EXCLUSIVE: One Specific.co.uk journalist acquired to grips with the betrayal of the BBC actuality present.
I attempted out the Traitors Stay Expertise (Picture: Jess Phillips) This text accommodates affiliate hyperlinks, we are going to obtain a fee on any gross sales we generate from it. Study extra
I’ve – maybe inadvertently, for probably the most half – watched loads of sequence of BBC Traitors, from the UK authentic to the celeb version to the Irish, New Zealand and Australian variations. I’ve seen Faithfuls and Traitors activate one another, I’ve seen murders in plain sight, and I’ve seen sufficient gold-getting missions to encourage a number of extra actuality reveals. So in fact when the prospect to play The Traitors in actual life got here up, I couldn’t say no.
Whereas anybody can apply for the true BBC present, with solely 22 spots per sequence and a rigorous software course of, many people won’t ever get the prospect to take weeks off work to compete for a £120,000 prize pot. As an alternative, The Traitors Stay Expertise gives followers of the present an opportunity to step into the programme for 3 hours as an alternative of three weeks.
We use your sign-up to offer content material in methods you have consented to and to enhance our understanding of you. This may increasingly embrace adverts from us and third events primarily based on our understanding. You’ll be able to unsubscribe at any time. Learn our Privateness Coverage
Nestled in central London, the expertise feels each like entering into an escape room venue and like coming into a secret tunnel into the Traitors citadel itself. Contestants emerge right into a bar filled with real props from the present – on the partitions I spy a set of the dying match playing cards from sequence three, together with the skeleton portray utilized in that episode. There’s additionally an correct reconstruction of the confessional room within the library, the place followers can strive on a Traitors cloak for an impromptu photoshoot. There’s additionally, in fact, a present store promoting themed merchandise.
The eye to element is uncanny – themed cocktails can be found from the bar, starting from the Traitor’s Tipple to the Smoke and Dagger. Over a spiral staircase main down into the sport space, a quartet of hooded mannequins stand round a dangling brazier – lending a chilling environment to the air.
I’m right here with a pal. Teams of as much as 14 gamers compete at a time, and in our group everyone seems to be in a pair. We’re launched to one another within the bar earlier than the sport begins, and by the point we’re all led into our assigned room we’re chatting like previous associates.
However, in fact, all of that is about to vary. As soon as we’re welcomed into the room by our ‘Claudia’ – on this case, Cassandra – we’re about to seek out out who’s a Trustworthy and who’s a Traitor. Wannabe Traitors can volunteer to be a villain forward of time by ticking a field on a submission kind, however till we’re sitting across the desk blindfolded – similar to within the TV present – no person is bound which method the hammer will fall.
The sport is clearly barely much less elaborate than the true factor, however no much less enjoyable. Our ‘missions’ to collect gold – AKA a excessive rating – happen within the ‘daytime’, earlier than ostensibly night time falls and we’re blindfolded once more for a homicide to happen.
In all honesty, the missions are loads more durable than they appear on tv. Some are normal escape room fare – looking out the room for the solutions to riddles, or competing in a real-life spot the distinction. Others are trickier, regarding the phases of the moon and communing with the ‘useless’ – our not too long ago departed teammates.
In between all of it, in fact, are the roundtables. To my shock, the missions are each harder and extra anxious – by the point it involves defending my innocence and accusing a supposed Traitor, issues really feel thrilling. I’m in my ingredient as I pick somebody I’m certain is a Traitor and, one after the other, flip the room in opposition to her.
Solely, she’s not a Traitor. She’s a Trustworthy. I’m unsuitable, and suspicion falls on me. I can really feel each eye on the room fall on me as if a highlight is illuminating me and I do know I’ve put my foot in it, maybe fatally.
I survive, by some means, by the pores and skin of my tooth. I’m “quiet”, apparently, which makes me suspicious, but in addition lets me fly below the radar till solely six gamers stay. Lastly, moderately than being murdered, I’m betrayed by my pal, who votes me as a suspected Traitor and banishes me. It’s nonetheless considerably nerve-wracking to face on the entrance of the room and reveal that I’m a Trustworthy.
The venue contains actual props from the sequence (Picture: Jess Phillips)
All through all this, our host Cassandra is in her personal ingredient – if Claudia Winkleman ever quits her internet hosting position, she’s a powerful contender for her alternative. She’s theatrical and hilarious and rolls her eyes within the excellent moments.
After my banishment, I’m despatched to sit down in a special room with a TV display exhibiting our staff on digital camera – similar to the real-life present. The remaining contenders head into the Traitors’ turret, a properly realised reproduction of the tower from the present.
Nonetheless, banished gamers aren’t out of the sport completely. They’re the ‘useless’, in a position to talk via a sequence of buttons with the remaining gamers throughout sure missions. One in all my fellow gamers tells me it’s simply as enjoyable watching as it’s enjoying.
In the long run, my preliminary suspicions had been proper. Not solely did my pal betray me, she’s been a Traitor all alongside, recruiting one of many Trustworthy to her trigger and lasting till the endgame. However it’s our Faithfuls – two of them – that win the day, and it appears like a real victory regardless that I’m banished.
Actually, The Traitors Stay Expertise felt like a mini model of the TV programme, in fact condensed right into a smaller time slot, however forging friendships and alliances and changing into detectives for a short few hours. It’s straightforward to see why so lots of the real-life gamers stay associates for years after their sequence has aired.
Tickets for The Traitors Stay Expertise begin at £32.50 for a “household pleasant” sport, although 18+ experiences are additionally accessible in the direction of the tip of the afternoon.
Leave a Reply