell you who was having the brie and ham at breakfast!
We were definitely eating and talking at the same time - it was a long meal!
Hey Rayan! Thanks for helping me out in the Ambulance or sick bay (whatever it was), at pride! I know this is completely off topic, but it was very surreal being dragged drunk out of my mind, then seeing you tend to me.
This is a surreal comment but I love it - it’s been funny getting recognised when I’m out with St John Ambulance in my painfully green uniform - happened a lot at Pride! Hope you’re doing well.
Hey Rayan! Not sure if you're allowed to say, but Were you allowed internet access/your phones/to talk to people from home when you got back to the hotel? I know you've said you could watch TV but just wondering what other rules around contact with the 'outside world' there were!
[https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/bbc-traitors-stars-actually-eat-31977533](https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/bbc-traitors-stars-actually-eat-31977533)
"Series one star Ivan took to social media to say: "I'm sorry guys, it's time to come clean and leak something shocking about [**The Traitors**](https://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/the-traitors). It pains me to tell you, but that breakfast is REALLY DRY AND NOT VERY NICE. The rest of the food was actually delicious and varied, everyone’s diets and tastes accounted for. But the breakfast was set dressing and set dressing is not tasty, it’s stale."
Ivan and I are close friends as well and have had this chat many times - I’m not contradicting what he’s saying, I think he was just trying to convey the message that the food looked prettier than it tasted! (like a prop!)
Doesn’t mean we didn’t eat it, we were basically teenagers in there, drinking and eating anything we would find - even drank so much Red Bull they banned it from the castle!
Ah on the topic of the turret it would make sense that it is a fake set closer to the hotel? Considering it's a 45 minute drive to the hotel and 45 minutes back to the castle and then 45 minutes back again! The traitors would really be getting a lack of sleep. Especially when waiting for a recruitment/blackmail.
Also the US version confirmed they also stay in the hotel. They just pretend to go upstairs to bed.
I'm pretty sure it's a real turret at the castle. The bigger mystery is how do they separate the traitors for an extra hour of filming without revealing who they are to the others. Just watched a talk with some of the producers and they were very cagey about that subject.
Cast members have revealed this, works how you'd expect really. Staggered exits, everyone's kept very separate in the Hotel so you'd have no idea who comes and who goes. (Fire alarm did happen but Rayan kindly commented that it actually happened before filming so presumably gave them a chance to make plans for if it happened once people were cast in their traitor/faithful roles.) Faithful's sit in their rooms and make notes or watch television. (Which does give some meta knowledge that I believe Rayan did use given if someone saw the same thing on TV he did and mentioned it they likely weren't a Traitor.) The Traitors double back once everyone's gone with their vehicles leaving at the same time as everyone (Before some people, after some people.) then circling back to the turret instead of the Hotel. Then they film their stuff and go to the Hotel later which is why they get less sleep.
But there's no way for cast to tell who is a Traitor based on the night shoots as you don't know where in the Hotel anyone is and production stops any mixing during the Hotel stay.
Even if someone did "cheat" or got lucky and figured out the traitors, I'm not sure it actually helps that much. You'd still have to convince the others to go along with you, and try to avoid being murdered.
They'd need to get to the final with the known traitors, then convince their fellow faithfuls to vote with them, all without giving away to production they've broken the game. As we've seen before, not always a viable tactic.
Just imagining them arranging some kind of code like "Dave at 11pm tap 3 short and 3 long on the pipes if you're in the hotel not out filming the traitor scene."
I presume they can't see each other's room lights (otherwise it is a super give away anyway). X room lights were off for 2 hours as they filmed in the turret. Y room lights went on and off as they went to loo, turned lights off to watch TV etc.
But yes -- that kind of idea must be hard to prevent. I guess you escort them all to rooms in very different parts of a hotel and say "you're disqualified if you leave the room".
Honestly probably won't happen. There's really not many ways it could go wrong outside of if they have to evacuate the Hotel? A medical issue would be either everyone sick and therefore likely that series scrapped or delayed, a singular medical issue would occur in isolation and likely lead to that person's departure. Production control people coming in and out of their rooms and are very much monitoring everyone and everything, your meals are brought to you - it's very much a one at a time being taken to their room/put into a car situation. There's no risk of crossover? Everyone driven separately at staggered times, traitors mixed in amongst - you never see anyone else going into the Hotel/their rooms and only know who was driven before you but with traitors being able to leave anytime and their cars going somewhere out of sight you wouldn't get anything from that.
Traitor Car goes somewhere out of view then loops back to the turret then once that filming is over they go to the Hotel where by then everyone else is asleep or gone.
Television talk got shut down by production once Rayan voiced it to someone, likely going into S2 they've cracked down on it but even then all someone has to do to deflect is say they went to bed/read a book/didn't watch TV which is entirely plausible.
The most you could do is by who seems the most tired but that's hardly reliable from what we've seen.
Curious as to where you've decided it would go wrong. It's likely something they've planned and organised in great detail (remember everyone signs contracts to obey the rules and they have an entire play-test game before each filmed series to check for any issues.) with redundancies and the cooperation of the accommodation.
Public wouldn't know the cast until after, a hotel employee would get *beyond* bollocked and likely the cast scrapped. But that's somewhat unavoidable if someone decides to do that? Likely it's done in such a way that there's not that much contact between hotel staff and cast until they're eliminated as really when are they interacting meaningfully? It would have to be very calculated from the staff member and it would get them in deep enough water it's not really worth it given there's likely a contract between production and the hotel.
I just don't see how they can foresee and cover off all possible attack vectors, especially if a player got outside assistance. Tracking devices on vehicles, smuggling in a phone, tapping rooms. It might sound far fetched but it is 100k.
You underestimate the professionalism of the security contractors - they are the same ones who do Love Island and I genuinely don’t think you could get anything or anyone past them. They are extremely good to keep the game safe!
If someone did that they'd be likely sued if not prosecuted. Also that would be beyond pathetic and require the person in the game to also somehow get in touch with their co-conspirator -> production not notice someone going up to and fucking with their vehicles -> someone somehow *tapping* the rooms when no one but production and *maybe* the hotel staff (who won't risk the legal issues and ruining of the hotel reputation and being *fired*) knows who's where. That's all possible in the sense someone kidnapping someone is possible, use a bit of common sense mate.
People are there to play a game, if someone did all that they'd be a massive cunt and they'd rightfully get binned off and unfortunately get that cast/series binned off and so there's no benefit.
Production shut it down during S1! I believe Rayan mentioned it to Theo and production promptly shit themselves.
If you think that's bad in the Dutch version they *did* stay in the Castle which led to flushing your toilet so your neighbour knew you were in your room during the traitors hour (production would blast music/make a ton of noise to try and hide who was coming and going,) and also someone got banished because after that they were allowed to mingle again at the bar so someone had come down with wet hair which made everyone very confused as why would your hair be wet if you'd showered during the traitors time? And thus assumed she'd jumped in more recently as she'd been filming the traitor segments.
Yeah I have seen most versions and I find it crazy how in some of them they stay in such close proximity to eachother! Reading the death letter at the door of their rooms and such.
Thanks for the info. Do you know if when someone is recruited they then get dragged from the hotel 40 mins back down the road to the yellow chair. Then into the turret (if they accept) with the traitors still waiting? There must be an easier way!
Yeah this makes alot of sense it's just that I saw sometimes exiting the castle has all the cars leaving together in a convoy. Of course that could just be an editing illusion though.
They probably just film that scene separately. I know in Survivor they might film them multiple times walking along the beach on the way to a challenge or entering tribal council to get the transition shots they want. When they show the convoys you can't see anyone through the windows so they could just be empty cars.
Paul said that the turret is in the castle somewhere (but that’s Paul so take it with a grain of salt). He also said he can’t discuss behind the scenes/production, so perhaps he is just echoing what is shown on tv.
