A 21-year-old student was flying the flag for West Cork in a new BBC1 TV reality show called The Traitors where a prize fund of £120,000 is up grabs.
Alyssa Chan, who hails from Schull , but now lives in Edinburgh and is in her final year studying business at Queen Margaret University, took part alongside 22 other contestants. They were let loose in a castle in the Scottish Highlands in a gameshow with a difference.
But last week her fellow competitors turned on her, and she had to leave the show.
Fellow traitor and contestant Wilfred Webster was said to have ‘stabbed her in the back’ as he fought to keep himself in the game.
Hosted by Claudia Winkleman, the show is a game of detection, backstabbing and trust. Claudia was tasked with selecting three people to be the ‘traitors’ and their role is to ‘murder’ one of their fellow players – known as the ‘Faithful’ – each night and remain undetected by them. The Faithful must try and find out who are the traitors and banish them from the game before they, too, become their next victims.
Alyssa, a former pupil of Schull Community College, was revealed as one of the Traitors, and said this was something that she would never usually do and while she doesn’t have any experience with TV shows, she wanted to give it a shot.
‘I think the concept is really interesting and I feel like the show was made for me in a sense,’ said Alyssa.
‘When I was explaining the premise of the show to my friends and family, they all said “This is so you”. I wasn’t quite sure how to take that, seeing as it’s based on lies and manipulation!’
‘I’m very competitive. Everything I do I give it 100% and when it comes to lying, manipulation and getting what I want, I am well-versed in that also. I’m 5ft, half Chinese and half Irish. I look quite young and kind of innocent looking. I give off a very naïve vibe, I think.’
If she had come away with the prize money she said she would have spent it on her family. ‘I’d give back to my wonderful parents and help my friends and family, rather than partying in Ibiza – ideally, getting my mum a little cottage in the town that she loves.’
The game show will conclude on BBC on December 22nd.
