First look: I went behind the scenes of The Traitors Ireland — here's what I learned
Vicki Notaro on set at The Traitors Ireland.
On a dreary morning in March, I got an email that stopped me in my tracks.
By order of , it proclaimed, you have been summoned to an exclusive set reveal.
After reading it twice, seeing that it did in fact come from RTÉ and appeared legitimate, I let out an involuntary squeal.
These are the assignments a writer dreams of — especially a writer with a particular penchant for reality television.
And reader, that I do have. So much so, that my debut novel revolves entirely around the world of unscripted TV and its inhabitants.
After replying an enthusiastic YES, I began to count down the days.
needs no introduction, but allow me to give it a worthy one.
Originally conceived of in the Netherlands as and bearing a striking resemblance to the party game Mafia, it is a show where a motley crew of randomers are holed up together in a castle and must work out who amongst them has been chosen to be an all-knowing traitor.
All the while, the dastardly gang are murdering the faithfuls (not really, just sending them home) while the entire team works together on tasks physical and mental to accrue prize money.
At the end, if there’s even a single traitor left in their midst, they will claim the fund, so it’s imperative the poor oul faithfuls rid themselves of any baddies.
The result is a delightful, Machiavellian smorgasbord of bare faced lies, distrust, and paranoia for our viewing pleasure, and it became a smash hit when it found its way to the BBC and Claudia Winkleman’s trusty, shiny fringe.
The format has now spread around the world, to Australia, Canada, France, and America, the latter of which almost exclusively casts existing reality stars instead of civilians.
Irish company Kite Entertainment snapped up the rights to make our very own version, and that is why I find myself on the grounds of Slane Castle with a gaggle of showbiz journalists one Friday afternoon.
Irish spin-offs of existing reality TV hits have had varying degrees of success.
Our take on , while iconic for Nadine Coyle’s birthdate snafu, didn’t exactly set the world alight.
Similarly, our was a bit soggy.
And yet, our versions of , , and have been resounding hits and perhaps even better than their British predecessors.
As we were visiting a live set, there were strict rules. No photography, only go where you’re taken, and no spilling anything until the time is right — an NDA took care of that.
Kite’s managing director Darren Smith was charged with showing us around a very impressive production — I could tell right away that no expense was spared, and we weren’t getting a low-budget discount version of the show. Phew.
The first thing I caught a glimpse of was the producer's end of what’s known as a confessional in the biz.
You know, the bit where the contestants talk to the camera and share their innermost thoughts.
This alone was enough to thrill me, but then Darren brought us up some decidedly slippery steps to the room they’re using as the castle’s turret, one that was uncovered in the course of production after more than forty years shut up.
In fact, when the room was revealed, it was infested with native spiders that had to be safely migrated to Connemara for the remainder of the shoot.
It’s a huge to-do. There are more than 200 people on set and staying locally (unfortunately, contestants don’t sleep in the castle itself in any iteration of the show).
It’s a boon for the local Slane economy, and after long 12-15 hour days on set, everyone is wrecked.
Kite looked at two other castles, but when Slane expressed an interest it was deemed The One for a four-week rental, two week shoot.
The place is decked out in fancy furniture, and I spy Mercedes jeeps and SuperValu snacks everywhere — notable high-end brand partnerships.
Smith tells us that acquiring the licence for was never going to be a one season thing, that they have high hopes for many more to come.
There’s no chance that anyone could forget they’re being filmed here.
The infamous breakfast room where contestants eat together and see who made it through the night alive is a makeshift atrium in the building’s centre.
I catch a sneaky glimpse of the portraits on the wall of the contestants, and I’m struck right away by the mix — young, old, diverse, one or two faces familiar to me from social media.
Reality television all comes down to the casting, it’s a science and an art, but we are quickly hurried along before I can learn too much.
The production suite is impressive, with a primarily female team leading the charge there.
But the most awe-inspiring room is the last one we visit — the round table room, which could be even more fabulous than the Beeb’s version.
I got nervous just being in there — again, there are cameras everywhere — and can’t imagine having to accuse my fellow castmates of treachery in such a scenario, and then going off to dinner.
Irishness is a huge feature of the show — Smith and co are aware that it’s our USP.
While the American version uses the same castle in Scotland as the British one, we are a country rich with our own heritage and history, and production is really leaning in to that — not least with their choice of host, and ’s Siobhan McSweeney.
We are whisked by minibus back to town to meet the woman herself, resplendent in Irish design which she tells us was an important inclusion for her.
“A little bit of the success of this show is because of the iconography of it. I think I'd have let the country down if I hadn't made a really strong effort to continue the tradition of the franchise, but to give it that unique Irish flavour.
"We are brilliant in this country at many things, but one of the things that we're brilliant at in all the creative arts is design.
"It would be very stupid of me to miss an opportunity to not get dressed up in a good frock and my mother did not rear a stupid woman."
Siobhan is fully aware of the task at hand, and admits to being nervous about stepping in to Winkleman’s shoes.
“I feel a huge responsibility, not only to the show, but to Irish people watching it. It's all right to mess up abroad, but you don't want to mess up at home!
"I know that Irish audiences are very astute, very literate in every sense. You don't want to do a half ass job, really. So yes, I am nervous, and that's why you're going to see my hands the 50th cup of cup of tea that I've had today.”
She’s also approaching hosting the show not as a presenter, but as an actor first.
“I approach hosting as if it's another role. I have my pottery persona, and I have my traitors persona, and I have the luxury of an incredibly, incredibly supportive production team that are allowing me find my feet and are being very patient with me.
"What makes the show so fascinating is exploring this safe way to be your shadow self, isn't it? It's a safe way to be a treacherous, backstabbing person without consequences and perhaps with rewards.”
Keeping the identity of the traitors secret is of the utmost importance; contestants wear ear protectors and sometimes blindfolds when being transported, and producers are very careful never to let anything slip.
My nerves would be gone, and maybe I wouldn’t be as great a reality TV head honcho as I previously presumed… As we trundle back to Dublin, I’m satisfied and excited.
The day on set was a fascinating experience and while there weren’t any major surprises, I’m thrilled that the production values are suitably high and we’re in great hands with Siobhan.
One thing is for sure, though. I could never be a traitor, and I’ll stick to fantasising about the one show I know I’d be perfect for — . When will someone here buy the rights for that, huh?
