"It Was Incredibly Intense": The Traitors' Kate Talks About the Pressures of Playing the Game

Watching Network Ten’s The Traitors was, at times, stressful and nerve-wracking. The entire premise of the game was to lie and trick your way to the very end, where a prize pool of $250,000 worth of silver was awaiting the last person standing.

We watched people get banished and “murdered”, and we witnessed alliances break at the drop of a hat.

And while it was anxiety-inducing for viewers at home, the feeling was incomparable to those actually in the competition.

Kate, who was the second-last Traitor to remain, didn’t know what to expect when she entered the hotel; however, she quickly realised the series would test her mental fortitude.

“It was incredibly intense,” Kate told POPSUGAR Australia.

“I’m used to playing Mafia with 12 people for 30 minutes, not with 24 people for 30 days. Usually, it doesn’t really matter if you get murdered because you play again half an hour later, but I was not in any way prepared for the stakes.”

Kate’s journey on the show wasn’t a conventional one. She first started as a Faithful and was then recruited as a Traitor by fellow contestant Alex.

“I liked that I ticked so many boxes on the show. I got to win challenges; I got to catch Traitors, and then I got to be a Traitor,” said Kate.

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But it was at that moment she knew she had to do whatever it took to survive.

“I was on death row at the time, so I felt like I didn’t have a choice turning it down because I figured if I said no, I would be murdered,” she explained.

“I also thought at that point, ‘well, I just caught two Traitors, so it should be theoretically the best time to become a Traitor because everybody trusts me, so it should be a breeze’.

“But the reality is, coming down to breakfast and surviving murder that night backfired because everyone who caught Traitors got sent home. So really, I was handed a pretty intense challenge on a platter by Alex that night.”

While she didn’t end up winning the competition, Kate has zero regrets and holds her head high, knowing she made it so far and came out of it alive.

“The pressure you put on yourself for the money — and winning is my love language — so the pressure I put on myself for winning was quite intense. Having to question every single conversation that you have and not being able to trust anyone for 30 days is really draining,” she admitted truthfully.

“My recollection of the last week, after not sleeping for a month, is that I was in a total daze and made terrible decisions. So, watching it back and seeing that I was still conscious and making real decisions and having strategic conversations was quite a relief to me.

“I genuinely felt like a zombie at that point in the game, so it was nice watching it back and seeing myself play well.”

In the end, it was Traitor Alex who took home the title and the prize after playing a phenomenal game throughout the season.

Want more The Traitors’ goss? Check out the stories below:

“It Was Incredibly Intense”: The Traitors’ Kate Talks About the Pressures of Playing the Game

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