Rachel, 42, said she does have a bit of a game plan for the show, which is hosted by Claudia Winkleman and is the ultimate reality game of trust and treachery
A woman from Co Down has said she “will do anything to win” as she is set to appear on the new series of popular BBC show The Traitors.
Rachel, 42, is one of 22 people from across the UK taking part in the new series and said as a competitive person she will do whatever she can to get money in the bank.
The mum, who works as head of communications at a charity, said she does have a bit of a game plan for the show, which is hosted by Claudia Winkleman and is the ultimate reality game of trust and treachery.
“I’m going to say that I work in Marketing, which is true, but it’s leaving out the fact that I do strategic communications across Northern Ireland on a daily basis,” she said.
“I don’t want them to know that speaking to people and getting my point across is very easy for me.
“I suppose the overriding game plan is to just have fun and be super fun and super positive and be lovely to be around, which is going to hopefully get me a little bit further in the game.”
Rachel, who filmed the show at a Scottish castle last year, said she decided to sign up simply because she loves the game.
“I’ve played the game Mafia for about 15 years, and I am a competitive person, through and through. My friends and family call me Monica from Friends,” she said.
“I just love games. I love challenges, so I thought I’m going to give that a go.”
When asked about the qualities she thinks she will bring to the show, Rachel added: “I will do anything to win. Nothing’s off the table. I’m very good at knowing the difference between reality and a game. I’m really competitive in challenges, so I’ll do whatever I can to get money in the bank.
“I’m a really sociable person that loves finding out things, so I really enjoy genuinely building nice connections and finding out about people. That also makes me a great detective, because I can piece together if people are potentially covering over the truth with lies.”
It’s not known yet whether Rachel will be a Traitor or a Faithful but she said she would love to be a Traitor.
“I’d love it. That is my go-to because I love being in control of a game more than anything,” she said.
“Kind of like being a bit of a puppet master. I have a lot of integrity in real life; I work for a charity that helps people. But I would love so much to play in a game where I get to backstab and lie to people’s faces, as I don’t get to do that any other time.”
But if she doesn’t get chosen as a Traitor, Rachel says she will be the best Faithful.
“I love human behaviour. If I’m not a Traitor, I’m going to be the best Faithful that you’ve ever seen,” she said.
“I started to look at an ex-FBI agent who does online classes – so looking at micro expressions and how to really read people, even their swallow and their blink rate. I think I would be a dangerous Faithful and it would just be a case of keeping all of my suspicions a little bit quieter.”
Rachel also said it is very black and white for her when it comes to how far she will be prepared to go to win.
“If it’s a game, I would do anything at all to win. They’ve all signed up to a game with a very obvious name on it. If they don’t get the memo, you’re on the wrong show,” she said.
Rachel is also looking forward to the missions and said that whilst she is very competitive, she’s also very patient.
“I’m always organising and helping people. And whilst I’m very competitive, I’m very patient. So if somebody’s not doing well in a challenge, I know when to flip it and go, you know, I’ll just take the loss and really help people,” she said.
“So, I think from a challenge perspective, I’d be a really, really strong player, a very logical thinker and very good at deciphering if there’s puzzles.”
When it comes to the prize money of £120k, Rachel has a very important reason she wants to win, and it all comes back to her mum.
She said: “I would make memories with the most important people in my life. My mum has dementia, and she wants to go on a holiday as she used to go on holidays all the time before my dad passed. That’s all she wants. I just want to create memories with her whilst I’m still lucky enough to have her, and to create memories with my kids, because they just love their nanny.”
The Traitors begins on New Years Day at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
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