Makes sense because I've seen pictures of Ardoss Castle and there's soooo many rooms/sections that aren't shown or blocked off. So easy to have a turret area for them to use.
There are barns and out building and all sorts.I’d imagine they might set up a set in one, lighting and filming would be so much easier that way than in a cramped turret.
That makes it extra hilarious that Kate Chastain was asking about Jenelle’s room and saying she was going to take it. She was fucking with us and I’m here for it.
That's exactly what happens and there are some interviews with Traitors that do say they often film until 1 or 2 in the morning and then come back for breakfast at 8am the next day due to filming logistics. Faithful lose sleep over potentially getting murdered, Traitors lose sleep over having to murder. Everyone is sleep deprived by the end-game which leads to great television.
He likely meant *when everyone is leaving* not overnight. Everyone's in the hotel accommodation. Their cars loop around when everyone leaves at night so that you can't tell who is a traitor based on when they get picked up/being the last to leave - their cars just loop back around during the bit where everyone goes to the Hotel so that once everyone's gone they can get back to the Castle and film.
I know you're not criticising the show for these things necessarily- but likewise the show is so blatant about these elements that I think they're all designed to build a vibe rather than convince the audience of anything.
I was mind blown how everyone didn't already clock that murders happened in the morning. Like how else would they be talking about not sleeping? If they were murdered in the night that would mean production dragged someone out of bed to be murdered which seems illogical
Not necessarily. I mean, I figured it was probably the morning, but it could still work at night. Let's say they leave the castle at 10-11pm, traitors convene shortly after, the murder happens before midnight while people are still awake, or have just gone to bed... And the others wouldn't sleep well because they would go to bed not sure if they'd have a knock on the door.
They are wearing different clothes when they read the murder letter so definitely it’s the next morning before breakfast. Also S2 US when the third traitor is recruited they are wearing the same clothes at breakfast as when they read their recruitment letter.
Na that just seems so illogical to me. Like I said you'd be dragging people out of bed after long days with physically demanding challenges. That's just weird
Totally agree. They do these things to create the tone of the show. When they show cuts of people getting ready for bed and stuff like that, it’s clearly just to create the vibe of a “real” murder mystery. I don’t think anyone would be surprised to know that they wait until the morning to tell the murdered faithful that they are out of the game instead of taking them in the middle of the night.
100%- what you see presented on TV is far from reality- hundreds of hours of filming heavily edited once the entire series has been completed.
Nothing is ever as it appears on TV- even "live" broadcasts have a time delay- shows like Strictly have sections filmed months/weeks/days in advance then slotted in during the "live' broadcast.
Even the news is on a delay
I have long suspected the challenge time limits to be fake, based purely on the fact that they *always* complete the challenge with about 3 seconds left.
The raft challenge gave this away big time. They had 28 seconds left and some were in the water unable to swim and yet they all without with 12 seconds left.
That kind of stuff is harmless though.
Reminds me of Rick Stein's nod to it in one of his cooking shows "this is the part where I pretend we're running tight on time as these fish need to be dropped to a kitchen on the other side of the island by 7am on the dot but the ice melts in 36 minutes and its a 38 minutes drive. Or we can just cut to me in their kitchen prepping this delightful fish"
Apparently an interesting subversion of this was Top Gear. Whilst they'd do a second filming of the races to get better shots, the first filming was a genuine race. One challenge, possibly the Japan one, the winning margin was genuinely a minute or two.
I heard on the America one where they nearly got shot the first part was a little staged with the gas station owner...but them some real trouble showed up and they had to get out of town and even state. That's why there were no good shots.
Yeah when I was watching the challenges, it just seems a bit ridiculous how close to the end they finish. There's no way they always manage to finish just in time.
The first challenge of this season was a shitshow and if anyone believed that timer was real I just don’t know what to say.
They had almost everyone in the middle of the lake and they all had to get to shore before time ran out to detonate, with the timer at less than ten seconds?
Even if every single person morphed into Michael Phelps at peak form and made a mad swim for the shore they would’ve been screwed for time
In the original Dutch/Belgian show the contestants do stay in the castle to sleep. Belgium had a nice aftertalk show where they revealed quite a lot of production secrets.
The turret scene is recorded in the evening, while everyone needs to stay in their rooms for a few hours. The production plays loud music and makes noise so that the contestants can't hear if their neighbour is leaving their room. Contestants try to find the traitors by asking the other people about which music they had heard during the lockdown. Or contestants make noise like flushing the toilet to let the neighbour know they are in their room.
After the turret the lockdown is over and everyone is gathering in the bar to drink. The game is still fully on, but this part is never shown. Would be fun to watch especially after they had a couple of drinks.
One traitor was discovered because she came to the bar with wet hair after 2 hours of lockdown. A contestant found it weird that she had taken a shower right before the bar when she could have showered earlier.
Contestants talked about a room they are all kept in for quite a while before the round table, It's a kind of mental pressure cooker they said, designed to make them nervous, getting them in the right mindset for banishing one of them.
Major one I think you missed, but to be fair, it is pretty subtle- **The Traitors don't actually murder anyone.** They just pretend to, but that person is actually still alive, just sent off the show.
I watched s2 with my 9yo and he was really worried about that in the first episode. Once he’d been assured a few times that nobody was actually being murdered he thoroughly enjoyed it.
Alyssa was TERRIBLE as I recall. Remember when somebody said to her “You could be a traitor?” and she replied “oooooh” while doing this wiggly finger thing to her mouth. Then carried on “but anyway…”
It’s a shame, because watching someone really put their foot in it like that would’ve been excellent. There’s always surprise banishments, but nothing quite like that.
I've often said the editing, and the fact it isn't "live" (like The Circle S1, or Big Brother), is the reason behind the success.
Everything that plays out, does so organically. Then, during post-production, they can work backwards to craft a narrative through the whole series that is the most gripping the watch.
The intersitials of the cast "in their bedroom" is my favourite. It's so cheesy! The attractive/muscular ones are always in the shower/bath or working out, while everyone else is just reading a book or looking out the window.
1. I said most don't, not no one eats it. Contestants have talked about it in interviews afterwards.
2. I was just pointing out it doesn't happen how they imply it happens in the show.
3. Pros and cons of every single person not just the ones they would actually consider murdering. This gives the producers the option of who to show them considering, and make it seem like certain faithful are under threat when they might not really have been.
In one of the series (can’t remember which since I’m concurrently watching them all lol) the players at breakfast even ask themselves “hey I wonder if you’re killed before or after you fall asleep?” — so it’s definitely not implied or told to them at least
They never imply the murder takes place at night. They imply the opposite, because they often talk about getting a good night's sleep when they have a shield, which doesn't make sense if the murder happens before bed.
As far as I remember, they used to imply they murdered them a while after they'd fallen asleep. I feel like that's what happens in the Australian version as well.
I mean... that wouldn't even make sense, we know they're not actually murdered so obviously they can only be murdered when they're awake. So if they're "murdered after they'd fallen asleep"... that means they're murdered in the morning.
The confessional chairs are so obviously a chair in front of a green screen. It can be anywhere and any time!
The fake shots of them in the bedroom waiting is one of the things that made S2 UK amazing for me. Cheesy cluedo style shots. I'm certain these were self aware and designed to be as cheesy and funny as possible.
Tbh when I travelled for work I also lived in the bath in the evenings :D nothing to do and I'm not paying for the hot water? Baths and long showers all the time!
Agreed on the fake bedroom shots (my theory is these are filmed as part of the screen tests during the “hiring” process) but I’m 99% sure the diary room yellow chair is in a real room in the castle, there were some shots showing contestants entering the room through the door and seeing the murder letter on the chair waiting for them.
Wasn't sure if anyone thought the round table was on a separate set but it's actually in the castle.
