The Traitors isn’t a game for the lighthearted. While the Faithful contestants spend their days participating in challenges and keeping an eye out for suspicious behaviour, the Traitors are constantly lying to their co-stars, plotting who to murder and trying to maintain a carefully constructed facade.
No one felt the pressure of wearing the iconic red cloak more this season than Alex Nation, who seemingly surrendered her place in the game during Tuesday night’s episode because of how much of a toll the game had taken on her both mentally and emotionally. The former Bachelor winner was visibly exhausted sitting at the Round Table as her co-stars pointed out all the evidence suggesting she was a Traitor, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the room as she said a very heartfelt goodbye.
Alex Nation reveals what it’s really like to be a Traitor
Alex told PEDESTRIAN.TV following her exit that although she had lobbied hard in the audition process to be cast as a Traitor — “I’m a Leo, I want to be the main character” — the role was much harder than she thought it would be and she found it surprisingly “triggering”.
“I grew up in a very hostile environment, and lying meant safety to me as a child. So I was a really good liar as a kid, as a teenager, even in my early 20s. I was someone that would protect myself at all costs, even if it meant lying, and it’s something that I had to go to therapy for to be a better person and grow,” she detailed.
“So you sort of have to do these things in there as a Traitor, and because I’d worked on myself so much to not be this person, I was doing these things as that role, and it started to trigger me so much.”
The mother-of-three added that the role became increasingly difficult as she grew close to her co-stars, but still had to act as a “lying, deceitful person”.
“I know it’s just a game, but when you’re living it, it feels so real. I remember just being like, I want to be free from this. This cloak is way too f**king heavy now; it is weighing me down,” she shared.
“I think in the end, I just got too close to everyone, and I let my guard down, and my heart was open to them all, and it was just too much. It was super triggering, but I do think I would be good as a Faithful because I’m so good with connecting and reading people and getting close to people. I think I’d probably be really good at weeding out a Traitor.”
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On top of the constant lying, strategising, sleepless nights “going insane” talking to herself in her bedroom and the persistent accusations that she was a Traitor, she also had a hard time being away from her children.
“I had nothing in me. I missed my kids terribly. I was really struggling with the no contact thing, really, really struggling with that, and I was thinking about them every day,” she recalled.
“I’m naturally an anxious girly. I get intrusive thoughts, ADHD, I’m a bit spicy that way, and so my mind was just running away from me, especially with my kids and the game. And I think by the end of it, I was surrendering. I was ready to go home.”
Despite the hardships, Alex insisted that she had an incredibly fun time filming the reality show and is still close with her co-stars — except AJ Antonios. Between her schemes in the Conclave, arguments over breakfast and tears at the Round Table, there’s no doubt she will go down as one of the most entertaining players in the show’s history.
The Traitors Australia airs Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7:30pm on 10.
The post The Traitors’ Alex Nation Reveals The Mental Toll The Show Took On Her: ‘Going Insane’ appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
