After a tense roundtable thrown into disarray by the twist of a dagger, ultimately Faithful Matthew Hyndman was banished thanks to co-star James’ deadly double vote.
They say hindsight is 2020, and none know that better than fallen Traitors contestant Matthew, who tells Metro exactly what he would have done differently in the castle.
The wannabe Traitor reveals: ‘My two regrets are: not trying to convince James that I wasn’t a Traitor. I was just like: “Fine, think I’m a Traitor.” I didn’t try to pull him aside and say: “Listen, come on, I’m not a Traitor. What can I do to convince you?”
‘Then, I had a lot of evidence against Stephen, and I regret not bringing all of that to my last roundtable and just going for it with [him] and seeing if I could possibly persuade someone to go with me.’
His remorse at not gunning for Traitor Stephen is compounded by his ruthless agenda against Faithful Jade, almost to the very end.
Matthew reflects: ‘It’s just so hard. Once you get an idea about someone in your head, it’s so difficult to let go of that.
‘[Jade and I] had that moment at the roundtable. It suddenly struck me. I was like: “Oh, my word. I think we’re just two Faithfuls.”‘
Of course, the creative director’s wildest moment in the castle happened when he entered the church confessional and asked the Traitors to seduce him.
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He never got recruited to be part of the hooded brigade, something he expected, even if he was holding out hope and scheming in the meantime.
If he had got the all-important invite, his strategy would have been to discover who the Traitors are in the turret and then immediately throw Rachel under the bus the next morning at breakfast.
He shares he would have pretended to the Faithfuls that he had ‘asked the Traitors who they’re going to recruit next, and they told me Rachel.’
‘[I would have said]: “Rachel was recruited last night. Just trust me, if I’m wrong, banish me next, but there’s no reason for the Traitors to lie to me because at the time, Rachel was a Faithful.”
‘So that was what I would have tried. Whether it would have worked or not, I don’t know. I think Rachel probably would have eaten me alive.’
Still, he has nothing but respect for Rachel for playing such a good game, and admits that he had ‘no idea’ it was her, nor did she seem to be on anyone else’s radar.
Although Faraaz did throw a spanner in the works for the green-cloaked contestant by airing his theory that Rachel is a Traitor to anyone who would listen on Wednesday night’s episode.
‘Faraaz could come out all guns blazing tomorrow and solve the whole thing, so we will see what happens,’ he says.
All in all, he remains proud of his time on The Traitors and notes how many messages he has had from LGBTQ+ viewers who have found strength from him sharing his own journey as a gay man.
In and outside of the castle, Matthew has been open about feeling pressured to undergo conversion therapy from his religious community when he was younger.
Nowadays, he has fully embraced himself and is in a happy relationship with his partner, whom he hopes to tie the knot with ‘next spring’.
‘I’ve had people tell me that just [from] seeing me live my life so openly and proudly, they’ve plucked up the courage to come out to their family. That’s just amazing to hear,’ he shares.
Then adds: ‘First and foremost, I wanted to play the game, but I also wanted to just shine a wee light on where I come from, and to show any other gay person back home in Northern Ireland that there is a life beyond your coming out experience and that you can’t live your life afraid of what other people might think of you.
‘There is this big, beautiful world out there for you to fully step into. If that’s the one thing that I can leave from my experience on the show, then it’ll all be worth it.’
The Traitors returns at 8pm on BBC One tonight.
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