The Traitors made a dramatic comeback on Wednesday night (January 1), delivering a series of unforeseen twists that had viewers perched on the edge of their seats.
A fresh batch of 25 contestants was introduced to the show, but in an unexpected turn of events, three were eliminated before they even had the chance to step foot into the famed castle.
This left 22 competitors to mingle and get to know each other before the roundtable where Claudia Winkleman would select her three Traitors.
Charlotte from London, one of the hopefuls, confessed she was masquerading as Welsh, complete with a convincing accent. To her astonishment, one of her initial encounters was with a genuine Welsh person, Elen, a translator from Cardiff.
She confided to the camera: “I thought, in the past, there’s only been one person from Wales, but this year, Claudia’s decided to bring two of us here which is so nice.”
“Well actually, it’s a bit of a spanner in the works because I’m not actually from Wales.”
Upon abandoning her faux Welsh accent, the 32 year old Business Director disclosed: “I’m from London where I am born and bred. I’ve been putting on a Welsh accent because my mum is from Wales.”
“It’s one of the most trust-worthy accents so in a game where we need people to trust each other, I need an accent that people can trust.”
But as viewers settled in to watch the episode, they found themselves baffled as to why Charlotte was pretending to be Welsh, particularly considering she had not been picked as one of the Traitors, reports Wales Online.
A Reddit user shared their confusion, penning: “Pretending to be Welsh is one of the most bizarre game tactics even with the ‘most trusted accent’ thing.”
Another voiced: “Can’t get over how stupid this pretending to be Welsh thing is. Literally no benefit, will just show you’re a liar.” Yet another commenter found humour in the situation: “Pretending to be Welsh and immediately meeting a Welsh speaker is hilarious.”
Someone else on social media remarked: “Right. So pretending to be Welsh is… the most unnecessarily extra thing I’ve ever heard.”
Despite the confusion, there were those who saw the potential in Charlotte’s strategy, with one person remarking: “Pretending to be Welsh with a Welsh speaking translator on the show is a brilliant setup.”
Another added enthusiasm for the antics on the UK version of the show: “Fake Welsh accents, hidden vicars, female conclaves and the Psycho plot twist, the UK Traitors is back.”
The Traitors continues tonight at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer