Ousted BBC The Traitors contestant 'in denial' over show exit after 'rug was pulled'
After a year-long wait, the BBC's hit reality competition The Traitors finally returned to TV screens complete with more twists and turns than ever before.
The third season began on New Year's Day (January 1), and saw a whopping four contestants leave in the very first episode. Three of the players were given the boot before the games even got underway, with the 25-strong cast having to decide amongst themselves who should leave in a shock twist that came just minutes in to episode one.
Viewers watched on as the train carrying the players to Ardross Castle ground to a halt before host Claudia Winkleman's voice was heard over the vehicle's speakers. She explained that the group had just 10 minutes to make a decision on who would leave each of the three carriages to bring the number of players down to 22, with £1,000 deducted from the prize pot for each minute it took them.
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Despite the early exit of three contestants, the Traitors - Minah, Armani and Linda - still commenced with the first murder of the series, choosing 34-year-old doctor of communication Yin as their victim.
"Honestly, I’m still half in denial that it’s happened," Yin shared after her early exit. "It’s a lot sooner than I expected but I did know for a fact that if I was chosen as a Faithful which is more likely given the odds that this was a very real possibility, so I did mentally and emotionally prepare myself for the worst possible outcome of leaving first. The rug was pulled from under my feet and I just had to accept that this was the situation."
Despite her disappointment at being the first murder victim of the series, she says the "surreal" experience "met my expectations 110 per cent."
"It was so odd to immerse myself within an environment that I’d seen on previous seasons. I’d watched Australia and the UK and US series and every detail, such as the knight and the bar area and the different decorations and how could you forget the breakfast table. All of these little details literally were exactly as expected. So, it felt quite surreal for that reason."
Ahead of her stint on the show, Yin had shared what she would do if she won The Traitors prize pot. She said she hoped to pay back a "pretty large loan" received from her mother to help her buy her first home, as well as starting a new business venture.
"I've been paying her back quite slowly, but this would allow me to finally just send her a sizable amount, because she's not a wealthy person herself, she's just self-sacrificing for her children and her family," she shared. "Secondly, I've always been toying with this idea of starting my own website around my communication science discipline. I called the whole thing Yin-powerment."
The Traitors continues tonight at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer
