She gave us some of the most iconic and meme-able moments in Traitors history: very obvious fake crying at murders she’d committed the night before, overdramatic gasps at every turn, telling Faithful Fozia to ‘get over it’ after murdering her with fellow Traitor Minah. So it’s no surprise that Linda Rand, 70, has been the breakout star of this season of the BBC’s most popular reality show, hosted by Claudia Winkleman.
In person, she’s just as iconic. When she recognises I’m from Liverpool, like Minah, who turned on Linda and voted for her banishment in that fatal round table, I ask if I’m inadvertently triggering her. ‘Well, yes,’ she laughs. ‘Exactly!’ But really, she’s Minah’s biggest fan. ‘She’s absolutely brilliant,’ Linda says. ‘I said to her at breakfast, “If it’s going my way, vote for me because I don’t want you to put yourself in jeopardy by not.” I said, “Vote for me and go all the way, I want you to win it!”’
The sisterhood has been strong this sea- son and it’s the first time that the three OG Traitors were all women. Why did Linda herself want to be one? ‘I’d always thought I was such a good liar but, to give me credit, I have been a good liar in the past!’ she says. ‘But when Claudia was going around the ta- ble, I changed my mind and all I was think- ing was, “Please don’t choose me!” So, when she did, I went into complete panic. I was trying to keep a straight face but I didn’t hear any words.’
That explains her initial giveaway, in which she turned her head when Claudia spoke directly to the Traitors in front of thegroup, a sign that Faithful Jake picked up on immediately. ‘I genuinely didn’t even hear the word “Traitors” when she said it,’ Linda says. ‘Him picking me out within five minutes was actually quite shocking. I thought, “Blimey, I haven’t even opened my mouth yet, you don’t even know me!” That was what I should’ve said but didn’t.’
It's more of a psychological game than people think
When I ask about her strategy, she bursts out laughing again. ‘I just lost the plot,’ she admits. ‘I don’t think I had any strategy at all! I’ve thought about this since then – would I have played it much different had I been a Faithful? And, to be honest, I don’t think I would have. I still would’ve turned my head. I think you have to find a bal- ance between being in the game and pointing people out but not doing it too much. I mean, poor Armani [a fellow Traitor who was banished before Linda] – she went too far going around telling everybody what she thought, and that actually got her. In my case, I was too quiet. So, if I’d maybe picked out some more people it might’ve been different, but also because I’d been picked out so early on, it changed my game plan. I was nervous about saying anything.’
The game, she says, is much more psychological than people think. ‘When you’re there, it’s so difficult to find a balance and it depends on who else is playing,’ she says. ‘It messes with your head.’
Despite the endless memes making fun of her acting skills – not to mention a giant spoof billboard in Leicester Square for ‘performance of a lifetime’ – Linda has loved the fans’ reaction to her. ‘I thought I’d be slammed because I was so bad, but people have loved me. It’s been amazing. I’d love to do more TV. If something good comes along, I’m totally up for it.’