Anyone watching the BBC’s Bafta-winning reality TV show The traitors, will be familiar with the dramatic scenes at the end of each episode. The traitors, meeting in a secret tower somewhere, hint at their possible victims and we cut away.
A panning shot of the beefcake doing bicep curls on the edge of his four-poster bed. A close-up of another participant immersed in a deep claw-foot bath. The telepathic one who looks into a crystal ball (and so on).
The rooms are very luxurious, as you would expect in one of Scotland’s most spectacular castles. And of course it’s all deliberately Cluedo-esque, with the participants looking nervously at the door. But the suggestion that the contestants sleep in extravagant rooms is a creative embellishment, and new details have emerged about the airport hotel where they are actually staying.
The show is filmed at Ardross Castle in Easter Ross, with challenges taking place in the nearby lakes and forests. At the end of each episode (in the British version of the show), cars with blacked-out windows and personalized license plates come to pick up the contestants and take them to “individual lodgings” at a secret location.
The true location of the Traitors contestants’ accommodation was first hinted at by British actor Alan Cumming, host of the US version of the show, which is also filmed at Ardross Castle.
In a 2023 interview with the Daily Beast, he said: “None of us stayed in the castle. She [the contestants] they all stayed at the airport hotel at Inverness Airport. How glamorous – you come to Scotland and you stay at the Inverness Airport hotel.
In the American version, the participants are filmed walking up the castle stairs every evening, as if they were staying overnight.
“I stayed in a small house in Inverness. But I had a room in the castle where I would make up and dress. It had a huge bed in it. So I actually slept quite a lot, but not overnight,” he added.
Charles Shires, a former guest of the Courtyard by Marriott at Inverness Airport, told the Telegraph he stayed at the hotel in spring 2022.
“I was in Inverness in May 2022, operating from Inverness Airport and conducting aerial survey flights for SSE over the Highlands. “I remember I could only book one night here because the hotel was very busy and I had to book another hotel in central Inverness the next night,” he said.
When he asked why the hotel was so fully booked, the receptionist said they were filming a ‘reality show’ but wouldn’t confirm which one. Security was tight, Shires says: “The hotel has a central elevator and each level is essentially one long corridor. The security guard on my floor was near the elevator, but in a position where he could see down the halls and know who was entering and leaving the rooms.
“I also asked the security guard on my floor what show it was for and he also said it was for a ‘new reality show’ but wouldn’t say which one,” Shires added.
Opened in March 2020, the Courtyard by Marriott is a 4-star hotel just minutes from Inverness Airport and a 45-minute drive from Ardross Castle, 30 miles north. There are 130 rooms in the Courtyard, with arrival and departure signs in the lobby, plus a fitness center.
“The hotel is very clean and modern,” says Shires. “And one thing I remember is that the rooms are very soundproof. You hear no sounds from neighboring rooms and the windows cannot be opened. So that, in combination with the guard watching the doors, it would be an ideal hotel to keep the participants isolated from each other.”
Shires has stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott several times in the past, but noticed a change starting in 2022: “It was extremely difficult to get a room there, and the rates seemed to be a lot higher starting in 2022, at least in the summer months. I think I paid £260 for one night, which far exceeded my company budget.”
The BBC would not comment on where the Traitors contestants stayed during the filming of the show.
Can I stay overnight in the Traitors’ Castle?
Located on a former hunting estate once owned by the first Duke of Sutherland, today’s Ardross Castle – triumphant, fairytale-like with turrets – was built in the 1840s by the banker, opium dealer and MP Alexander Matheson, before changing hands several times . year.
Today the private home, set in 40 hectares of parkland on the banks of the River Alness, can be hired for weddings and private events (plus TV recordings, of course), with accommodation for up to 41 guests. However, it is not a hotel and it is not open for day trips or tours.
Can I visit the other places where The Traitors was shot?
The beauty of the castle and its surroundings capture the imagination of the public. The Trainline says bookings to Inverness have increased by 25 per cent since the first series aired. One company, Rabbies, now offers a ‘Traitors Tour’ to the Ardross area, which includes a visit to Loch Glass, where some of the challenges take place, plus visits to nearby Logie Falls and Glenmorangie Distillery (a minibus with 16 seats costs £560 per day).
The most recent series of The traitors opened with a meeting of the participants at Boat of Garten station, where they boarded a steam train on the Strathspey Railway. They then traveled ten miles to Aviemore, which is actually in the wrong direction for anyone planning to reach Ardross (over an hour’s drive). A ‘light lunch’ ticket from Aviemore to Boat of Garten and then to Broomhill costs £29.50 per adult (book in advance).
Unfortunately, the aerial shots of the train circling the Glenfinnan Viaduct are also not geographically accurate. This iconic stretch of circuit, made famous in the Harry Potter films, is located in the West Highlands, approximately 75 miles from Aviemore. The Jacobite Steam Railway operates services on the line, although its future is under threat due to health and safety concerns surrounding the door locking mechanisms.
Another filming location in the show is Ardross Church (known as Ardross Ark), which is located just outside the castle grounds. The volunteer-run church hosts community events and describes itself as “a sanctuary where you can pause, breathe and find a quiet moment for yourself to gather your thoughts, visions and ideas.”