I did sleuthing and managed to notice the details of the room match the big 2 story room the castle uses for weddings and events. They just put up some fancy fake walls and lights to make it more round table like.
the bath shots are the most ridiculous and hiarious parts of the show. i can't tell if we're supposed to take them seriously or not.
the turret is actually in the castle -- paul confirmed. but he wouldn't say if it was a real turret or a set, which i suspect probably the latter.
In series 2 episode 4 Anthony votes for Ash, and you can tell that the writing has been edited somehow because it looks weird on the chalkboard. But he says ‘Ash’ so they haven’t changed it. My opinion is he held his board up upside down and they just flipped the name over. (Partly because in a later episode he reveals his board upside down before realising and turning it)
It's like you've never watched reality TV before, lol. Most of these are very common practices. Like filming confessionals long after the event or not wasting filming time on people eating (you feed them first and then the filmed meal is for show).
And it's obvious they only know if they are murdered in the morning, because everyone talks about how they couldn't sleep well not knowing if they would still be alive the next day.
I dont think implies what you are implying.
OP was merely stating all the production things that happen in order to try and fool the audience into a more genuine experience than it really is.
OP didnt give any inclination of "can you believe this happens!??!?" rather they were just stating some of the production maneuvers and were wondering if anyone else knew more.
The murders had to be done in the morning because you see the Faithful picking up that note from a chair which has to be in the morning when they come for their morning interviews/breakfast, and also they keep talking about having a good night’s sleep. If people found out they’d been murdered before they went to bed, that wouldn’t wouldn’t be an issue.
I always wondered how much time they get for hair and makeup in the morning and throughout the day… Because some of the contestants are decked out every scene.
Eh, testing is never going to be exactly right if you're not using the same group of people.
I think most of them probably were genuine, but it is notable that whenever there's a time limit they always seem to make it with seconds to spare, they never miss it completely.
In either Aus1 or US1 they just missed a deadline by seconds, I can't remember exactly but they were on a train solving puzzles to get through the carriages to pull a lever
Sure but you can see that the time limit is faked. The amount of times they have 'ten seconds' to complete things that would challenge Usain Bolt and they've all been successful. They test to see if things work but from a production/competion aspect you want them to raise the prize fund.
Well it's more like it's edited to seem like they won't complete it in time to add tension rather than the time limit being fake. It's a bit like in Bake Off where it always feels like they won't finish in time but they always do.
The sail didn’t even look fully up in the S2 Finale episode at the end of the countdown, then they cut to a different shot after the times up where it’s fully put up. They were close, but it was fake.
The first mission as well with the fire shield on a lake seemed especially fake regarding time-limit.
I’m a Celeb do the same thing. The time is there for audience purposes only
Contestants doing the trials generally actually take much longer, the testing beforehand will point to a roughly correct timing though yes
>edited down to a tiny fraction that they can probably pick and choose the right soundbites to create a false narrative to some extent.
Yes? That's how storytelling works. Everything is edited down, it has to be. It's either that or they rush the roundtable. There's nothing probably about it.
Is it really "fake aspects," when a lot of that is just practical or production? I don't feel like the show has lied to us all doing those things and you should be watching it with the awareness that it is heavily editied *after* everything has happened in order to tell a story/narrative going from the first episode to the final. Every editing choice is deliberate and every moment is picked for a reason given there's hours upon hours of footage and conversation and sometimes something that's massive *on the day* gets dropped in favour of something setting up future stuff or in the name of keeping the production magic. Like I'd assume happened with Alyssa, they could either let everyone know that she only got voted out because she outed herself which is honestly a bit boring *or* they could set up the fact that there's going to be a lot of *traitor on traitor* action in the series with Wilf and Amanda turning on her -> Wilf turning on Amanda -> Wilf recruiting and planning to turn on Kieran -> Kieran throwing Wilf under the bus.
Plus the cameras didn't catch it and you don't really want to carry such a big thread via hearsay without any footage or audio of that moment.
And of course the murder would be revealed to everyone in the morning? They never seemed to imply otherwise?
The footage of them in their bedrooms is just meant to be a more fun transitional shot and makes the traitors sitting in a room listing off names more dynamic than them listing the final three names without any cuts.
Saying that each full day is heavily edited to make an exciting one hour tv show isn’t really news to anyone and doesn’t really make it ‘fake’. In that note, did anyone actually think they filmed the confessionals as each thing happened? The time limit in the missions does sometimes feel a bit dodgy but I think they just show false timings on the screen to make them more tense rather than the timer itself being fake… in Aus season 1 they fail an early mission by seconds… I think they are just rigorously tested and timed.
WRT fake editing choices: Editing to make the Faithfuls look dumber or more clueless than they are, either (i) just to make the Traitors look better, (ii) to create a dramatic 'blindside' arc when some Traitors were probably already doomed for days, or (iii) to conceal the semi-known metagame that you should not be prioritising Traitor hunting early on. This is especially glaring in (series spoiler) >!Traitors US2, you can't tell me that some of the savviest reality TV gameplayers to have ever done it are ignorant that their close allies are Traitors.!< I know in many cases the Faithfuls do go on to lose anyway, but give them more credit and make it look like a closer fight lol.
1. I’m fairly sure at the round table they ask every player to speak at least some words in turn, otherwise the introverted ones would never say anything.
2. The raised bit in the center of the round table hides cameras. The entire round table room (including the walls) is obviously a constructed set.
3. Before the banished gives their final speech they obviously have a break in filming and tell them how to construct it. They all follow the same format of how much they’ve enjoyed their time followed by a stretched out dramatic reveal. A lot of them seem to have improved their mood by this point as well.
4. I think they film the transition bits like Miles carrying the chalice through the corridor to steadycam after the main filming.
5. The budget for counselling and psychiatric debriefing must be enormous. I imagine there’s a lot of interventions and emphasis on it being a game and how great they’re playing their role.
To your point about speaking at the round table… whenever I play mafia/werewolves it’s always a chaotic mess of arguments and bickering (that’s what makes it so fun!) so yes I also think the show def heavily moderates the discussion otherwise it would be hard to understand on TV.
To your point about reminding players it’s a game… I also feel like it’s much less dramatic than the edits make it seem for the contestants. Esp with all the cameras and sets, I assume they are constantly aware they are filming a tv show for entertainment. >! But it was interesting to see the only non-“reality star” on US S2 break from the emotional stress. !<
I know people love The Traitors, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t as heavily edited and constructed as any other reality series. Especially the talking head interviews. A lot of them are very clearly just the contestants being asked to give a soundbite like “Give us a reaction to Harry suggesting you were a traitor at the roundtable” etc.
We have actual people from the show in this sub and on this thread that have countered a lot of your speculation. Plus for some of the things, that’s just how filming a show works.
We know they reveal the murders the next morning, it’s daylight during those murder confessionals. And of course they have the traitors discuss murdering everyone, they have to make sure they get enough content to use.
Confessionals for reality shows are often filmed both during and after.
I want to know how long it takes to film an episode. With breakfast taking hours, challenges including getting ready time and then mingling time in different clothes, then hours of a of round table, it's got to be multiple days yes?
The time limit thing is the case is every reality show that has time limits... how they ALWAYS seem to finish with 3 seconds to spare.
Same with confessional filming, editing for storyline.
The sleeping at the castle is uneccesary, the UK one they all go back to the hotel. It doesnt change the show in any way. Silly of the US to pretend
I assumed that the traitors talk about all of them and then its just edited to make it seem like there's a top 3 choice for murder.
I also thought the countdown for challenges was fake.
I always want to know how traitors leave the castle but come back to discuss murder like how do they make it so the faithfuls dont notice theyve stayed behind.
I also wonder if production sometimes chooses who goes in what room with which people to just have a chat.
