Home Entertainment Why I REALLY lost by The Traitors’ Linda. Reason my gameplay fell apart, the behind-the-scenes secrets, truth about my Fozia mishap and the friend’s lie I never saw coming

Why I REALLY lost by The Traitors’ Linda. Reason my gameplay fell apart, the behind-the-scenes secrets, truth about my Fozia mishap and the friend’s lie I never saw coming

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Retired opera singer Linda Rands was kicked out of the Traitors' castle on Wednesday night.

The biggest mystery of this season’s series of The Traitors is how retired opera singer Linda Rands, whose acting skills make Widow Twankey’s panto turn seem nuanced, survived as long as she did before being banished from the castle on Wednesday. at night.

Her co-conspirator, poised 29-year-old call center manager Minah, had even grown tired of her performance and joined the crowd in rejecting her.

First, there was her “pointer dog” reaction early on, after host Claudia Winkleman tossed a “I’ll see you later, traitors” bone to the pack, causing Linda’s ears to literally stand up like a excited puppy.

The clip generated a series of funny memes on social media. Worse still were the crocodile tears that did not require a tissue and the exaggerated protests of friendship toward a contestant whom he had murdered the night before.

The scene provoked such delight among viewers that the BBC celebrated it with an ironic billboard in the West End. Everyone agrees, including Linda, that it was a small miracle that it lasted as long as it did.

Speaking to her the morning after we saw her leave the popular show, Linda, 71, is in great spirits and positively embraces her reputation as the leading queen of melodrama.

Were you surprised that you hadn’t been reported sooner? ‘Yeah! I think we all were, to be honest. “I was like a cat with nine lives,” he laughs.

Many wondered if this clumsy grandmotherly personality was a double deception or if brutal editing was being done that made her look prettier than she really was.

Retired opera singer Linda Rands was kicked out of the Traitors’ castle on Wednesday night.

Not so, says Linda, a divorced grandmother of two. ‘My game plan was to play the “old” card and be a bit of an airhead, but then I realized that’s what I am. It wasn’t edited at all. ‘That was me!’ she says.

Despite her poor performance, Linda has proven to be one of the most popular contestants during the third edition of the trust and betrayal reality show, with fans mourning her departure on social media platforms. Not our queen Linda! one cried. Others dubbed her an “icon.”

I ask him how he felt in front of that giant billboard in Leicester Square, proclaiming his mock ‘Golden Cloak Award’ and praising his ‘performance of a lifetime’.

‘Oh, it was brilliant! Surreal!’ she cries. ‘The only award I’ve ever received in my life… and it was for bad acting!’

There’s something endearing about Linda’s bracing honesty and self-deprecating humor. In a ruthless psychological game that captures every tiny gradation of facial expression, every hint of a clue conferred by an unguarded remark or a small gesticulation, it was impossible to miss Linda’s thought processes, virtually semaphores for the audience.

Which is even more confusing because, by her own admission, acting was part of her training as an opera singer. ‘Yes, it was,’ he laughs, ‘but it didn’t seem like it, did it? I left that aside.’

But, as he goes on to explain, performing in an opera is different from pretending for television cameras. “Most of my acting has been done on big stages, but to be under the scrutiny of a camera, you have to be much more subtle, which is not in my vocabulary. To be honest, I just lost my way and moved on.” .

Dan, the bank risk manager, who was banished during episode six, with the

Dan, the bank risk manager, who was banished during episode six, with “clumsy granny” Linda

Linda with her traitor partner Minah in the third broadcast of the definitive reality show about trust and betrayal

Linda with her fellow traitor Minah in the third broadcast of the definitive reality show about trust and betrayal.

Despite her madness, Linda actually has an illustrious musical pedigree. He trained at the elite Royal Academy of Music and then the London Opera Center (which closed in 1978) and spent seven years performing with the English National Opera.

After that, she moved to Amsterdam to sing with the Dutch National Opera for 13 years, and from there she joined the Dutch Radio Choir in Amsterdam, the Dutch equivalent of the BBC singers.

He is bilingual and has dual nationality: Dutch and British. Her son Paul, 45, grew up in Amsterdam and is the only child from her brief marriage to Paul Snr, a firefighter. The union lasted only 18 months, but Linda and her ex remained great friends until his recent death.

“Paul (father) remarried and we always all got together at Christmas and New Year, which was lovely,” he says. ‘Our son Paul said: “Dad would have loved to see you in Traitors.” ‘Sadly, he died before Linda applied for the program.

She never remarried, although she has had subsequent relationships, and now lives alone in Hertfordshire, after returning to the UK in 2020. The move was partly to be closer to Paul, his wife Lauren, 43, and their two grandchildren, Everleigh, four. and Lettie, six months old.

