Harriet was the sixth player banished at the round table. She talks about her experience here.

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How did it feel walking into the castle for the first time?

It was very surreal. Of course. I've watched the show, I've watched every series more than once and it felt so familiar, yet so alien. Within a few days it felt completely normal to be there, it was amazing actually how fast the routine felt normal.

What were your first impressions of your fellow players?

I did gravitate very fast towards Rachel, we're not that dissimilar in age, we’ve both got kids – we had a lot in common. She likes reading - I thought she'd actually caught me out because she was talking about her love of psychological thrillers at one point! It's amazing how quickly you find people to talk to and due to the vast number of applicants I figured there was going to be something fascinating about every single person there.

Were you happy to be a Faithful?

I didn't think I would be but yes, I was. I would have taken the Traitor role and played it with great relish, but there is something lovely about having been able to discover how important my integrity is to me and to have upheld that integrity throughout and I would not have had that opportunity as a Traitor.

Did you have a strategy, and did you stick to it?

My game plan blew up but it is what they say it is… ‘Everyone's got a plan until someone punches them in the face’. The idea was to go in as the nice lady with the jumper who was not a published author. Not too much on anyone's radar - the invisibility cloak of the middle-aged woman and just try and keep my head down and watch what was going on.

Unfortunately, because of Hugo, I was triggered into action there. I was then able to merge back relatively easily from that which surprised me because people weren't being observant enough. They should have killed me when they had the chance. So, until the Smoke and Mirrors Mission, I think it was working very well, but it was hard to allow myself to be underestimated consistently. I didn't really enjoy that even though I could see that it served a strategic aim.

I think that with Smoke and Mirrors, it was just too irresistible an opportunity to let myself be myself properly and to stop letting anyone play me for a fool.

How does it feel to be leaving the game now?

On the one hand, I’m gutted not to have got further. I haven't won therefore I've lost so it's hard not to see it that way, but on the other hand, I could not have asked for more action! I was given some opportunities there, I created other opportunities for myself and as I said, Faithfuls have very little control. In all of that I managed to find a way of fighting as myself and leaving on my own terms and I really don't think many other people who've been through the game can say that. If I were to swap with being there in the final but being duped, I'd take my short-lived game any day.

Your monologue getting Hugo out was incredible, how did it feel going up against another barrister as a barrister yourself?

It was a very exhilarating moment and something I realised in retrospect was the fact that I was fighting for my 25-year-old self who was a pupil back in the 90s dealing with male barristers of a certain age, some of whom were considerably less well behaved than Hugo. I think that I was taking one for the team and driving something I felt needed to be driven, and even though I knew I was putting a target on my back by acting in that way, I knew that it was the right thing to do.

Watching back on the show, what was it like to see Rachel and Stephen so rattled?

Brilliant, I'll be honest, not that I am one to wish pain on a fellow human being but just as it was delighting to see their reaction when they discovered that there was a Secret Traitor and they weren't going to have everything completely their own way, to see them again in a state of confusion, however temporary was extremely pleasing.

Your questions were incredibly astute, how did you feel standing there and about the responses you got from them?

I was terrified. I was terrified and I was angry; it was a combination of both emotions. I had to hold the questions in my head, so I was concerned about whether I'd be able to deliver them in a clear, articulate way and I was more focused on remembering them as I’d already decided that whatever they said to me was meaningless because they had the power to lie.

In my mind this was an exercise in sharing my hand rather than paying any attention to what they said. I was impressed when they said ‘take her’ about the Rachel question. I felt that that was very smart because it did get into my head. You can imagine having made such a grand stand against Rachel that of course afterwards I thought my God, I hope I got this right because I could so easily have been so hugely mistaken.

You decided to tell your fellow players at breakfast about being an author and a barrister, what was your reasoning for disclosing that then?

I didn't want the Traitors to have a single piece of information on me that I hadn't shared with my fellow Faithfuls. You have very little control in that environment as a Faithful and I was bloody well going to control my own narrative and not give that to anybody else. People could choose not to believe me, but I was not going to leave anyone the opportunity to spread lies about me before I had told the truth.

You chose to put your neck on the line to hopefully send the Faithfuls on the right track. Was that a spontaneous decision?

Yes, it was halfway through after Matt made his accusation against me and I started to defend myself with some force. I was really going to give it a go and then I thought; you know what? I don't want to do this. It was the first time I'd been under suspicion in two weeks, and I didn't like the feeling. I was a very useful distraction for the Traitors, so I would be kept in this state of having my wings pulled off. It just became clear that the kamikaze departure was the way to do it. Suddenly all the tension left me, and it was a relief after so much high emotion.

Would you have done anything differently?

I would have tried to have been less emotional, but it’s almost impossible. I did the best I could with what I had; other people might have done a better job, strategically other people might have lasted longer but I'm still very proud of myself. I demonstrated integrity and as it turned out that's something that's really important to me.

What will you take away from being a player on the Traitors?

I am capable of more than perhaps I think I am and that I need to trust my intuition because my God my intuition was on the money.

Did you have a standout highlight of the experience?

The takedown of Hugo! Me with my arms in the air - oh it was glorious. Such a good feeling.

Interview/image supplied by BBC