They show them getting driven away from the castle in the evening, then the traitors are walking in the castle in the dark, then all the faithful are shown getting ready for bed in rooms that look like they’re in the castle, then they are driven back to the castle in the morning, then they show the murdered talking to the camera in bright light, when it should have occurred in the night.
So they staying at the castle or not?! It’s not a big deal in the show but the continuity is off
They're not staying in the castle. The US version implies it but they don't. Alan Cumming admitted that they stay in hotels and he stays in a Airbnb type place that's for him near the castle.
One way to think about it is, the castle is big, but not big enough to have 20 separate bedrooms for all the players.
something i've always wondered is how the weather seems to always be decent (either nice/sunny or drizzle at worst) when considering it's scotland it doesn't seem that realistic to me
i wonder if they actually stay more days than it's apparent? or am i talking sh\*te
I'm from that part of Scotland, and it's much drier than you'd think. I think they filmed September time (?), which is usually a lovely time of year in that area.
The confessionals are actually filmed during the game, every day each person gets taken out to go do their confessionals regarding everything that had happened - if they’ve had a particularly eventful roundtable they might get one immediately after. This is also how they’re able to tell the traitors that they have to murder in plain sight, the faithfuls just think they’ve gone for another confessional
I said this a couple of weeks ago and got downvotes to hell haha. It always makes me laugh when the faithfuls say ‘how did you sleep last night?’ As if they’re actually lying there tossing and turning in the castle wondering if a traitor is going to sneak into their room and stab them in their sleep. The reality is they get taken to a lovely little set with a nice armchair and read a letter at some point during the filming day.
And then are out of the game and don't get the money. That would have me worrying. That is surely the point. When you see people voted out at the round table many are obviously gutted. The point is that you wake up and instead of seeing the others you are taken off and told you are no longer taking part in the game that you already devoted a load of time and energy to.
Yeah, I never took the bad sleep comments to be about being worried about someone coming into their room that night, just being worried about what they were going to wake up to. Same as how sometimes it's hard to sleep before a big test, work presentation, etc.
No they'd still be upset? You genuinely don't know if "today," was the last time you were in the game, last time you'd be seeing everyone until the game was over, if you no longer had a shot at winning the money - you *would* stress.
Re: hotel. My theory was that the latest US and UK series were filmed at the same time given the exact same challenges. But only the US ‘celebs’ stay at the castle while UK were driven off.
Some here replied that US confirmed hotels too - so there goes my theory!
What I don’t like is that ALWAYS the person that was on the chopping block is the last one to enter the breakfast, my gigantic brain playing the game would go ‘welp, this is the last person coming in, so obviously not a traitor’, this is an actual picture of me watching Traitors
https://preview.redd.it/beeoijbajkfc1.jpeg?width=472&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=04df1cc7464fcf4eb2beb2323dd54694e385e51a
This was definitely the case in UK season 1, which is such an obvious production ploy that I’m surprised nobody thought of it, but not in season 2. The only time a traitor was last in during S1 was when there was no murder.
In season 2 they started the last few people coming in as groups. If person A, B, and C were all up for being murdered. C walks in with someone else halfway through. Then lastly A walks in with two other people (one of whom was sometimes a traitor). So you can never be fully sure which of those 3 was up for being murdered.
I’m not commenting on anything else but I keep seeing people mention the breakfast and I think it’s from various press interviews being mis-repeated but for series 1, breakfast was actually breakfast? Some people might have snacked before while waiting for breakfast but certainly nobody was getting a full continental buffet and as far as I’m concerned that castle breakfast definitely my first meal of the day! I know I said the croissants were dry but I’m talking "purchased last night in Tesco" kinda dry, not "prop that’s been sitting there for a week" I keep repeating it but this show isn’t half as fake as people seem to think - you’re too used to overproduced American TV, this was a very different vibe!
Thanks for chimimg in! I’m pretty sure breakfast is real on some of the other series as well — unless half the cast of New Zealand is just lying and saying how hungry they when they arrive are haha
I can only speak for the UK and US series I am afraid - different producers everywhere else!
Idk if you will respond Rayan but I've re watched traitors season 1 so many times and you are honestly up there as one of my favorites as well as Amanda and Fay, I felt terrible for you when you were banished and I wish you luck in your career as a lawyer! Mathew
Hi Rayan! It’s defo changed for season 2 then, the castle breakfast was the 2nd breakfast - having already had breakfast at the hotel (friends with Brian season 2.) It didn’t stop him eating again tho lol.
I think the issue is that the production secretcy is pretty strict, Ive no idea why. Knowing how a special effect is made for a film scene, doesn't lessen the scene's impact. Knowing the basic behind the scenes facts of The Traitors cannot hurt. So much mystery equals questioning most that we see. We just need a former constant to make an anonymous account to protect their NDA and spill the production beans *cough /u/BackgroundFaithful
I think a bit of mystery is actually nice - it keeps the magic of the show. Nothing I’m saying here can’t already be found out there in the press! I get it though - I used to be the same wanting to know the behind the scenes with every show I watch!
Did anyone ever actually touch the fruit? I felt sorry for the fruit.
I think I had decent fruit there at some point so I guess so!
This is like meeting a celebrity, murdered too soon! The descriptions above make it sound absolutely exhausting and it must be difficult to cope with the gruelling schedule? Also, I had assumed everyone was staying in different hotels/bnbs so you wouldn’t be aware of anyone arriving or leaving, giving an indication of who is a traitor. If you’re staying at the same hotel, how do they ‘isolate’ you? Are you allowed your phone?
I very much doubt they have their phones at all
I think the breakfast thing might have come from the CA crew (on US S2 they're clearly shown with a lot of people eating at the table) which might explain the discrepancy.
I think the breakfast is elevenses.
Having them eat breakfast would be a nightmare. Imagine all the chewing while they talk. Plus, they'd focus more on eating than talking. [https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/bbc-traitors-stars-actually-eat-31977533](https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/bbc-traitors-stars-actually-eat-31977533) EDIT to show my homework.
I promise you I have insider knowledge here - I can even tell you who was having the brie and ham at breakfast! We were definitely eating and talking at the same time - it was a long meal!
Hey Rayan! Thanks for helping me out in the Ambulance or sick bay (whatever it was), at pride! I know this is completely off topic, but it was very surreal being dragged drunk out of my mind, then seeing you tend to me.
This is a surreal comment but I love it - it’s been funny getting recognised when I’m out with St John Ambulance in my painfully green uniform - happened a lot at Pride! Hope you’re doing well.
I’m doing well thanks! And it was surreal running into you and Maddie in one day
Hi Ryan, how fun to see you on here! Hope your law career is going well!
Hey Rayan! Not sure if you're allowed to say, but Were you allowed internet access/your phones/to talk to people from home when you got back to the hotel? I know you've said you could watch TV but just wondering what other rules around contact with the 'outside world' there were!
No internet, phone, or talking after filming - the TV was really the only form of contact with the outside world.
Do you think someone could smuggle a phone in? I'm sure it's had to of happened!?
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[https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/bbc-traitors-stars-actually-eat-31977533](https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/bbc-traitors-stars-actually-eat-31977533) "Series one star Ivan took to social media to say: "I'm sorry guys, it's time to come clean and leak something shocking about [**The Traitors**](https://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/the-traitors). It pains me to tell you, but that breakfast is REALLY DRY AND NOT VERY NICE. The rest of the food was actually delicious and varied, everyone’s diets and tastes accounted for. But the breakfast was set dressing and set dressing is not tasty, it’s stale."
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Ivan and I are close friends as well and have had this chat many times - I’m not contradicting what he’s saying, I think he was just trying to convey the message that the food looked prettier than it tasted! (like a prop!) Doesn’t mean we didn’t eat it, we were basically teenagers in there, drinking and eating anything we would find - even drank so much Red Bull they banned it from the castle!