Everleigh was allowed to watch Linda on television. “She said, ‘Oh, Nana, I want to be in the Traitors too.’ She’s kind of a drama queen, like her grandmother.

Was your son Paul embarrassed by his amateur performance? ‘He knows what I am. How I was on the show isn’t much different from how I am in life. He’d say, “Oh, Mom, why did you do that?” He thinks I’m an airhead. He was surprised it lasted so long.

There have been suggestions that the dramas in this series have been exaggerated, but Linda insists all the passions are genuine.

‘It’s very tense and you really get into the game. Don’t forget that you’re together all day and you’re under pressure. I’m not surprised people break down. Everything you do or say is scrutinized and analysed.’

When I ask her what the most tense moment was, she cites the moment when she was tasked with secretly writing on a box the names of four Faithful who would face a Death Match, a card game that would eliminate one of them.

This undercover operation was “really stressful” because his pen kept running out of ink. “If anyone had seen me writing the names, they would have finished me off,” he says.

Linda poses in front of a billboard in Leicester Square, mocking her over-the-top performance during her appearance on the show.

Linda poses in front of a billboard in Leicester Square, mocking her over-the-top performance during her appearance on the show.

‘It was tricky because if you hold a pen upright it keeps running out, so I had to stop and shake it to get it working again. It took ages!’

Weren’t you worried that your handwriting would give you away? Fans pointed out that the distinctive flourish on the ‘z’ in Fozia (she had written her name on her whiteboard during the Round Table) could have incriminated her. Naively, Linda “hadn’t even thought about that.”

Her daughter-in-law Lauren describes her as “a little eccentric,” which seems like a benign euphemism. “Maybe it’s a prerequisite to being on the show,” Linda says.

While some contestants are actively being scouted by researchers, Linda had applied directly to participate and had been an avid observer since the show began in 2022. “I loved the psychological side of it. I thought, “I can do that.” So I downloaded the form and started filling it out.’

She usually barely completed the application, abandoning it in exasperation when she discovered she would have to send “pictures and a short video,” something she couldn’t be bothered to do.

However, her partially completed application evidently caught someone’s attention, and the next day the show’s producers contacted her and asked her to fill out the form. So she recorded a video before going to the gym and was surprised when she was chosen.

Maybe they chose her because “they thought I could be the comedic part of the show,” she says. Obviously it was.

Keeping everything a secret (her involvement and, above all, who really wins) must have been a challenge, especially for Linda. The show was actually filmed over the summer.

“My son knew it,” he admits. ‘And my daughter-in-law Lauren. ..and my sister Carol.’ A real roll call, I say.

‘Well, they are all people I trusted. But it was very difficult and I was worried that I would miss something.”

The participants met again for the first time, as a group, on December 12 to watch the first episode of the 12-episode series together. ‘Before that, I had seen a couple of people, but only at my house. We didn’t want to go out and cause suspicion. We had to continue the subterfuge, which was difficult.

Are you good at keeping secrets? asked. ‘Well, it was a long time to keep a secret and I only told it to people I trusted 100 percent. But it wasn’t easy.”

Cliques form on the show, loyalties are made and broken. I ask Linda if the contestants form genuine alliances.

She says yes: she developed particular friendships with Dr Kasim, 33, and former British diplomat Alexander, 38. But her “best friend” remains Anglican priest Lisa, 62.

“We bonded because we’re the same age,” says Linda, who sports flashy glasses and a purple streak in her silver hair. He prefers hoodies and leather, while the more conservative Lisa has a neat bob and a penchant for sensible jeans and vests.

‘I remember seeing Lisa the first day and thinking, thank God, there’s someone here my age. She is charming. I liked it from the beginning. We call each other almost every day.

Initially, Lisa had kept the fact that she was a member of the clergy a secret from the rest of the group, despite some initial clues, such as wearing a cross necklace and using the phrase “As God is my witness.” Linda, of course, was gloriously oblivious to all of this.

‘I had no suspicions. No! I don’t think I realized most of it. Half the time I walked in my dreams.

That she will remain friends with Lisa for life seems a certainty. Will you go to your church to sing?

‘No!’ she says, emphatically. ‘I love Lisa very much, but I’m not very religious. So the fact that we’ve become great friends is really strange.”

There are viewers who thought Linda was the show’s dumb grandma; others who perceived his madness as a double deception. We now realize that what you see is what you get.

But for all her idiosyncratic absurdities and over-the-top acting, there’s no doubt about one thing: Linda is a bonafide star.

  • The Traitors airs on BBC1 on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 9pm

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