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Acting experience 'didn't help' Traitors star

BBC/Studio Lambert The contestants of The Traitors are sitting around a large round wooden table.BBC/Studio Lambert
The BBC show features a team of people trying to identify who among them are "Traitors" to win £120,000

Warning: This article contains spoilers for series three of The Traitors.

A retired opera singer who was finally rumbled as one of the Traitors in the latest series of the TV show admitted her acting skills were not enough to save her from banishment.

On Wednesday night, viewers of the BBC1 show saw Linda Rands, 70, of Hitchin, Hertfordshire, voted out by her fellow players.

The show's oldest contestant, she recently featured on a billboard in London's Leicester Square, pictured winning a "Golden Cloak Award" for the "performance of a lifetime".

Asked if her experience in opera had been useful in the show, she said: "Well, obviously not the acting. That didn't help. That didn't help at all."

BBC/Studio Lambert A promo shot of Linda with the Traitors castle behind her. Part of it is a daytime scene, and part is at night. BBC/Studio Lambert
Although Linda Rands managed to avoid suspicion after receiving votes at the first round table, she was banished during the seventh episode

The show, hosted by Claudia Winkleman, features a band of "Faithfuls" who must complete missions and try to uncover the "Traitors" in their midst.

Rands was selected as a Traitor at the start of the series and, despite falling under the suspicion of some players, managed to evade banishment until Wednesday night's episode.

She had kept her appearance in the show secret from her family, but was worried she had played the game badly.

"I thought I would be slammed for being so bad at the game. But no, it's gone completely the other way, which is absolutely crazy and lovely," she said.

"The thing is, most of it was actually me. That is me. I'm like that.

"I mean, I overstate everything. I overemphasize everything when I speak. I mean, it's just me. It's just who I am. I can't help it."

BBC/Studio Lambert Linda and Minah dressed in long green cloaks handing a rolled up piece of paper to Fozia at a torch-lit wooden table outside.BBC/Studio Lambert
Linda. pictured with fellow Traitor Minah, feared she would be "slammed for being so bad"

Rands, who goes to the gym three times a week and does reform Pilates and aqua aerobics, thinks assumptions about her age may have helped her win over other contestants.

"Being old sort of helped me out a bit because I think they thought: 'Oh, Linda - it's just her, she's gone off. She's a bit old, so whatever.'

"I think the hardest day was the first mission, because it was a lot of running, and I'm not a runner.

"I mean, I go to the gym and I'm pretty fit for my age, but seriously, running is not my thing."

She praised fellow contestant Leon for helping her. "He held my hand and pulled me along," she said.

BBC/Studio Lambert Linda, who has purple/grey hair and glasses, is running up a lake shore. She is being helped by Leanne, another contestant, who is tanned with long blonde hair and a tattooed forearm. Both are dressed in all black with gloves. They are wearing expressions of stress.BBC/Studio Lambert
Linda, 70, said she visited the gym three times a week - but was "not a runner"

The banished player said she found being a Traitor much harder than expected.

"I wanted to be a Traitor because I thought I was really good at lying, and to my credit, I have got away with some quite some good lies in my life," she said.

"But once you get to know people it gets harder and harder, and when people are breaking down it's horrible - I mean, oh, it's awful to watch - and then you feel so guilty."

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