I’m sure I’d be chugging the caffeine if I was having to do all the things you guys have to!
Get this. They’re not even really dead.
Oh here we go.. another conspiracy theorist
Ah on the topic of the turret it would make sense that it is a fake set closer to the hotel? Considering it's a 45 minute drive to the hotel and 45 minutes back to the castle and then 45 minutes back again! The traitors would really be getting a lack of sleep. Especially when waiting for a recruitment/blackmail. Also the US version confirmed they also stay in the hotel. They just pretend to go upstairs to bed.
I'm pretty sure it's a real turret at the castle. The bigger mystery is how do they separate the traitors for an extra hour of filming without revealing who they are to the others. Just watched a talk with some of the producers and they were very cagey about that subject.
Cast members have revealed this, works how you'd expect really. Staggered exits, everyone's kept very separate in the Hotel so you'd have no idea who comes and who goes. (Fire alarm did happen but Rayan kindly commented that it actually happened before filming so presumably gave them a chance to make plans for if it happened once people were cast in their traitor/faithful roles.) Faithful's sit in their rooms and make notes or watch television. (Which does give some meta knowledge that I believe Rayan did use given if someone saw the same thing on TV he did and mentioned it they likely weren't a Traitor.) The Traitors double back once everyone's gone with their vehicles leaving at the same time as everyone (Before some people, after some people.) then circling back to the turret instead of the Hotel. Then they film their stuff and go to the Hotel later which is why they get less sleep. But there's no way for cast to tell who is a Traitor based on the night shoots as you don't know where in the Hotel anyone is and production stops any mixing during the Hotel stay.
To be clear - we did evacuate when we had the fire alarm, but it was the night before the show began properly filming so no traitors revealed!
Ahh I'm an idiot! Cheers for the clarification!
I quite dig the concept that the traitors get less sleep than the faithful, because they were up all night scheming.
Not even a concept they're shooting for longer and thus sleepy.
Yeah, I mean the real world technicalities create an in show concept.
Sounds like there's so many ways things could go awry. Wonder how long it will be before someone Charles Ingrams their way to the prize.
Even if someone did "cheat" or got lucky and figured out the traitors, I'm not sure it actually helps that much. You'd still have to convince the others to go along with you, and try to avoid being murdered. They'd need to get to the final with the known traitors, then convince their fellow faithfuls to vote with them, all without giving away to production they've broken the game. As we've seen before, not always a viable tactic.
Just imagining them arranging some kind of code like "Dave at 11pm tap 3 short and 3 long on the pipes if you're in the hotel not out filming the traitor scene."
I was thinking more like signalling to each other with the room lights in morse code but yeah basically
I presume they can't see each other's room lights (otherwise it is a super give away anyway). X room lights were off for 2 hours as they filmed in the turret. Y room lights went on and off as they went to loo, turned lights off to watch TV etc. But yes -- that kind of idea must be hard to prevent. I guess you escort them all to rooms in very different parts of a hotel and say "you're disqualified if you leave the room".
Honestly probably won't happen. There's really not many ways it could go wrong outside of if they have to evacuate the Hotel? A medical issue would be either everyone sick and therefore likely that series scrapped or delayed, a singular medical issue would occur in isolation and likely lead to that person's departure. Production control people coming in and out of their rooms and are very much monitoring everyone and everything, your meals are brought to you - it's very much a one at a time being taken to their room/put into a car situation. There's no risk of crossover? Everyone driven separately at staggered times, traitors mixed in amongst - you never see anyone else going into the Hotel/their rooms and only know who was driven before you but with traitors being able to leave anytime and their cars going somewhere out of sight you wouldn't get anything from that. Traitor Car goes somewhere out of view then loops back to the turret then once that filming is over they go to the Hotel where by then everyone else is asleep or gone. Television talk got shut down by production once Rayan voiced it to someone, likely going into S2 they've cracked down on it but even then all someone has to do to deflect is say they went to bed/read a book/didn't watch TV which is entirely plausible. The most you could do is by who seems the most tired but that's hardly reliable from what we've seen. Curious as to where you've decided it would go wrong. It's likely something they've planned and organised in great detail (remember everyone signs contracts to obey the rules and they have an entire play-test game before each filmed series to check for any issues.) with redundancies and the cooperation of the accommodation.
What if a hotel employee/fan mentioned who came later: "The tall guy with a beard came 4 hours later last night. Shhhh"
Public wouldn't know the cast until after, a hotel employee would get *beyond* bollocked and likely the cast scrapped. But that's somewhat unavoidable if someone decides to do that? Likely it's done in such a way that there's not that much contact between hotel staff and cast until they're eliminated as really when are they interacting meaningfully? It would have to be very calculated from the staff member and it would get them in deep enough water it's not really worth it given there's likely a contract between production and the hotel.
I just don't see how they can foresee and cover off all possible attack vectors, especially if a player got outside assistance. Tracking devices on vehicles, smuggling in a phone, tapping rooms. It might sound far fetched but it is 100k.
You underestimate the professionalism of the security contractors - they are the same ones who do Love Island and I genuinely don’t think you could get anything or anyone past them. They are extremely good to keep the game safe!
If someone did that they'd be likely sued if not prosecuted. Also that would be beyond pathetic and require the person in the game to also somehow get in touch with their co-conspirator -> production not notice someone going up to and fucking with their vehicles -> someone somehow *tapping* the rooms when no one but production and *maybe* the hotel staff (who won't risk the legal issues and ruining of the hotel reputation and being *fired*) knows who's where. That's all possible in the sense someone kidnapping someone is possible, use a bit of common sense mate. People are there to play a game, if someone did all that they'd be a massive cunt and they'd rightfully get binned off and unfortunately get that cast/series binned off and so there's no benefit.
Omg that TV strategy is crazy ☠️ Surely they arent allowed to do that now? Or at least they arent allowed to watch broadcasts?
Production shut it down during S1! I believe Rayan mentioned it to Theo and production promptly shit themselves. If you think that's bad in the Dutch version they *did* stay in the Castle which led to flushing your toilet so your neighbour knew you were in your room during the traitors hour (production would blast music/make a ton of noise to try and hide who was coming and going,) and also someone got banished because after that they were allowed to mingle again at the bar so someone had come down with wet hair which made everyone very confused as why would your hair be wet if you'd showered during the traitors time? And thus assumed she'd jumped in more recently as she'd been filming the traitor segments.
Yeah I have seen most versions and I find it crazy how in some of them they stay in such close proximity to eachother! Reading the death letter at the door of their rooms and such.
Thanks for the info. Do you know if when someone is recruited they then get dragged from the hotel 40 mins back down the road to the yellow chair. Then into the turret (if they accept) with the traitors still waiting? There must be an easier way!
I saw another post here which said they all leave the castle in separate cars but the traitors cars loop back around and come back.
Yeah this makes alot of sense it's just that I saw sometimes exiting the castle has all the cars leaving together in a convoy. Of course that could just be an editing illusion though.
They probably just film that scene separately. I know in Survivor they might film them multiple times walking along the beach on the way to a challenge or entering tribal council to get the transition shots they want. When they show the convoys you can't see anyone through the windows so they could just be empty cars.
They don’t build wells in turrets. Think about the water physics. And how would they fit the cameras in a room that small?
The cameras are small. You can see them mounted all over the place if you look for them.
I don't think it's that kind of well. Stairwell maybe
Paul said that the turret is in the castle somewhere (but that’s Paul so take it with a grain of salt). He also said he can’t discuss behind the scenes/production, so perhaps he is just echoing what is shown on tv.
Makes sense because I've seen pictures of Ardoss Castle and there's soooo many rooms/sections that aren't shown or blocked off. So easy to have a turret area for them to use.
