star Jaz Singh has expressed his pride in the number of fans who’ve confided in him after he shared the ‘traumatic’ story of his dad’s secret family.
On Friday night, the of the series led to a fiery and dramatic end, as , leaving finalists and Jaz with nothing.
Despite Jaz playing a blinder of a game, cleverly rooting out the Traitors at every turn, winning a share of the prize money for the dedicated Faithful.
In an interview with Metro.co.uk following the final episode, the national account manager expressed how ‘grateful’ he was to have taken part in The Traitors, admitting that it initially ‘hurt’ when he was voted to be banished by Mollie and Harry at the final hurdle.
The 30-year-old also opened up about revealing the painful experiences he’s been through in his life, and how the story of his father ‘resonated’ strongly with other people.
During an earlier episode on this year’s series, the star explained that his dad had been his ‘absolute idol’, until his father’s ‘whole second family’ that Jaz had no idea about was discovered.
Metro.co.uk asked the finalist whether his dad has been in touch since his season of the TV show started airing.
‘There’s been sort of no reaching out from him. I think he understands and accepts that he should go his way and we should go our way,’ he responded.
‘I think he respects that fact, that obviously now he probably understands the level of pain that he’s caused.’
Jaz added that it’s been ‘massive’ to witness how his story has ‘allowed other people to come to me and confide in me’, as it has made them realise that they’re not the only ones who have been through what they’ve been through.
‘It’s given people encouragement to come forward and come to me to say, “Thank you for making us feel not alone,”’ he said.
Jaz continued: ‘We’ve all been through some traumatic experience to some form a degree and it does take a toll on the family significantly.
‘But to get that response – I mean, I’m still getting messages from people now, which is incredible.
‘I hope I’ve given some people out there hope to just say, these things happen and it’s okay and we can just move forwards as best as we possibly can. Just surround yourself with the right people. Anything’s possible.’
Emphasising that he’s more than willing to give advice to anyone who has been through a similar situation to his own, Jaz urged those who might relate to him to ‘surround yourself with the right people’.
‘When you are at essentially rock bottom and you look around, you know which people are there for the genuine reasons and are willing to lend an ear, willing to support you,’ he stated.
The Traitors finalist outlined how his own close friends had ‘no idea’ what he was going through when he first told them, before promptly stressing to him how ‘strong’ he is as a person.
‘Hence why I’ve turned into a really cheesy, really cheesy guy. I get too emotional. That’s what happens. So another piece of advice, you get really emotional,’ he shared.
Ever since the finale of The Traitors, fans have been wondering what went through the finalists’ minds when they made their final decisions.
Giving us some insight into his mindset, Jaz recollected how ‘tense’ it was in the room, and how he kept himself calm by staring into the fire ahead of him.
When it came down to the final three, Mollie had the deciding vote, initially writing on her slate to banish Harry, before changing her mind and selecting Jaz instead.
‘When she said, “Can I change my vote?” That’s when I started to think, “Oh my god. What? Why?” But I just didn’t make any eye contact,’ Jaz recalled.
‘Then she said, “Actually I’ve written it so I’m going to stick with my vote.” I’m thinking, “Oh my god, we’ve actually won again.” And then it was a final straw when she actually decided to change… and that’s when I just accepted defeat.’
He continued: ‘I said, “You know what, at least I went with my gut, I played exactly how I wanted to play it, and just be proud that I even got to this position,” because I could have been gone day one.
‘I was trying to remind myself how lucky you are to have got to this stage. You can’t take that for granted. There were hundreds and thousands of applications that went in to get onto this show and the fact that I was able to get that moment, right at the end, is just massive for me. So hence why I wasn’t too distressed.
‘I totally get it. It’s a big amount of money. But I suppose for me, it wasn’t more about the money. It was more the principle of I wanted to just catch the Traitors.’
Jaz’s game plan had been to take down the ‘wall of contestants’ protecting Harry… which he did manage to do, whittling down the competition until there were only three of them left, and only Mollie standing between him and the ultimate Traitor.
‘So by the time I strike, Harry is going to have no other protection there because it’s just me versus him, which is what I wanted to do,’ he said.
The plan went ‘exactly how he orchestrated it’… just except for the final outcome.
In the end, Jaz was over the moon to go home with ‘one hell of a memorabilia’ – a miniature version of the tiger table featured on the programme, which he was given on the episode of Uncloaked that aired after the final episode.
‘I think that table now is probably worth about 45 grand,’ he joked, quipping that Harry is yet to offer to send him any of his winnings.
The Traitors is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
