Cork woman and The Traitors star: ‘Being Irish gave me the upper hand’

“BEING Irish and from Schull was something I was able to weaponise when playing the game,” says Alyssa Chan, who was a contestant on the BBC reality TV show The Traitors: Season 1.

The popular programme is back for a second season and has the 23-year-old reliving her memories from her time in Ardross Castle in Scotland.

“Being Irish gave me the upper hand. Everyone loves Irish people, so in the castle, it was another weapon I had to my advantage. I even hammed up the accent when I could.”

Alyssa was among 22 contestants chosen to play the game, which centres around completing a series of missions to win a grand prize of up to €140,000.

The group of faithful must also work together to weed out the traitors — one of whom was Alyssa — before the traitors can “murder” them in their sleep.

Despite being born in Kerry, Alyssa says moving to Schull when she was nine years old really solidified her identity.

“I always call myself a Cork girl. Nothing beats Schull. Not a lot of people can say their classroom looked out onto the sea. It also surprises me how many people in Britain know Schull. It’s very popular. I think it’s because a lot of famous people have houses there. I go back when I can and I’ll always call it home.”

After finishing her Leaving Certificate in Schull, Alyssa moved to Edinburgh and studied business management at Queen Margaret University.

There she graduated with first-class honours and has been working as a digital marketer in London since September.

“It’s nice to have a 9-5 job, as you never know how life after a reality TV show will go.”

But Alyssa says she still gets treated differently since appearing on the small screen.

“It’s so strange to be recognised. I’d be sitting in college trying to do my dissertation in the library and people would come up asking me for photos. It was hilarious. I also get recognised a lot more since season two started. I think many people have gone back and watched the first season on the BBC Player. Even my following on social media has really started to grow.”

It’s no surprise that Alyssa’s face is etched into the minds of fans of the show. The series saw an average audience of 5.4m, with a peak of 6.2m for the first episode.

By the end of February 2023, The Traitors had been viewed over 34m times on BBC iPlayer. It also went on to win two statuettes at last year’s Baftas.

It’s hosted by Claudia Winkleman, who builds the tension and treachery between the contestants inside the castle, while also screaming at them as they jump out of helicopters or put their hands into a bowl of maggots.

“Although Claudia always had to appear like this scary woman during the missions, she was lovely and kind.

“She had to be neutral during the game, but as soon as I got banished I got to speak to her one-on-one, and she was so amazing and comforting. She was very maternal and spent 10 or 15 minutes hugging me before I left.”

But before Alyssa was outed by the other contestants, she had to walk a tightrope of pretending to be a faithful, when she was really one of three traitors.

She was eventually the first traitor to be voted off the show in week five, so would she have done anything differently?

“I definitely would have been more brutal. I would have played for myself as opposed to the traitor’s team. Watching it as a viewer it’s so easy to say ‘they should do this, or they should do that’ but when you are actually in it, it’s a whole other ball game.”

Sussing out who is a traitor and who is not, is one of the most compelling parts of the show.

Unlike other reality TV shows that use a public vote or a panel of judges, the game is in the hands of the contestants.

They meet every night in the castle to banish one of their own and it’s often the scene of tears and tantrums.

“The Round Table is so horrendous and awful. It lasts about an hour, so is much longer than what is edited for TV. It’s hard to explain how nerve-wracking they are. Your stomach is in bits and if someone says your name you think ‘Nooo’. It’s just a game, but it’s so highly immersive that it genuinely feels like life or death when you are taking part. I think when I was banished I was kind of relieved, which is mostly why I broke down.

“I was so happy I didn’t have to do it anymore. It was a lot of pressure having to say every sentence in your head before you spoke. And doing that for hours a day was so exhausting. My brain was just mush. Afterwards, I went straight home to my mum. I was trying to be the nicest I could, and not compromise any of my own morals. But I think I would understand more now, that it is just a game and that everyone will still be my friend afterwards.”

And she was right. Alyssa remains friends with the entire group of her former teammates.

“We have a Whatsapp group with all the contestants. We’re really close. You can’t go through a show like that and not be naturally bonded, because no one else will get it. We even went on holidays to Amsterdam together. I’m the closest to Meryl, Theo, and Hannah — two of which eventually went on to win the show and prize money.”

So how does Alyssa feel now that she’s the one watching the latest group of contestants backstab and lie to each other?

“I think Jaz has a good chance of winning this season if it’s a faithful. He has already correctly picked Paul and Harry as traitors, but he’s keeping that quiet so that is a good tactic. I think if a traitor gets to the final, it’ll be Harry. He’s playing such a clever game. He’s playing in a similar way to how I played, but he has more of a ruthless edge.”

The show is gaining more viewers week-on-week, so why does Alyssa feel it’s so successful?

“It is a social experiment. At first it can feel like a popularity contest, but then the tables always turn so quickly, you’re never safe no matter what kind of person you are. When it comes to trying to guess a traitor, you are clutching at straws. 

"There are so many variables to the game and there is no blueprint. There is no way to know how you should play it, as everyday changes, you’re really on your feet the whole time. And I think that’s great to watch.”

The latest contestant to be axed by the traitors was also Irish. Diane Carson was murdered in plain sight on Wednesday night after being passed a “poison chalice”— or a glass of fizzy rose — by traitor Miles, sealing her fate. The 63-year-old former teacher is from Northern Ireland, secretly entered the show with her son Ross, who’s still in with a chance of winning the cash prize.