Siobhán McSweeney to host Irish version of show

Siobhán McSweeney is to host the Irish version of reality show The Traitors, Irish broadcaster RTÉ have announced.

McSweeney is best known for her role as sister Michael in the comedy series Derry Girls, as well as hosting The Great Pottery Throw Down.

The Traitors Ireland will be filmed on location in Ireland and feature a cast of contestants from around the country.

McSweeney said that she “jumped” at the opportunity.

“Like everyone, I am a huge Traitors fan,” she said.

“I’m looking forward to meeting our loyal Faithful and delicious Traitors.

“The Irish have a charm and ability to deceive while smiling which will make this version rather special, I think.”

McSweeney added that she was the “luckiest person in the world to watch them close up”.

Steve Carson, director of video at RTÉ, said the broadcaster was “really looking forward to bringing The Traitors Ireland to RTÉ audiences and delighted that Siobhán is going to be at the heart of it”.

The programme is due to be shown on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player in 2025, produced by Kite Entertainment.

The series will see 22 constants arrive at a remote castle to play a game of deception, betrayal and trust, with a prize of €50,000 up for grabs.

Among them are the Traitors, who will attempt to secretly murder a player every night, without getting caught.

It’s up to the others, the Faithfuls, to try to detect who the Traitors are, and banish them from the game.

Each day, the group embark on a series of challenges as they work together to add more money to the prize pot.

But if a Traitor remains undetected throughout the game, they’ll steal all the money.

The Traitors Ireland follows on from several other successful versions of the format including in the UK, the US and the Netherlands.

The series two finale of the UK version, which aired in January 2024, was viewed by nearly seven million people.

Among the stand-out contestants of that series was Diane Carson, a retired teacher from Northern Ireland.

The BBC have announced that they will show a celebrity version of the show, with a third and fourth series also confirmed.