[ad_1]
HE was the villain of the first series of The Traitors, thanks to his blazing rows and catty remarks towards winner Aaron Evans.
But John McManus, 51, was eventually ‘murdered’ by the show’s Traitors: Wilfred Webster, Alyssa Chan and Amanda Lovett.
6
6
Now, in an exclusive interview, the spa therapist and actor from Edinburgh has revealed what REALLY happens when the contestants on the BBC show get killed off – and how it doesn’t actually happen during the night, like viewers see.
John – who compares himself to Big Brother’s Nasty Nick – also opens up on what happens once the contestants go to bed, why no one ever seems to eat breakfast in the mornings, and just how much booze everyone is allowed.
In the first episode of the new series of The Traitors, which aired last night, presenter Claudia Winkleman told viewers the contestants were leaving Ardross Castle in jeeps, to head for bed.
John explains this is because the cast are all holed up in a nearby hotel during their time on the show, and sleep there, rather than in the castle – where they film 10 to 16 hours every day.
He says the contestants are monitored constantly while at the hotel, to ensure they can’t confer while they’re not mic’d up or being filmed.
He tells us: “When we come from the round table, we go into the bar and have a drink and all that’s real, but then you go individually back to the hotel in separate jeeps, and you’re not filmed at all in the rooms.
“You’re kept apart in the hotel. One or two of us will be on the same floor, but there are people monitoring.”
“There’s security, your food’s brought to your room, and the welfare team are brilliant, knocking on your door regularly to check you’re okay, but there’s none of this mixing or hanging about.”
Secret meals and ‘murders’
6
John reveals that, aside from the breakfast at which the cast find out who’s been murdered, meal-times are off-screen.
And, aside from everyone being “too nervous” to eat, there’s a very good reason why no one seems to eat the pastries and toast served at this meal.
“We get breakfast served to our rooms in the hotel, before the on-screen breakfast!” laughs John.
But that breakfast isn’t the only part of The Traitors that plays out differently to how we see it on-screen.
While Claudia makes it seem as though Faithfuls find out they’re murdered in the dead of night, John admits this actually happens in the morning, just before breakfast.
He explains: “Everybody goes to the castle at the same time in different jeeps and then you’re all put into separate holding rooms.”
Contestants are then, one by one, taken into the breakfast room by producers, however, the ‘murdered’ player is the last to leave, and gets taken off to a different room.
“It’s like a Big Brother diary room with the letter sat on the chair in front of you, and it just says, ‘The Traitors have murdered you,’ continues John. “It is a bit of a blow, it’s a kick in the teeth.
“But that’s why everyone’s hugging each other and being so happy at the breakfast, because you’re like, ‘Oh, my God, thank God, we’re not murdered yet’.”
Bully row
6
6
John, who admits he wanted to be a Traitor rather than a Faithful, was part of a fair few dramas whilst on The Traitors.
During one of the reality show’s ’roundtables’ – which is where the contestants deliberate and vote on who they will be voting out – contestant Aaron left the room in tears.
He was filmed being comforted by the BBC show’s crew.
Later that evening, a suspicious John ended up grilling Aaron on why he left the room, calling him “dramatic”.
He probed: “Why did you leave the room? It’s a competition, it’s a game. It’s a tad dramatic.”
Aaron replied: “I just didn’t know where it came from and I got attacked from every single angle.”
John interrupted: “Well that’s the point of it, everyone’s going to get attacked.”
Aaron asked back: “Why are you shouting at me again?” to which John responded: “Because, it doesn’t matter, because you’re putting my back up, everyone’s going to get attacked at some point okay?”
In an interview to the camera later in the show, Aaron said of John: “I think he’s quite a nasty person.”
Aaron explained that he has ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) which makes him “invested in what people have to say”.
The condition can also affect those who have it’s emotional regulation, causing them to feel more strongly than a neurotypical person would.
‘We’re all friends’
6
Looking back, John wishes producers “hadn’t used that bit,” but he’s not surprised he was portrayed as the series villain.
“I kind of knew that that was going to happen,” he says. “I’m a 51-year-old man. I don’t mince my words. I’m very direct.
“And, of course, you have about 14 or 15 meetings throughout the application process, and they ask you various different aspects of how you would handle things and there’s always got to be a villain.
“Look at Nasty Nick on Big Brother, there’s always got to be somebody.”
“I’m not a nasty person though,” John adds. “I knew nothing about poor Aaron’s ADHD, people’s personal medical issues are not disclosed to anybody.
“And you’re sitting there trying to work out who these Traitors are, and people are crying and leaving the round table and you’re like, ‘Are you playing up, because the heat is on you?’
“Things are taken out of context, and it’s not real life, nobody actually gets murdered, nobody dies.
“We’re all friends, we’re all in a WhatsApp group, but, of course, they need the drama.
“If everyone’s really nice, it’s boring, so they need to spice it up!”
[ad_2]
Source link