Siobhan McSweeney: ‘The Traitors Ireland has a lot more swearing than the UK’

The Traitors Ireland’s host Siobhan McSweeney took a bit of talking around to take on the gig – ‘It was an immediate no, three times’ – but once she agreed, she had one clear aim.

‘I was going, let’s not make it a s*** version of the UK one,’ the Derry Girls star tells Metro. ‘We can make it really quite special.’

Instead of the kitsch decor of Ardross Castle, the production team sought out their own Celtic haunt to film the show. ‘Ireland has many things, one of them is castles. We’re fine for castles,’ McSweeney said in our interview ahead of the show’s debut on the Beeb. 

The production settled on Slane Castle in County Meath, where they were visited by the roving Traitors quality control representative, who has helped to establish each of the many iterations of the franchise show (all of which sprang from the Dutch series De Verraders).

‘Every country thinks they’re exceptional and he’s like, “No, you all behave the exact same”,’ said the 48-year-old. ‘I love hearing that, because when you think about exceptionalism, you end up with f***ing Brexit and bulls*** like that. Nationalism and silliness.’

If you’ve noticed the salty language, there’s more where that came from. ‘There are things our cast did that I certainly hadn’t seen before,’ said The Traitors host. ‘In general, they’re just a lot chattier. There’s a lot more swearing. It adds a lyricism.’

She’s not wrong. Having watched the first episodes now available on BBC iPlayer, the 24-strong cast are firm friends before they’ve even gone up the castle steps. Every wind-down scene looks a hoot, with traitorous accusations bandied around like gentle ribbing, rather than gauntlet-throwing menace. 

There are Irishisms dotted throughout the 12-part run, from the missions, one of which is in their Irish native tongue Gaeilge, to McSweeney’s towering Irish wolfhounds and flamboyant wardrobe, which was nearly all Irish-designed.

‘I got to play out on great fantasies of being a bit more outrageous than I can normally be going to the shops,’ she said, referring to her eccentric hosting persona as Lady Muck. 

But some things on The Traitors are universal, like the selection of the next turret conclave. ‘It was the most nerve-wracking thing I’ve ever done,’ McSweeney recalls. ‘If you get that wrong, game over.’

‘I didn’t sleep at all, I was so nervous. You go around the table nearly 100 times. Everybody’s trying to figure out, did she slow down there or pause here?

‘Suddenly, when you’re so nervous, you’re like, is that a hand? Did I put my hand on them? What goes after? Oh, right foot, then left foot. I forgot how to walk.’

McSweeney is a consummate professional, because none of this comes across on screen, as she sashays around the table in a fabulous kimono picking her three Traitors: retired prison officer Paudie, consultant Katelyn and Garda officer (but hiding it) Eamon. Almost immediately, they all come under some level of suspicion. 

Before the series was filmed last year, McSweeney had a natter with both Claudia Winkleman and Alan Cumming about the show at the Baftas.

Winkleman shared her glee for the conniving between contestants, which McSweeney chalked up to the impish fringed glamazon never having been bullied in her youth. It helped in Slane Castle, she explains: ‘Instead of being horrified over their antics, I was like, “Remember Claudia. Just watch them and try to learn why they might be doing something, how they’re doing it”.’

Cumming offered similar words of wisdom: Always remember your face, lest you give the game away.

This was put to use, given how unpredictable her first Traitors cast proved to be – contrary to the belief that producers are plotting out each new swerve of the show. By the end, the team were ‘clinging on in’.

‘It’s contestant-led, so we would start a day and not know when we would finish, because it would be up to them if they found a Traitor, if they didn’t find a Traitor, if they needed to recruit somebody,’ she recalls.

‘Anything you would predict, never happened. Much to my chagrin. There were nights when I was like, “I’d really like to be in bed before 4am”.

‘I hope the contestants feel that as well, that it isn’t as if they’re going mad and we’re sitting in the back eating grapes – much as I wish we were.’

The Traitors Ireland prize pot up for grabs is €50,000 (about £43,400). Obviously, it’s not nothing, but it’s less than what the UK lot are in the running for. 

Did that impact the game whatsoever? McSweeney doesn’t mince her words: ‘I don’t think anyone goes on these programs for the money. I just don’t. Everyone’s trying to get their five minutes or their ad or whatever.’

Not that the money didn’t factor. When asked what use they would each put it to, the responses were nearly identical: a house deposit. 

‘The housing crisis in the UK and Ireland is a travesty and an absolute disgrace. The fact that people, regardless of their age, regardless of their income, regardless of their circumstances, they’re finding it so hard to get on the property ladder,’ says McSweeney. ‘There was one person who said that they would go on a cruise with their mother, who is very poorly. 

‘It’s a lovely little snapshot of the country, that you get little insights like that.’

So with a new Celebrity Traitors slated for filming this spring, would McSweeney ever do it? ‘I’d rather boil my head,’ she says.

‘I’m not allowed to play the game that this is based on. I played it twice in my life and each time I’ve had to come down the following day and apologise to my friends.’ You can’t say she doesn’t take the whole thing incredibly seriously. 

The Traitors Ireland is available to watch on BBC Three and iPlayer.

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