On screen you can see them treating themselves in elegant bathrooms or relaxing in the stylish comfort of a four-poster bed.
But in a little deception worthy of even the raunchiest contestant, contestants on hit BBC reality show The Traitors are staying not in the magnificent 30-room Highland castle where the skullduggery is filmed, but in an airport hotel for £70 per night.
While viewers have come to enjoy the drama of the breakfast reveal, where players learn who was “murdered” overnight amid fresh fruit and pastries, the players have actually already enjoyed toast and porridge at the rather less glamorous buffet of their middle-class accommodation.
The prosaic reality behind the on-screen glamor has been revealed by Alan Cumming, who hosts the US version of the series, which is filmed at the same location as the British one, the 19th-century Ardross Castle, 25 miles north of Inverness.
Charlotte from Traitors series 2 in a fancy bathroom. The series “The Traitors,” hosted by Claudia Winkleman, attracts more than 8 million viewers per episode
Zack from Traitors series 2 reads on the bed of a luxurious hotel room
While viewers have come to enjoy the drama of the breakfast reveal, where players learn who was “murdered” overnight amid fresh fruit and pastries, the players have actually already enjoyed toast and porridge at the rather less glamorous buffet of their middle-class accommodation. Pictured: Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands
He explained, “You [the contestants] Everyone stayed at the airport hotel at Inverness Airport. How glamorous – you come to Scotland and stay at the Inverness airport hotel! I lived in a small house in Inverness. But I had a room in the castle where I could put on makeup and dress. There was a huge bed inside. So I actually slept quite a bit, but not overnight.”
The “secret location” that contestants go to after a day of filming is the Courtyard by Marriott next to the Inverness Airport car park – a 40-minute drive from the castle.
When a social media user read Cummings' comments on The Daily Beast website, he posted: “OMG! I always imagined that they all lived in individual little houses on the castle grounds somewhere – that’s a lot less romantic than I thought.”
The “secret location” that contestants go to after a day of filming is the Courtyard by Marriott next to the Inverness Airport car park – a 40-minute drive from the castle
Pictured: A room at the Courtyard Hotel by Marriot at Inverness Airport. A local said: “The airport hotel had just opened when we filmed last year.” These people took it over for a month, two months. “It was really good business”
Pictured: A bathroom at the Courtyard Hotel by Marriot at Inverness Airport. One guest recalled: “There were guards in every corridor next to the elevators checking that people were leaving their rooms.”
A local said: “The airport hotel had just opened when we filmed last year.” These people took it over for a month, two months. “It was really a good deal.”
Former guests also spotted security guards roaming the grounds to prevent the contestants from conferring – or discovering the identity of the traitors in their midst who would return to Ardross Castle to plan the “murder” of one of their fellow contestants.
One guest recalled: “There were guards on every corridor next to the elevators checking that people were leaving their rooms.”
The series “The Traitors,” hosted by Claudia Winkleman, attracts more than 8 million viewers per episode.
Both the BBC and the production company behind the show declined to comment on the contestants' overnight stay.