It’s been two years since Meryl Williams took home victory as a Faithful on the first season of The Traitors, standing alongside Aaron Evans and Hannah Byczkowski in a finale that kept viewers on edge until the final moments when Wilfred Webster was unmasked as a Traitor.
Now, speaking to Betway, the star said the show has evolved since, insisting this year’s cast are more ‘clued up’ than ever before, and she has explained there is a lot that goes on that viewers don’t see. She says the series has become more difficult since her own appearance, with contestants more likely to ‘secretly sabotage’ tasks.
Meryl also opened up about what really happens before the traitors decide who they want to murder and the one thing that made her experience ‘uncomfortable’.
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Startinbg at the Round Table, Meryl said: ““It’s so, so intense. The round table is also a lot longer than what’s shown on the show. Obviously the show is an hour long, but you are sitting around the table for I’d say a couple of hours. When you go back to your room you literally just sleep because it’s so emotionally and physically draining. You don’t want to speak to anyone for another 12 hours! It’s definitely heightened too because everyone is looking at everyone, trying to pick up on clues. It feels like you’re getting attacked! It’s also freezing in the room – I think that they do this deliberately to make you feel even more uncomfortable.
“The people on this season are definitely more clued up though – I don’t think anyone really realised the little slip ups on our season, like Wilfred basically admitted he was a traitor around the round table but nobody clicked onto it! Whereas now, I feel like they are all for themselves. It’s dog eat dog! It definitely feels like they are coming in with a gameplan, unlike in the first season. We had a bond as everything was happening for the first time. We had no expectations, we just wanted to be friends and find the traitors. We were definitely a lot closer than the contestants from series three so far. It’s weird because now the traitors have to try and secretly sabotage the missions – whereas for us this was the only time that everyone pulled their weight and worked together!”
Meryl says there was one key rule when she was on the show, adding: “You weren’t allowed to talk to the other contestants after filming. Obviously if someone was to make a breakthrough or thought they had figured it out, they wanted that to be filmed. All interactions were on camera. Minus at food times – these were the only times you weren’t being filmed. But as I say, I think that’s changed a little now and even more parts of their days are filmed.”
Meryl also explained how the murder scenes actually work. She said: “When the traitors decide to kill someone they go to the turret. I never saw it as I was never a traitor but from what Wilfred and Alyssa said to me, once we go home, they stay back. The cars come to pick us all up individually in the evening, just so they can make sure that there are no crossovers. The traitors’ cars then go to leave but then do a U-turn back to the castle. They then go to the turret and decide there and then who is getting murdered. Before breakfast everyone has a one to one interview on camera, it’s like the Big Brother diary room. This is where the person who’s been ‘murdered’ receives the letter to tell them. I got pulled into the room a few times before breakfast and just presumed it was me who was being murdered, it can be confusing!”
On her time with host Claudia Winkleman, Mertyl said: “She would come out for the filming and say what she had to say, then she would leave again. She loved us, especially the more time we were on the show for. She was also very invested in the show, but she had a job to do. She probably wanted to keep her distance a bit because you don’t want to build a relationship with people and then suddenly then could just leave. So yes, it was very professional.
“I was very jealous of her having people come in to do her hair and makeup. She would have makeup artists and stylists coming in. We were just staring at her in awe whilst she was getting her touch ups – like ‘can I have one too, please?’
“The tasks in the day can take four or five hours. You are out for the whole afternoon. It’s a long old day with all of the filming and everything going on. Especially as the tasks are so physical as well – so you know, it’s quite a lot!
“I literally went straight to bed after filming. We had no phones or anything, just a TV, but you’re so physically and emotionally drained from the whole day that you just sleep. The whole day you’re on high alert, you take part in physical challenges and a lot of these will take hours. So yes, it’s very tiring, you just sleep.”
Meryl added: “We had no idea what was going to be chucked at us. Not being able to prepare – especially for our season, as we had nothing to base it on. Watching seasons two and three, they were going in with game plans, they all had strategies, they knew how to work it and they knew what mistakes were made in the first season so could avoid these mistakes. We went in completely blind.”
And she is often asked whether it is really hard to find a traitor. Meryl said: “Well, it looks so easy when you’re watching it! It’s really hard when you’re in it because you’re with those people for like 10 hours a day, it’s a long time. You miss those subtle clues that give the traitors away. So unless you’re really good at spotting those, it’s tough. You’re building relationships with these people and you start to think they could never do that to you. You start to feel like a family, but you actually don’t know these people at all. It is a game after all. It’s frustrating because for viewers it makes out that it’s a lot more simple than it actually is. People would come up to me and ask how I didn’t guess the traitors!
“Someone could be crying in your face for an hour saying they are not a traitor, they swear on their family’s life and then turn out to be lying! It is really hard morally, like you don’t know what to do. There are also different ways that you can play it because Armani was definitely too full on. That’s when you put a target on your back, especially if you’re a big character.
“I think the most important thing is to just be yourself. Charlotte on this season is putting on a fake Welsh accent – and I just think people will notice and eventually catch her out. Then they may think that she is lying about being a faithful, too. It just makes it easier to slip up if you’re lying about something. Go in and be your authentic self. You can then build real connections and be yourself and have a good time on the show. But definitely be grateful and just have fun!”
Now that she’s back to reality, it has been an adjustment for Meryl. She said: “It was quite surreal! I just went back to my normal day to day life and my 9-5 and acted like nothing happened. It’s like being on holiday, it’s really hard to adjust to life after. Once it aired, it completely changed my life. I mean, I had a normal job working in customer service before The Traitors, and my biggest dream was just to leave. I was so unhappy. I didn’t like the 9-5 routine. I was hoping The Traitors would open some doors and I could quit my job. And that was the first thing I did. It has completely 360’d my life! I went to the NTA’s with The Traitors and we won. I’ve been to the BAFTA’s and got a nomination for an Audience Award. It’s also opened a lot of doors for me, and hopefully more in the future too!
“I’ve definitely kept in touch with people from my series. We all had a really good friendship which I don’t think is the case now or with the previous season. They are constantly trying to catch each other out – like I don’t think we even found a traitor until like episode six? Back then we were clueless, but now they would have you sussed.
“I think I have a little bit of money left. I always keep a little bit of money to the side in my savings just in case. I didn’t want to blow it all. I got a forehead reduction as it was something that I always wanted. I also quit my job! That was probably the biggest thing for me. I went on holiday and then just enjoyed myself, enjoyed life. I also live at home with my mum so I treated her too. There was no materialistic possession that I wanted so it was mostly freedom!”
She added: “One of the reasons that I chose to go onto the show was to show people that I can do the exact same as everyone else. And I think as well when people see me physically, they obviously automatically assume, oh, she can’t do that. There were some adjustments in some of the missions, but I could do all of them the exact same as everyone else. I also wanted to show people with the same condition as me that they are capable of doing things that everyone else can do too. I got messages from people with my condition who were watching it saying how good it was to see someone with dwarfism on the TV, and how well I was represented. It’s great to see more of a diverse group of people because this definitely didn’t happen a few years ago.”