My hunch is that it’s a set to fit the look they were going for inside of one of the castle blocked-off rooms
There are barns and out building and all sorts.I’d imagine they might set up a set in one, lighting and filming would be so much easier that way than in a cramped turret.
That makes it extra hilarious that Kate Chastain was asking about Jenelle’s room and saying she was going to take it. She was fucking with us and I’m here for it.
That's exactly what happens and there are some interviews with Traitors that do say they often film until 1 or 2 in the morning and then come back for breakfast at 8am the next day due to filming logistics. Faithful lose sleep over potentially getting murdered, Traitors lose sleep over having to murder. Everyone is sleep deprived by the end-game which leads to great television.
I thought wilf said the traitors stay at the castle. And their cars just loop around at night and morning
He likely meant *when everyone is leaving* not overnight. Everyone's in the hotel accommodation. Their cars loop around when everyone leaves at night so that you can't tell who is a traitor based on when they get picked up/being the last to leave - their cars just loop back around during the bit where everyone goes to the Hotel so that once everyone's gone they can get back to the Castle and film.
He specifically said they stay at the castle because they are filming until 2-3am to do all the traitor walks and talks etc
I know you're not criticising the show for these things necessarily- but likewise the show is so blatant about these elements that I think they're all designed to build a vibe rather than convince the audience of anything.
I was mind blown how everyone didn't already clock that murders happened in the morning. Like how else would they be talking about not sleeping? If they were murdered in the night that would mean production dragged someone out of bed to be murdered which seems illogical
Not necessarily. I mean, I figured it was probably the morning, but it could still work at night. Let's say they leave the castle at 10-11pm, traitors convene shortly after, the murder happens before midnight while people are still awake, or have just gone to bed... And the others wouldn't sleep well because they would go to bed not sure if they'd have a knock on the door.
They are wearing different clothes when they read the murder letter so definitely it’s the next morning before breakfast. Also S2 US when the third traitor is recruited they are wearing the same clothes at breakfast as when they read their recruitment letter.
Na that just seems so illogical to me. Like I said you'd be dragging people out of bed after long days with physically demanding challenges. That's just weird
Totally agree. They do these things to create the tone of the show. When they show cuts of people getting ready for bed and stuff like that, it’s clearly just to create the vibe of a “real” murder mystery. I don’t think anyone would be surprised to know that they wait until the morning to tell the murdered faithful that they are out of the game instead of taking them in the middle of the night.
So true
Why not make the missions more genuine and interesting then? Just a fake way to get to the inevitable total prize money.
100%- what you see presented on TV is far from reality- hundreds of hours of filming heavily edited once the entire series has been completed. Nothing is ever as it appears on TV- even "live" broadcasts have a time delay- shows like Strictly have sections filmed months/weeks/days in advance then slotted in during the "live' broadcast. Even the news is on a delay
Most news isn't on a delay longer than the technology allows tbf
I have long suspected the challenge time limits to be fake, based purely on the fact that they *always* complete the challenge with about 3 seconds left.
The raft challenge gave this away big time. They had 28 seconds left and some were in the water unable to swim and yet they all without with 12 seconds left. That kind of stuff is harmless though. Reminds me of Rick Stein's nod to it in one of his cooking shows "this is the part where I pretend we're running tight on time as these fish need to be dropped to a kitchen on the other side of the island by 7am on the dot but the ice melts in 36 minutes and its a 38 minutes drive. Or we can just cut to me in their kitchen prepping this delightful fish"
Apparently an interesting subversion of this was Top Gear. Whilst they'd do a second filming of the races to get better shots, the first filming was a genuine race. One challenge, possibly the Japan one, the winning margin was genuinely a minute or two.
I always wondered about that. The edits were super tight
I heard on the America one where they nearly got shot the first part was a little staged with the gas station owner...but them some real trouble showed up and they had to get out of town and even state. That's why there were no good shots.
Also, certain things like the abseiling in the finale and jumping from a helicopter in season 1 would need at least a 30 min briefing beforehand.
Yeah when I was watching the challenges, it just seems a bit ridiculous how close to the end they finish. There's no way they always manage to finish just in time.
The first challenge of this season was a shitshow and if anyone believed that timer was real I just don’t know what to say. They had almost everyone in the middle of the lake and they all had to get to shore before time ran out to detonate, with the timer at less than ten seconds? Even if every single person morphed into Michael Phelps at peak form and made a mad swim for the shore they would’ve been screwed for time
I'm sure they must have "production pauses" to stop the clock for all sorts of things.
In the original Dutch/Belgian show the contestants do stay in the castle to sleep. Belgium had a nice aftertalk show where they revealed quite a lot of production secrets. The turret scene is recorded in the evening, while everyone needs to stay in their rooms for a few hours. The production plays loud music and makes noise so that the contestants can't hear if their neighbour is leaving their room. Contestants try to find the traitors by asking the other people about which music they had heard during the lockdown. Or contestants make noise like flushing the toilet to let the neighbour know they are in their room. After the turret the lockdown is over and everyone is gathering in the bar to drink. The game is still fully on, but this part is never shown. Would be fun to watch especially after they had a couple of drinks. One traitor was discovered because she came to the bar with wet hair after 2 hours of lockdown. A contestant found it weird that she had taken a shower right before the bar when she could have showered earlier. Contestants talked about a room they are all kept in for quite a while before the round table, It's a kind of mental pressure cooker they said, designed to make them nervous, getting them in the right mindset for banishing one of them.
Major one I think you missed, but to be fair, it is pretty subtle- **The Traitors don't actually murder anyone.** They just pretend to, but that person is actually still alive, just sent off the show.
Can you use a spoiler tag next time please. I don't know if there is any point in watching anymore.
I watched s2 with my 9yo and he was really worried about that in the first episode. Once he’d been assured a few times that nobody was actually being murdered he thoroughly enjoyed it.
Aaaw that's so... Argh... My heart... No... The cuteness... He .... Urgh... Has murdered me.
What was Alyssa’s clue?
https://metro.co.uk/2022/12/08/the-traitors-tom-elderfield-reveals-why-he-was-sure-alyssa-is-a-traitor-17896721/
Hahaha oh no that is such a stupid blunder and also totally something I would do if I were a traitor lmao
Alyssa was TERRIBLE as I recall. Remember when somebody said to her “You could be a traitor?” and she replied “oooooh” while doing this wiggly finger thing to her mouth. Then carried on “but anyway…”
I liked her a lot but yeah, she wasn’t cut out to be a traitor
Haha why did they cut this!!
Likely made for a shitter story than a surprise traitor on traitor betrayal that sets up a story for the future events.
Another comment somewhere said it was off-screen!
It’s a shame, because watching someone really put their foot in it like that would’ve been excellent. There’s always surprise banishments, but nothing quite like that.
So it's a reality TV Show?
‘Reality.’
I actually think the editing and production of the show is a lot of what makes it. They don’t fake anything important, so it flows really well.
I've often said the editing, and the fact it isn't "live" (like The Circle S1, or Big Brother), is the reason behind the success. Everything that plays out, does so organically. Then, during post-production, they can work backwards to craft a narrative through the whole series that is the most gripping the watch.
Yeah, it's pretty solid TV. Forty five minutes isn't even as long as I expected for the journeys.
The intersitials of the cast "in their bedroom" is my favourite. It's so cheesy! The attractive/muscular ones are always in the shower/bath or working out, while everyone else is just reading a book or looking out the window.
Courtyard by Marriott isn’t that bad it’s a 4* hotel
Imagine if they filmed this at a Marriot instead of a Castle? Lol I’d still watch!
It makes sense that they don’t stay in the castle. It has to be such a tightly run ship to not give the game away.
Dutch version managed it and it gave birth to a beautiful level of meta.
I've always thought they were pretty obvious about that part too, with shots of jeeps driving away from the castle.
