The twists and turns are over, at least as far as events at Slane Castle are concerned. The first series – but surely not the last – of The Traitors Ireland was “a win for women”, plus a victory for instinct, loyalty and some of the most on-the-money reasoning ever seen on television’s most compelling reality franchise.
“Nothing against the boys,” hastily adds Kelley Higgins, one of a trio of faithful, alongside Oyin Adeyemi and Vanessa Ogbonna, to triumph in the show’s ceremonial endgame.
“The boys”, aka the traitors’ alliance of Nick O’Loughlin and Ben Donohue, are sitting right beside them, their heads held high after performing the role that was asked of them in a show where treachery is the name of the game.
But there’s no escaping the fact that after 12 episodes of highs, lows, fights, tears, lies, betrayals, air-punches and hugs that were not what they seemed, a strong sisterhood defeated an enduring bromance, and the traitors’ chance of winning went up in literal flames.
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“We got too big for our boots. Later on, we got too eager, thinking we could do it. But the girls played an amazing game in the sense that they kept their heads. They were evaluating every situation,” reflects Nick.
“I do think it is poetic justice,” says Vanessa. “Because if you watch the timeline of the show, the girls were at the centre of a lot of the findings. I think the boys closed a lot of the deals for us, but I think we laid down a lot of foundations.”
They’ve known the outcome for five months, but spirits among the three winners at RTÉ’s finale screening event at Clayton Hotel Ballsbridge on Tuesday night are understandably high, and there are whoops and applause from the audience as both traitors are unmasked.
Each will now receive €14,300 – their share of €42,900 collectively gleaned through various cast missions from a possible prize pot of €50,000. It’s not as much as the £94,600 (€108,000) shared by two contestants on the most recent BBC series, but it’s nothing to sniff at either.
Past international iterations of The Traitors have seen some faithful contestants fluke their way to a win. Satisfyingly, each of the three Irish winners contributed to the final gameplay.
Kelley was the holder of a crucial “swing vote” in the final episode and chose correctly. “I actually would rather have been played by women than played by men,” she says. Phew!
Oyin – who astutely pinpointed traitor-on-traitor clashes earlier in the series – was detective-in-chief. (“Are you clairvoyant?” Kevin McGahern, host of spin-off show Uncloaked, wondered.) Why does she think she read the game so well?
“I put it down to having a lot of time to reflect on how the day went, and just putting things together, with my journal. My strategy going into the game at the beginning was to listen more than I speak because that way I feel like you’re really able to take things in,” she says.
Vanessa says she momentarily doubted Oyin after “the second mistake” – referring to a banishment of Faye Brennan, a faithful, in the penultimate episode – but their support for each other ultimately proved unbreakable.
In the jubilant concluding moments, before she confirmed her faithful status, Vanessa also delivered the best dramatic pause of the entire series.
Kelley admits to being thrown by this. “It was so iconic the way you did that,” she tells her. “But at the time I thought, ‘She’s going to turn round and take all the money, isn’t she?’”
I enjoyed my time as a faithful. You can be yourself, you can be honest. You’re not being a bad person. Whereas as a traitor, it’s a deeper game on a deeper level, and unfortunately you upset people, and it’s not nice for anybody
— Contestant, Nick
As a result of the three-way split, Oyin is now off to Japan, Kelley is helping to pay off her parents’ mortgage – luckily, “there’s not a lot left” on it – while an elated Vanessa’s plan is “to just blow it”.
But what of the defeated traitors?
“We’re delighted for the girls. We’re all really good friends and really close, so we actually couldn’t be happier for them. Honestly,” says Ben.
“The experience was, in total, amazing,” says a sanguine Nick.
“The worst part is nearly not losing the money, it’s getting the abuse off the three of them now,” jokes Ben.
“The drinks are on them,” chimes in Nick.
His friendship with Ben, though it might have been his undoing, was “something special”, he says. “Obviously it wasn’t good enough to beat the three girls, but it was a nice thing to have in an intense environment.”
Both Nick and Ben were initially designated as part of the faithful before being blackmailed into becoming traitors, with Nick having previously rejected an attempt to recruit him to the traitors’ side.
“I enjoyed my time as a faithful. You can be yourself, you can be honest. You’re not being a bad person. Whereas as a traitor, it’s a deeper game on a deeper level, and unfortunately you upset people, and it’s not nice for anybody,” he says.
“I didn’t want to ever turn.”
Several standout members of the 24-strong cast are now adjusting to the reality-TV spotlight. Paudie Moloney, one of the original traitors, has even signed up to do panto.
“It was easy obviously before the show aired. Nobody knows you’re on it. As soon as the show’s on air, you have people coming up asking you about it,” says Ben. “But, no, it’s fine.”
For RTÉ, it’s better than fine. The Traitors Ireland, presented with aplomb by Siobhán McSweeney, was a huge success from the outset and soon became an intergenerational, appointment-to-view phenomenon, while also raking in on-demand business via the RTÉ Player.
[ The Traitors craic, wit and wolfhounds has restored my pride in IrelandOpens in new window ]
Gráinne McAleer, its commissioning editor at Montrose, says about a million people watched each episode across platforms, describing this as being “like 12 All-Ireland finals”.
Darren Smith, managing director of production company Kite Entertainment, which makes the series and owns the Irish rights to the format, says he has the feeling it was “like 12 Toy Shows”, with the series galvanising RTÉ after “a bumpy few years” and pulling off the elusive trick of getting teenagers watching television with their parents again.
Is this his biggest ever hit?
“Ah, yeah. This time too will pass. We’ll be back to making shows where we blame the scheduler and marketing for nobody turning up. But while this is happening, we’re going to love the moment.”
One cliffhanger remains. Will The Traitors Ireland return for a second series?
“I hope so, yeah, subject to contract,” says RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst, speaking outside the Clayton as we’re surrounded by extras in gold masks and hooded robes standing impassive guard at the entrance. (Irish wolfhounds, part of the iconography of the show, soon make an appearance for a photoshoot.)
“Everyone is being very grown up. They want it and we want it,” says Smith of its prospects of renewal.
“I’d be very optimistic that we’ll be making a second series. My absolute complete belief and strategy is that it will be [on] RTÉ, but I’m very optimistic that we’ll be making a second series either way.”
The cast go through “a spectrum of emotions” while filming the show, as Oyin says in the final episode.
But for the architects of the Irish version of The Traitors, the overwhelming feeling as the TV dust settles is sheer joy.
