{"id":655162,"date":"2026-08-25T06:40:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T06:40:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/655162\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T06:40:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T06:40:33","slug":"127-prison-guards-applied-i-visited-the-traitors-ireland-set-heres-what-to-expect-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/655162\/","title":{"rendered":"‘127 prison guards applied’: I visited The Traitors Ireland set \u2014 here’s what to expect this year"},"content":{"rendered":"

An iron-clad NDA, cloak-and-dagger travel arrangements, dodging cameras, and skulking around a castle. It was all part and parcel of a media visit to the The Traitors Ireland set.<\/p>\n

As the bus wound its way towards Co Meath, my excitement levels were rising. Like more than two million Irish people last year, I was glued to The Traitors Ireland. For almost a month we analysed, criticised, judged, shouted, laughed, and cheered. We swooned over Siobh\u00e1n McSweeney\u2019s glorious wardrobe. We fell in love with a former prison officer from Limerick.<\/p>\n

The runaway hit, attracting an average of 557,000 viewers per episode, dominated conversations across the country last September. And I was about to step onto the set, to sit at the round table, to stand around in the conclave.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re visiting right in the middle of filming this year\u2019s series, which debuts on RT\u00c9 this weekend. There are seven contestants remaining, and we\u2019re told they\u2019re out on a mission. But as we exit the castle through its massive front door, they return; we catch a glimpse of the fleet of black SUVs pulling in. We\u2019re quickly ushered back into the house. For a few seconds, it feels like we\u2019re part of the show as we sneak our way to the back door of the castle.<\/p>\n

The location of The Traitors Ireland, Slane Castle, has main character energy and is the perfect location for the fiendish reality competition. It\u2019s undeniably Irish, and that\u2019s something the production company Kite Entertainment and RT\u00c9 leaned into last year, and will continue to embrace this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe deliberately wanted to make the show as Irish as possible,” said Darren Smith, MD at Kite. “Putting 24 Irish people in a castle tends to get that by default.”<\/p>\n

\"DarrenDarren Smith, MD of Kite Entertainment which produces The Traitors Ireland: “You trust the game, you trust the format,” he says<\/p>\n

\n The choice language of the Irish contestants last year<\/a>, compared to the UK and US versions, was a topic of debate.<\/p>\n

However, Smith says: “This year\u2019s contestants are not as sweary a bunch. Look, they are swearing \u2014 on missions, in interviews\u00a0\u2014 they\u2019re just a little bit less sweary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another theme of last year\u2019s show was the c\u00fapla focail<\/a> that snuck in. This wasn\u2019t intentional, says Smith, but it did end up being a useful \u201cmission device\u201d, working as a type of code language for some of the contestants.<\/p>\n

The Irish language features even more prominently in this year\u2019s series, says returning host Siobh\u00e1n McSweeney. \u201cThis year we’ve really embraced it, and we have contestants who spontaneously bring [Gaeilge] to the table every single night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another distinctly Irish feature of the show is McSweeney herself. Indeed, Smith proclaims her \u201csuch a huge part of the Irish characterisation of the show\u201d.<\/p>\n

Last year the Cork actor enhanced her obvious Irishness with a wonderful wardrobe of Irish-designed and inspired outfits. She tells us she has ramped this up for the new series.<\/p>\n

As we skulk around the castle, watching our steps on the hundreds of cables snaking the floors, avoiding the 44 cameras, while minding our heads on the very low ceiling that marks the entrance to the infamous conclave, I\u2019m struck by how difficult it must be for contestants to act normally, to forget there are cameras everywhere, recording their every move and conversation.<\/p>\n

When Smith shows us the production room, I\u2019m taken aback. There\u2019s a real Big Brother vibe – dozens of screens display different rooms and camera angles. There are very few \u201cdead zones\u201d explains Smith.<\/p>\n

\"Siobh\u00e1nSiobh\u00e1n McSweeney, host of The Traitors Ireland: \u201cPeople don’t realise how little control we have in the game”<\/p>\n

Story producers are always watching, always listening, always taking notes on the thousands of hours of footage. \u201cWe\u2019re constantly gathering information, but you can’t get everything at the time, and little gems appear when you’re in the edit, particularly from the car, or little side conversations that you didn’t know about,\u201d explains the Kite MD.<\/p>\n

