Derry Girls star Siobhan McSweeney admits nerves over The Traitors hosting role

She hopes to mould the Irish version into her own and make it stand out from the rest of the franchise in the UK and America

Actress Siobhan McSweeney has admitted being host of The Traitors Ireland is “really nerve-wracking”.

The former Derry Girls star is set to host the first Irish version of the hit show on RTE from Sunday, August 31.

But speaking ahead of the show airing this weekend, Siobhan said: “It’s really nerve-wracking. I feel a huge responsibility, not only to the show, but like, you know, really Irish people watching it.

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“It’s alright to mess up abroad. You don’t want to mess up at home, and I don’t want to mess up at home. And I know that Irish audiences are very astute, very literate in every sense, so you don’t want to do a half assed job, really. So yes, I am nervous.”

But Siobhan joked she didn’t get a “huge stack of money” to host the show, unlike what others might think, the Irish Mirror reports.

“Do you think they give me a stack of money for wardrobe, no, but they realise that a lot of the success, I mean, a little bit of the success of this show, is because of the iconography of it, like we know Claudia’s fringe. We know Alan’s costumes and his brilliant use of his accent, or whatever. So, it would be incredible, I think, I’d have let the country down if I hadn’t made a really strong effort to continue the tradition of the series, of the franchise, but to give it that unique Irish flavour.

“And listen, we are brilliant in this country at many things, but one of the things that we’re brilliant at in all the creative arts is design. It would be very stupid of me to miss an opportunity to not get dressed up in a good frock, and my mother did not rear a stupid woman. So, a rake of money, I don’t know. Listen, none of us are in television for the money,” she quipped.

Siobhan said she hopes to mould the Irish version into her own and make it stand out from the rest of the franchise in the UK and America.

“So much of this show has got to do with the visual as much as anything. So we’re using as much Irish, Celtic, Gaelic iconography as we can. There’s plenty. There is a rich history that we can dig into.

“The focal are on. This is a franchise, but this is the Irish version. Make no mistake, this will be the Irish version. The format is universal, but the content and the specificity of each aspect of it will be incredibly Irish.

“And that was one of the things that I spoke about really early on that I wanted, I wanted that iconography to be uniquely Irish. Otherwise, what’s the point?”

Opening up about whether she would like to be a traitor or a faithful, she said: “I had an answer before I started filming, and the answer has changed now. I thought that I would have liked to have been a traitor, and then I started watching the filming process, and in all honesty, what I’ve discovered is that I will never apply for this game, because it is terrifying, and the mental gymnastics, the treachery, and that’s only the faithful.

“Do you know what I mean, the personas, the consistency, or stories or whatever, I’m in awe. I’m in awe of our cast. I would be rubbish at it, as you can already see, I have no filter. I have a face, well, that’s good for radio, but I also have a face that has no filter, which is going to be my biggest challenge.

“Doing this, maintaining a supportive yet stern neutrality when I want to go or explain – that’s going to be my biggest challenge.”

And she hopes the Irish version will be well received by fans – as she admits she “famously responds very badly to negatively”.

“I famously respond very badly to negativity…We’re taking a show that has been a success in other countries, and we’re going to make a success of it here. I’m not a presenter so I approach hosting and presenting as if it’s another acting role.”

And Siobhan said she wants to promote Irish designers only on the show.

“As an actor, it’s hugely important. I want to promote not only Irish designers, but Irish designers who aren’t necessarily well-established Irish designers that don’t do what we think Irish designers do, that aren’t part of the establishment.

“There is a wealth of talent out there, and we’re all very proud of the wealth of talent that is out there, but we haven’t a clue of half of it, and I have the great privilege of being able to find people at the start of their careers and place them quite rightly in the spotlight.

“I also, as a plus size woman, it’s incredibly important to me that every designer I work with is inclusive in their sizing. Otherwise, they’re of no use to man or beast. It’s pointless,” she added.

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