Appearing on The Traitors was ‘mentally exhausting’

Episodes of The Traitors are now on BBC iPlayer, and the series airs on BBC One at 21:00 GMT on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday

BBC/PA A publicity photo of presenter Claudia Winkleman, wearing a black suit and looking straight at the camera, with two hooded figures standing on either side of her. They're standing in a wood-panelled room with a circular table behind him. — Episodes of The Traitors are now on BBC iPlayer, and the series airs on BBC One at 21:00 GMT on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday

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

A contestant has said appearing on TV show The Traitors was “mentally exhausting”.

Reverend Lisa Coupland, 62, from Truro in Cornwall has been in Series 3 of the BBC One programme, where contestants known as “faithfuls” work to identify a group of imposters, or “traitors”, within their ranks.

Those traitors attempt to secretly “kill off” the others while remaining undetected and directing suspicion elsewhere.

Mrs Coupland, who did not reveal her profession until episode five, said she saw herself as being “undercover” rather than lying when she took off her dog collar and kept quiet about her faith.

Reverend Lisa Coupland from Cornwall said it was “quite a strange experience” to remove her dog collar

BBC/STUDIO LAMBERT A smiling woman with short grey hair and a fringe, glasses and a grey jacket, with a religious dog collar hidden behind a blue scarf. — Reverend Lisa Coupland from Cornwall said it was “quite a strange experience” to remove her dog collar

She said it was “quite a strange experience” to keep her faith “under wraps”.

“I like to think about it more as going undercover rather than actually lying – I mean, [crime-solving TV priest] Father Brown can do it, so why can’t I?”, she said.

The Anglican priest was eliminated in episode nine – or murdered in the language of the show.

Mrs Coupland, a fan of murder mysteries and whodunits, said: “It was a game and I think we have to put that into context, really.”

Talking to BBC Radio Cornwall, she said playing the game was “relentless”, adding: “Your brain is being pulled in so many different directions.

“You’re looking at people for the slightest nuance and changes in their behaviour.

“Mentally, it’s exhausting because all the time you’re trying to work things out.”

Mrs Coupland, who was a guest at a fellow contestant’s wedding last year, said she did have moments where she sat back and “just enjoyed the experience… otherwise you just don’t have a moment’s peace”.

She said she was “shattered” after long filming days, so “sleeping wasn’t a problem for me”.

She said she used the evenings, at a private lodge, to catch up with church admin and “come down, relax, and hold everything up to God”.

“I’m probably more adaptable than I thought I was, but probably not as fit as I thought I was.”

Episodes of The Traitors are now on BBC iPlayer, and the series airs on BBC One at 21:00 GMT on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

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