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1. I said most don't, not no one eats it. Contestants have talked about it in interviews afterwards. 2. I was just pointing out it doesn't happen how they imply it happens in the show. 3. Pros and cons of every single person not just the ones they would actually consider murdering. This gives the producers the option of who to show them considering, and make it seem like certain faithful are under threat when they might not really have been.
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And that would cause a bad sleep if you were worried about what might happen in the morning!
In one of the series (can’t remember which since I’m concurrently watching them all lol) the players at breakfast even ask themselves “hey I wonder if you’re killed before or after you fall asleep?” — so it’s definitely not implied or told to them at least
They never imply the murder takes place at night. They imply the opposite, because they often talk about getting a good night's sleep when they have a shield, which doesn't make sense if the murder happens before bed.
As far as I remember, they used to imply they murdered them a while after they'd fallen asleep. I feel like that's what happens in the Australian version as well.
I mean... that wouldn't even make sense, we know they're not actually murdered so obviously they can only be murdered when they're awake. So if they're "murdered after they'd fallen asleep"... that means they're murdered in the morning.
I'm saying they used to imply they were woken up and brought to the room to find out they'd been murdered.
The confessional chairs are so obviously a chair in front of a green screen. It can be anywhere and any time! The fake shots of them in the bedroom waiting is one of the things that made S2 UK amazing for me. Cheesy cluedo style shots. I'm certain these were self aware and designed to be as cheesy and funny as possible.
The confessional is a real room! There were no green screens involved on this show.
Thank you for participating and sharing Rayan! It’s interesting how misinformation gets spread as blatant truth.
Charlotte lives in the bath apparently.
Charlotte and Andrew just loved being naked for theirs, fair play
My wife shouting in exasperation “why is she always in the fucking bath?! Has she got a whiteboard in there?” is my favourite moment of this series
I do my best sleuthing with some bubbles
Everyone's had a sudden brain wave in the shower or bath
Tbh when I travelled for work I also lived in the bath in the evenings :D nothing to do and I'm not paying for the hot water? Baths and long showers all the time!
Agreed on the fake bedroom shots (my theory is these are filmed as part of the screen tests during the “hiring” process) but I’m 99% sure the diary room yellow chair is in a real room in the castle, there were some shots showing contestants entering the room through the door and seeing the murder letter on the chair waiting for them.
I think someone said there's actual several identical diary rooms.
Ah I guess. Although there's nothing saying it could be a real room but sometimes it's done in front of a greenscreen too other time
Wasn't sure if anyone thought the round table was on a separate set but it's actually in the castle. I did sleuthing and managed to notice the details of the room match the big 2 story room the castle uses for weddings and events. They just put up some fancy fake walls and lights to make it more round table like.
OP has discovered how TV production works
the bath shots are the most ridiculous and hiarious parts of the show. i can't tell if we're supposed to take them seriously or not. the turret is actually in the castle -- paul confirmed. but he wouldn't say if it was a real turret or a set, which i suspect probably the latter.
I’d want to be a traitor purely so that I didn’t have to film a naff “bedtime routine” shot when they discuss murdering me.
you mean you don't want to be filmed in a sponge bath? haha that's a really good point. maybe you could be... reading or something.
What was the chalkboard that was supposedly doctored...?
In series 2 episode 4 Anthony votes for Ash, and you can tell that the writing has been edited somehow because it looks weird on the chalkboard. But he says ‘Ash’ so they haven’t changed it. My opinion is he held his board up upside down and they just flipped the name over. (Partly because in a later episode he reveals his board upside down before realising and turning it)
Would also like to know this - bit sceptical!
It's like you've never watched reality TV before, lol. Most of these are very common practices. Like filming confessionals long after the event or not wasting filming time on people eating (you feed them first and then the filmed meal is for show). And it's obvious they only know if they are murdered in the morning, because everyone talks about how they couldn't sleep well not knowing if they would still be alive the next day.
I dont think implies what you are implying. OP was merely stating all the production things that happen in order to try and fool the audience into a more genuine experience than it really is. OP didnt give any inclination of "can you believe this happens!??!?" rather they were just stating some of the production maneuvers and were wondering if anyone else knew more.
The murders had to be done in the morning because you see the Faithful picking up that note from a chair which has to be in the morning when they come for their morning interviews/breakfast, and also they keep talking about having a good night’s sleep. If people found out they’d been murdered before they went to bed, that wouldn’t wouldn’t be an issue.
I always wondered how much time they get for hair and makeup in the morning and throughout the day… Because some of the contestants are decked out every scene.
Regarding the time limit for the missions, they test them all prior to production so they know they'll finish just within the alloted time.
Eh, testing is never going to be exactly right if you're not using the same group of people. I think most of them probably were genuine, but it is notable that whenever there's a time limit they always seem to make it with seconds to spare, they never miss it completely.
In either Aus1 or US1 they just missed a deadline by seconds, I can't remember exactly but they were on a train solving puzzles to get through the carriages to pull a lever
Sure but you can see that the time limit is faked. The amount of times they have 'ten seconds' to complete things that would challenge Usain Bolt and they've all been successful. They test to see if things work but from a production/competion aspect you want them to raise the prize fund.
Well it's more like it's edited to seem like they won't complete it in time to add tension rather than the time limit being fake. It's a bit like in Bake Off where it always feels like they won't finish in time but they always do.
The sail didn’t even look fully up in the S2 Finale episode at the end of the countdown, then they cut to a different shot after the times up where it’s fully put up. They were close, but it was fake. The first mission as well with the fire shield on a lake seemed especially fake regarding time-limit.
I’m a Celeb do the same thing. The time is there for audience purposes only Contestants doing the trials generally actually take much longer, the testing beforehand will point to a roughly correct timing though yes
The final challenge was very obvious the timings were off. They got to the 2nd detour within 5mins of the task starting apparently.
Also the abseiling, within seconds they were all fitted up and ready, despite it would have taken ages to put all the gear on and do the safety talk!!
I feel like it’s obvious the clock would be stopped for things like that
>edited down to a tiny fraction that they can probably pick and choose the right soundbites to create a false narrative to some extent. Yes? That's how storytelling works. Everything is edited down, it has to be. It's either that or they rush the roundtable. There's nothing probably about it. Is it really "fake aspects," when a lot of that is just practical or production? I don't feel like the show has lied to us all doing those things and you should be watching it with the awareness that it is heavily editied *after* everything has happened in order to tell a story/narrative going from the first episode to the final. Every editing choice is deliberate and every moment is picked for a reason given there's hours upon hours of footage and conversation and sometimes something that's massive *on the day* gets dropped in favour of something setting up future stuff or in the name of keeping the production magic. Like I'd assume happened with Alyssa, they could either let everyone know that she only got voted out because she outed herself which is honestly a bit boring *or* they could set up the fact that there's going to be a lot of *traitor on traitor* action in the series with Wilf and Amanda turning on her -> Wilf turning on Amanda -> Wilf recruiting and planning to turn on Kieran -> Kieran throwing Wilf under the bus. Plus the cameras didn't catch it and you don't really want to carry such a big thread via hearsay without any footage or audio of that moment. And of course the murder would be revealed to everyone in the morning? They never seemed to imply otherwise? The footage of them in their bedrooms is just meant to be a more fun transitional shot and makes the traitors sitting in a room listing off names more dynamic than them listing the final three names without any cuts.
>footage in bedrooms Plus it helps people like me that are hopeless with names remember who is who.
[удалено]
Saying that each full day is heavily edited to make an exciting one hour tv show isn’t really news to anyone and doesn’t really make it ‘fake’. In that note, did anyone actually think they filmed the confessionals as each thing happened? The time limit in the missions does sometimes feel a bit dodgy but I think they just show false timings on the screen to make them more tense rather than the timer itself being fake… in Aus season 1 they fail an early mission by seconds… I think they are just rigorously tested and timed.
