Smash hit BBC series The Traitors has now concluded and three people have walked away with a share of over £100,000. Although she didn’t win the money, Welsh Traitor Amanda Lovett from the Swansea valley has been humbled by the reaction to her on the show.
“Honestly, it has made my heart warm up,” Amanda, 54, said in an exclusive interview with WalesOnline. “I’m walking around the shops and people want selfies, I love it and I’m glad so many people have enjoyed it.” Amanda herself has been a source of enjoyment for Welsh fans of The Traitors, who have loved her scheming ways and killer one-liners.
When Amanda’s time in the competition came to an end in episode 10, she stressed that she was “ready to go”. Speaking of this, she said: “I could not have sat there in the final and said, ‘Sorry, I’m a Traitor and I’m taking all the money’. Personally I’d have liked to share the money because that’s not what the game is about, so I’m glad that decision was taken away from me.”
Read more: BBC The Traitors moment labelled 'iconic' as Amanda sends Welsh dragon warning
Following the end of the series on Thursday, December 23, Amanda was full of praise for her fellow contestants, including fellow Traitor Wilfred who ultimately voted to banish her from the series. “Wilf is a great bloke. He’s given us great TV. I think that he just turned on his own once too often. He was forgiven the first time and the second time but when he tried it the third, strike out."
A self-confessed fan of Love Island, Amanda commented on how, although we didn’t “need” another reality TV series, The Traitors was something different as it was more diverse than your average show. She added: “I’m just so proud to be part of, I hope, the first of what will be many series.”
On why she decided to take part, Amanda said that she was “fascinated to see if the emotions are real”. She commented: “I saw the application and I thought, 'Let's go for it', and then the further in that I got, the more I wanted to do it.” She added that, upon turning 50, she is more confident and feels more comfortable in everything that she does.
“We go under the radar so much as mums and we all just think, they’ve been there and done it. I just wanted to find myself again and bring that to TV for middle-aged women. I feel that we shouldn’t be going under the radar so much.”
Discussing how women her age have reacted to Amanda’s stint on The Traitors, she said: “I’ve had so many messages saying, ‘We loved you’ and ‘I’m going to apply this year’ so hopefully I’ve [encouraged] people who wouldn’t have the confidence to go for it.”
Amanda, who is a mum of five, said her children have enjoyed watching her on the show. “They were a bit sceptical at first but they’re super proud of me and I hope that I have taught them all to go for things in life. Go for what you want to do and enjoy it.”
Over the course of the series, viewers watched as tensions ran high for the contestants. This, Amanda said, was difficult and despite causing many of her co-stars’ exits, they still keep in touch. “We have a group and are all supporting each other in our different directions in life now. There were 22 of us and we all really got along.
“It was difficult as the Traitor. In the beginning, it was like going away for the weekend with your friends on a murder mystery weekend but the smaller the group, the stronger the relationships became. When you saw them emotionally hurting, it was really hard,” she added of the experience.
At the end of each episode of the Traitors, the group would gather around a roundtable and decide who should be banished from the show. “They were difficult,” Amanda remembered, “They were genuinely emotional. Nothing is staged and it really is genuine emotion. When the Faithfuls were going up to get banished and we knew, we had to act genuinely surprised. To see them genuinely hurt was tough.”
The act of lying to the other contestants came as no struggle to Amanda, who said: “I asked to be a Traitor because I was very inquisitive of how you’d play the game and how you were going to murder people.” She added that she was in denial about the impact that it would have on her fellow contestants.
“I didn’t think that you would build such close relationships with people over such a short space of time. I’ve sold houses for many years and yes, I’ve made acquaintances over the years but I haven’t ever made family bonds,” Amanda commented.
One of Amanda’s most beloved moments on The Traitors came when she delivered a killer Welsh dragon warning to fellow Traitor Wilfred - Read more about that here. “I didn’t plan that,” said Amanda, “Even my sister asked if that was scripted and no, it just came out.
“I think that Welsh people are very passionate and we’re very loyal. I just thought to Wilfred, ‘You cross me boy and you’ll see the other side of me.’ The Welsh are very united and we don’t turn on our own. That was a word of warning and he hasn’t seen all my fire yet!” concluded Amanda. If you missed Amanda’s ‘fire’ the first time round, you can catch the whole series of The Traitors on BBC iPlayer. You can get more TV news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
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