After taking Ireland by storm in its first season, The Traitors Ireland is back, and host Siobhán McSweeney says the runaway success of the first series has given the show a whole new energy for its return.
The Traitors Ireland returns to RTÉ One and RTÉ Player on Sunday, with a brand-new cast heading to Slane Castle for another high-stakes battle of deception, betrayal and skulduggery.
Derry Girls star McSweeney is back as host, presiding over a fresh intake of potential Traitors and Faithfuls as strangers compete for a cash prize, and she believes the second series has benefited enormously from everything the production learned the first time around.
A hit at home
Reflecting on the huge reaction to the first season, McSweeney said it had been particularly special to see how warmly the show was embraced by audiences.
“The reaction has been extraordinary and really, really lovely to hear how well it’s gone down here. We couldn’t be happier really.”
She said the experience of making the first series had also given the team a better understanding of the format.
“Last year we learned so much just by the act of doing it. It’s a remarkable monster; you start and you hold on for dear life and then it finishes. So this year we’re coming in with the knowledge we had from last year, which means, in my opinion, I think it’s even better.
“All the elements are still there. We’ve remained true to what the audience really liked the first time round, and I think we’ve really improved on it as much as we can. But last year was a triumph too, so it’s not even a case of improving; it’s about replicating too.”
Siobhán McSweeney says The Traitors response has been “extraordinary”
For McSweeney, the clearest sign that the show had struck a chord came when her own family started watching – including her brother, who normally avoids watching anything she appears in on television.
“My brother doesn’t like to watch anything I’m in because he finds it a bit weird. He’s like, ‘It’s just like you, but you’re pretending’. But with this, he really loved it. Our neighbours were watching it at home. I was hearing stories of our friends saying they were sitting down and watching it with their kids. That’s when I knew something was up.”
Inside McSweeney’s Traitors wardrobe: Sustainability matters
McSweeney’s wardrobe has become almost as much a talking point as the drama inside Slane Castle, and she has three principles behind the looks she wears on screen.
“As an actor, costumes are very important to me. So when I approach anything at all, the costume is the first clue before you open your mouth to the audience as to what is happening – and people were very excited to see what I’d be wearing each episode. We’ve got some more extraordinary things along the way.”
Her priority is supporting emerging Irish talent.
“I like to focus primarily on young Irish designers and up-and-coming designers who I think deserve a little bit of a spotlight on them.”
McSweeney is also keen to reuse pieces rather than creating an entirely new wardrobe for every appearance, while insisting that size inclusivity remains non-negotiable.
“I like to reuse a lot of stuff again, so there is sustainability in a lot of pieces I wore last year but styled in a different way.”
Her third rule is one she says will not change, regardless of her own size.
“I won’t work with anyone or anything that won’t regard my size as a normal size and not an anomaly. And that’s not going to change. Even though my size may change, that attitude won’t.”
McSweeney reveals the rules behind her Traitors looks
The growing profile of Irish designers has also given McSweeney and her stylist an even wider pool of talent to work with this year.
“What has happened is that not only because of the success of last year but because of the natural impulses of our beautifully talented youth, I’ve an even wider selection of clothes to choose from for this year. So honestly, I don’t mean to be coy about it, but Anne O’Shea, my stylist, and myself, we’ve pulled it out of the park.”
The Irishness of The Traitors
The show’s distinctly Irish identity extends beyond its setting and wardrobe, with McSweeney particularly proud of the response to the Irish-language moments in the first season.
“What is deeply moving is the response to those cúpla focal that we had. It’s so moving. I think it’s a real evolution of our guilt and our psychological trauma that we have from our colonial past that we can move on and begin to embrace the language, as a sort of neutral language, and a language that is ours without this historical trauma to bring with us.”
She said the use of Irish has gone even further this year.
“I’ll tell you that this year we’ve really embraced that and we’ve had contestants that spontaneously bring that to the table every single night. A wonderful thing about the show is that there seems to be a huge resurgence in the Irish language, which is certainly in my 48 years quite a new thing, and it’s beautiful to see.”
Irish language takes centre stage as Traitors returns
For McSweeney, that Irishness is central to the show’s identity, even though The Traitors is an international franchise.
“It was very important to me, and Kite Entertainment as well, that when we did this that, yes, it’s a franchise and, yes, it’s international, and, yes, it has human characteristics that will be displayed regardless of the country, but we also have our own stuff. It’s neither better nor worse, but it’s ours.”
Learning to ‘unproduce’ The Traitors Ireland
Darren Smith, Managing Director of Kite Entertainment, said the second series has a “slightly different energy”.
“Traitors is like sport; it is like football, and when you put different players in, you get a different game.”
Unlike last year’s contestants, the new cast have also been able to study previous seasons of the show, both in Ireland and internationally, meaning some arrived at Slane Castle already looking for ways to challenge the format.
Smith said the production team has had to adapt to contestants trying to test the rules – but that is precisely what makes the show work.
“There’s a little bit of trying to outsmart the format sometimes, but whatever they do, it gives us a story. It might not be the story we were expecting.”
Kite Entertainment MD Darren Smith on season two’s new energy. Photo Andres Poveda
For Smith, however, one of the biggest lessons from the first series was knowing when not to interfere.
“You have to learn to ‘unproduce’ when you are doing The Traitors,” he explained.
“It’s tempting. There’s times where you go, ‘Ah this isn’t what we wanted to happen’ … and then something else happens, and there’s things around that that we hadn’t thought about and that’s brilliant.”
Producers didn’t want another Paudie
If series one produced one undeniable breakout star, it was retired prison officer Paudie Moloney, 70, who became a national favourite before going on to compete in Dancing with the Stars earlier this year.
For series two, Smith said the production team was determined not to simply search for “another Paudie”.
That proved more difficult than it might sound…
“We had over 120 prison guards apply online to be on the show this year; I think we can work out why.”
Prison officer Paudie Moloney was the breakout star of the first season of The Traitors
Instead, the producers believe they have found a different kind of potential breakout character in the new cast.
“There’s one person and she is like a one-person Cabra girl. She could be on the couch on her own on Gogglebox.”
Watch: Official trailer for Series 2 of The Traitors Ireland
And with a cast that has studied the format, watched international versions and arrived ready to challenge the rules, viewers can expect the second series of The Traitors Ireland to play out very differently from the first.
The new season of The Traitors Ireland begins on Sunday, 30 August at 9.30pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.
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