A former contestant from The Traitors has divulged some secrets about the hit BBC One show.

Alex Gray was a contestant on series one of the show and remained a faithful throughout her time in the game.

The presenter and actress refused to be recruited as a traitor and ended up being murdered in episode eight.

Speaking to Cosmopolitan UK, Alex revealed all contestants who take part are required to undergo psychological assessments to ensure they are mentally fit enough to take part.

In order to prepare, Alex told how she read two books on the psychology of lying but felt they were of no help.

The Londoner admitted it was ‘very hard’ to detect if someone was lying and she also found it tough to sleep in the castle because she couldn’t switch her brain off.

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A former contestant from The Traitors has divulged some secrets about the hit BBC One show

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Alex Gray was a contestant on series one of the show and remained a faithful throughout her time in the game

She said: ‘The cameras are on you all day long. There was no packing it away like with a board game – and even when you’re no longer in the castle, you’re still ruminating over stuff that happened; ‘What if I had done this differently? Maybe this person is a Traitor?’

Alex also revealed there is a welfare person assigned to every two contestants and participants also have opportunities to speak to a psychologist to ‘ground yourself again’.

Staff would also give contestants a summary of each episode before it aired in order to ‘prepare you mentally’.

Alex believes presenter Claudia Winkleman is under instructions not to speak to the contestants too much.

She said: ‘It was obvious she wanted to talk to us and get to know us, but sometimes she’d come and get chatty and it was clear someone said something in her ear and she’d be like, ‘Sorry guys, gotta go!’ I think they wanted her to maintain this scary headmistress role.’

It comes after this year’s contestant Maia Gouveia was caught apparently using a company credit card after being sacked from her job for going AWOL on holiday in Trinidad.

The BBC contestant, 25, was employed by gifting company Bubblegum Stuff as their social media manager last year but was fired after three months when she suddenly stopped showing up to work.

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Alex revealed all contestants who take part are required to undergo psychological assessments to ensure they are mentally fit enough to take part

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Alex believes presenter Claudia Winkleman is under instructions not to speak to the contestants too much

Maia, whose sister Armani, 28, appeared alongside her on the hit TV series before being exposed as a Traitor, failed to notify her bosses of a holiday to Trinidad in February 2024, which led to her contract being terminated.

It was six months after she left the business, which is owned by Apprentice 2016 runner-up Courtney Wood, 38, that Maia apparently used the company credit card without authorisation to make several purchases having saved the details to her personal Apple Pay.

The credit card was immediately blocked and the incident reported to the police, with Maia later claiming the charges to the card were made accidentally.

Maia, who boasts 152.7K followers on TikTok, stars on the current season of The Traitors, and was stunned after discovering co-star and sister Armani had been working in secret to murder fellow game players.

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Traitors’ star Maia Gouveia was caught apparently using a company credit card after being sacked from her job for going AWOL on holiday in Trinidad

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The BBC contestant was employed by gifting company Bubblegum Stuff as their social media manager but was fired after three months when she suddenly stopped showing up to work

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Maia’s sister Armani was banished from the game on Friday after her fellow players exposed her for being a Traitor

A source close to Maia said: ‘Maia is deeply regretful for the mistakes she made during her employment with Bubblegum Stuff and her actions afterwards.

‘She was going through a tough time as a new mother and wishes she behaved differently.

‘Maia’s father visited the Bubblegum Stuff offices to make amends after the credit incident was exposed while Courtney decided against taking the matter any further.’

The mother, who’s pregnant with her second baby, is one of 25 contestants on The Traitors this year competing for a potential £120,000 prize pot.

Her older sister Armani worked undercover as one of three Traitors but was banished during Friday night’s instalment.

Armani’s fate was sealed after Maia admitted she was 60 per cent sure her sister was a Traitor and the cast voted to eliminate her from the competition.

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Armani’s fate was sealed after Maia admitted she was 60 per cent sure her sister was a Traitor and the cast voted to eliminate her from the competition

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Maia sobbed after realising her instincts were correct and Armani had been working undercover to secretly murder the Faithful

Speaking ahead of her appearance on the show, Maia confessed to being a ‘natural liar’ and was inspired to sign up after watching previous series and feeling she could do better.

She said: ‘I binge watched the last series when it aired, and I was so invested. I always thought to myself, I could do it better.

‘I literally was thinking you guys aren’t lying properly, you’re not lying correctly, there are too many emotions going on, this is money.