Even with all that footage, the producers are often in the dark when it comes to the round tables. \u201cWe think we have a very clear idea of how the day is going to end, and we are always wrong when it comes to the round tables.\u201d<\/p>\n

These tense affairs, which we found out can go on for up to two hours, are undoubtedly the highlight of each episode. Last year\u2019s round tables threw up several dramatic moments, including Eamon O’Keeffe\u2019s fiery exit. This year will be no different, Smith reveals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve had some phenomenal round tables this year. You can just feel it in the production room when there’s a tense round table, crew who should have finished up an hour ago will stick around. We see that as a yardstick – if we’re gripped by it, a cynical room of telly folk, it’s a good indicator that we have something pretty special again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will there be another Paudie? In a series of memorable characters last time, Paudie Moloney<\/a> stood out. His quote, \u201cI\u2019m not a fucking hugger\u201d will surely go down in Irish TV lore.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what’s lovely about Paudie is people were responding to him because he is a lovely, decent man. He became sort of the nation’s grandad,\u201d McSweeney says. \u201cIt’s not that we’re holding somebody up because they behaved appallingly. He was a gentleman the whole way through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given Paudie\u2019s success \u2013 he enjoyed a prolonged moment in the sun with turns on Googlebox Ireland, another Kite Entertainment production, and Dancing With The Stars \u2013 it\u2019s little wonder that this year\u2019s applications were heavy on the prison guard demographic. ,another Kite Entertainment production.<\/p>\n

Of the 8,000 applications this year, 127 were prison guards, according to Smith. \u201cWe also had some brilliant older guys apply. In a heartbeat you’d put them in any show, but we agreed that it might have felt like we were looking for another Paudie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WillWill there be another Paudie on this year’s season?<\/p>\n

Fear not though, while there may not be another Paudie, McSweeney says this year\u2019s cast is strong, and she wasn\u2019t long getting used to a new batch of \u201cchildren\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’ve cast incredibly well this year. You don’t feel like you’re getting like a supermarket-brand version of last year\u2019s cast. You’re getting a completely different gang with a completely different dynamic and completely different way of working with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Choosing the cast is a big undertaking. \u201cYou want all types,” says Smith. “With over 8,000 applicants, it\u2019s an embarrassment of riches. We start deciding case by case: there’s a lot of background checking going on, a lot of psychological testing.<\/p>\n

“We need to know they are robust enough. We get to a shortlist, you might sign off about 16 that everyone’s happy with, and then there’ll always be debate over the last few.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are big characters this year, says Smith. \u201cThere\u2019s definitely one character who is as strong in terms of the national love as there is going to be for this person, and they couldn’t be more different than Paudie.<\/p>\n

“The level of accidental funny in the room when this person is around, you know, the kind of funny we get from Gogglebox. This person is like a one-person Cabra Girl from Gogglebox.”\n <\/p>\n

The MD of Kite, who is our guide around the castle, likens Traitors to a game of football. \u201cWhen you put different players in, you get a different game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going into the first ever The Traitors Ireland last year, the team didn\u2019t know what to expect. This year, with a huge success on their hands, Smith says most of the lessons learned were around the production side. When it comes to the show itself, aside from a few furniture or set tweaks here and there, it\u2019s a case of if ‘it ain\u2019t broke’.<\/p>\n

The prize pot of \u20ac50,000 will remain. \u201cWe like the game play at the moment in terms of the level of brutality to it,” said Smith. “If the prize money suddenly became a bigger number, that would change. Look, change is not bad. Change is fine, and we have a very different energy with this year’s cast, so that\u2019s a good change.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was also an element of this year\u2019s cast thinking they could outsmart some of the missions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat just gives us a story,\u201d says Smith. \u201cIt’s a bit of a clich\u00e9, but you trust the game, you trust the format. You have to learn to un-produce when you’re doing The Traitors Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

McSweeney agrees. \u201cPeople don’t realise how little control we have in the game. There’s a lot of false rumours about editorial stuff or planning or that we set the ball rolling, but it is really up to the contestants, and it’s terrifying.<\/p>\n

“We don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen from one day to the next. Which is why I think it makes such amazing telly, because just when you think you’ve got your hand on something, there’s a twist.\u201d<\/p>\n