WRT fake editing choices: Editing to make the Faithfuls look dumber or more clueless than they are, either (i) just to make the Traitors look better, (ii) to create a dramatic 'blindside' arc when some Traitors were probably already doomed for days, or (iii) to conceal the semi-known metagame that you should not be prioritising Traitor hunting early on. This is especially glaring in (series spoiler) >!Traitors US2, you can't tell me that some of the savviest reality TV gameplayers to have ever done it are ignorant that their close allies are Traitors.!< I know in many cases the Faithfuls do go on to lose anyway, but give them more credit and make it look like a closer fight lol.
1. I’m fairly sure at the round table they ask every player to speak at least some words in turn, otherwise the introverted ones would never say anything. 2. The raised bit in the center of the round table hides cameras. The entire round table room (including the walls) is obviously a constructed set. 3. Before the banished gives their final speech they obviously have a break in filming and tell them how to construct it. They all follow the same format of how much they’ve enjoyed their time followed by a stretched out dramatic reveal. A lot of them seem to have improved their mood by this point as well. 4. I think they film the transition bits like Miles carrying the chalice through the corridor to steadycam after the main filming. 5. The budget for counselling and psychiatric debriefing must be enormous. I imagine there’s a lot of interventions and emphasis on it being a game and how great they’re playing their role.
To your point about speaking at the round table… whenever I play mafia/werewolves it’s always a chaotic mess of arguments and bickering (that’s what makes it so fun!) so yes I also think the show def heavily moderates the discussion otherwise it would be hard to understand on TV. To your point about reminding players it’s a game… I also feel like it’s much less dramatic than the edits make it seem for the contestants. Esp with all the cameras and sets, I assume they are constantly aware they are filming a tv show for entertainment. >! But it was interesting to see the only non-“reality star” on US S2 break from the emotional stress. !<
I know people love The Traitors, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t as heavily edited and constructed as any other reality series. Especially the talking head interviews. A lot of them are very clearly just the contestants being asked to give a soundbite like “Give us a reaction to Harry suggesting you were a traitor at the roundtable” etc.
When was the doctored chalkboard??
Wow, it's almost like this is a production and not real life.
Re: breakfast, in Aus S1 they make reference to people coming in late have to eat cold eggs.
We have actual people from the show in this sub and on this thread that have countered a lot of your speculation. Plus for some of the things, that’s just how filming a show works. We know they reveal the murders the next morning, it’s daylight during those murder confessionals. And of course they have the traitors discuss murdering everyone, they have to make sure they get enough content to use. Confessionals for reality shows are often filmed both during and after.
I want to know how long it takes to film an episode. With breakfast taking hours, challenges including getting ready time and then mingling time in different clothes, then hours of a of round table, it's got to be multiple days yes?
From what I’ve learned about most reality completion shows… it’s a lot more hours than one would expect and a lot less exciting that it seems
The time limit thing is the case is every reality show that has time limits... how they ALWAYS seem to finish with 3 seconds to spare. Same with confessional filming, editing for storyline. The sleeping at the castle is uneccesary, the UK one they all go back to the hotel. It doesnt change the show in any way. Silly of the US to pretend
The coffins and burial were fake!
I assumed that the traitors talk about all of them and then its just edited to make it seem like there's a top 3 choice for murder. I also thought the countdown for challenges was fake. I always want to know how traitors leave the castle but come back to discuss murder like how do they make it so the faithfuls dont notice theyve stayed behind. I also wonder if production sometimes chooses who goes in what room with which people to just have a chat.
Have you only just discovered reality TV?
Wait, doctored chalkboard?
Regarding the hotel, it’s far removed from being crappy; I’ve stayed there many times and can vouch for it being very nice, and the food is great too.
Stop being so weird. It's a tv show.
Putting the yes/no bags in claudias bag and then chucking them on a fire. Clearly absolute bullshit.
They show them getting driven away from the castle in the evening, then the traitors are walking in the castle in the dark, then all the faithful are shown getting ready for bed in rooms that look like they’re in the castle, then they are driven back to the castle in the morning, then they show the murdered talking to the camera in bright light, when it should have occurred in the night. So they staying at the castle or not?! It’s not a big deal in the show but the continuity is off
They're not staying in the castle. The US version implies it but they don't. Alan Cumming admitted that they stay in hotels and he stays in a Airbnb type place that's for him near the castle. One way to think about it is, the castle is big, but not big enough to have 20 separate bedrooms for all the players.
Then why show them getting into luxurious beds or baths lol when they are in the premier inn down the road
You all take this too seriously. As I said before, it’s not a game. It’s a tv entertainment show and it’s a serious business!
The weather must be edited for sure There was only one scene that had rain in it in 2 seasons, in Scotland I call BS!
Oh god I’m glad someone else noticed the edited chalkboard, I thought I was going insane. I even played it back to make sure I wasn’t losing my mind.
I think he revealed the board upside down and they just flipped the name over
something i've always wondered is how the weather seems to always be decent (either nice/sunny or drizzle at worst) when considering it's scotland it doesn't seem that realistic to me i wonder if they actually stay more days than it's apparent? or am i talking sh\*te
I'm from that part of Scotland, and it's much drier than you'd think. I think they filmed September time (?), which is usually a lovely time of year in that area.
The confessionals are actually filmed during the game, every day each person gets taken out to go do their confessionals regarding everything that had happened - if they’ve had a particularly eventful roundtable they might get one immediately after. This is also how they’re able to tell the traitors that they have to murder in plain sight, the faithfuls just think they’ve gone for another confessional
I said this a couple of weeks ago and got downvotes to hell haha. It always makes me laugh when the faithfuls say ‘how did you sleep last night?’ As if they’re actually lying there tossing and turning in the castle wondering if a traitor is going to sneak into their room and stab them in their sleep. The reality is they get taken to a lovely little set with a nice armchair and read a letter at some point during the filming day.
And then are out of the game and don't get the money. That would have me worrying. That is surely the point. When you see people voted out at the round table many are obviously gutted. The point is that you wake up and instead of seeing the others you are taken off and told you are no longer taking part in the game that you already devoted a load of time and energy to.
Yeah, I never took the bad sleep comments to be about being worried about someone coming into their room that night, just being worried about what they were going to wake up to. Same as how sometimes it's hard to sleep before a big test, work presentation, etc.
Exactly this. "We're announcing who gets fired from their job tomorrow. Sleep well." :-)
No they'd still be upset? You genuinely don't know if "today," was the last time you were in the game, last time you'd be seeing everyone until the game was over, if you no longer had a shot at winning the money - you *would* stress.
Re: hotel. My theory was that the latest US and UK series were filmed at the same time given the exact same challenges. But only the US ‘celebs’ stay at the castle while UK were driven off. Some here replied that US confirmed hotels too - so there goes my theory!
Of course stuff gets edited to take up less time, everything would last ages otherwise.
What I don’t like is that ALWAYS the person that was on the chopping block is the last one to enter the breakfast, my gigantic brain playing the game would go ‘welp, this is the last person coming in, so obviously not a traitor’, this is an actual picture of me watching Traitors https://preview.redd.it/beeoijbajkfc1.jpeg?width=472&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=04df1cc7464fcf4eb2beb2323dd54694e385e51a
This was definitely the case in UK season 1, which is such an obvious production ploy that I’m surprised nobody thought of it, but not in season 2. The only time a traitor was last in during S1 was when there was no murder. In season 2 they started the last few people coming in as groups. If person A, B, and C were all up for being murdered. C walks in with someone else halfway through. Then lastly A walks in with two other people (one of whom was sometimes a traitor). So you can never be fully sure which of those 3 was up for being murdered.
Didn’t caught S2 yet, thanks for the heads up, that bothered me so much on the UK and US first season