Warwick PhD student Jade Scott narrowly misses out on winning BBC’s The Traitors

Warwick PhD student Jade Scott said she was “absolutely delighted to have reached the final” of The Traitors, despite missing out on winning after being banished in the finale.  

The Traitors has been a huge success once again for the BBC, with the recent series finale being watched by a live audience of 9.4 million viewers – the biggest audience yet for the civilian edition, and two million viewers more than last season’s finale.  

25-year-old Scott made it all the way to episode 12 of the hit BBC One series, in which contestants have to work together to identify the Traitors among them. 

She narrowly missed out on the chance to take a share of the £95,750 prize pot after being banished at the very last round table of the series.  

Considering the significant amount of heat I got throughout the game, I am proud of myself for making it as far as I did and defending myself repeatedly to stay in

Jade Scott, The Traitors finalist

Instead, the Traitors, Stephen Libby and Rachel Duffy, won the prize. 

Scott described her near-win as “so close and yet so far.” She said that if she had won the game she would have liked to have bought a house with the money. 

Scott told The Boar: “Considering the significant amount of heat I got throughout the game, I am proud of myself for making it as far as I did and defending myself repeatedly to stay in. I made it into the final with such a wonderful group of people and we had such fun doing the final mission together.” 

“When I reflect on the experience I look on how I’ve grown and it’s nice because family and friends have reached out to say they’ve seen the same thing. I started off quite reserved. I often feel I don’t need to talk for the sake of speaking but as the game progressed I really grew in confidence.  

“I think imposter syndrome is something a lot of students struggle with, myself included, and being in the game was something way out of my comfort zone. It is really affirming as it proves that I can do this and, well, I did.”  

Seeing the University cheer me on and seeing that there are so many fans on campus was fab!  

Jade Scott, The Traitors finalist

Scott initially signed up to participate because she enjoys playing video games similar to the show. Her game plan to try and win was to downplay herself and use her problem-solving and observation skills.  

Speaking to the BBC before the show, she said: “My game plan is […] try and be a part of the crowd but also a shark amongst the little sheep.” 

After graduating from the University of Warwick with a Master’s degree in biomedical science, Scott is currently researching women’s health and pregnancy for her PhD. Along with her boyfriend Sam, she also co-founded a company called FEM, which focuses on creating nutritional bars for women. 

Scott described the outpouring of support from the Warwick community that she had during the show as “lovely”.  

“I had academics in my department reach out, shocked as you can expect, when they discovered I was on The Traitors. Seeing the University cheer me on and seeing that there are so many fans on campus was fab!

Perhaps circling made me more influential than I thought, as I think my proudest circling achievement (although savage), was screaming ‘SPILLAGE IS LICKAGE’

Jade Scott, The Traitors finalist

“I particularly appreciated the message the University sent to BBC Radio 2 when I was on the Romesh [Ranganathan] Show, not only for my participation in the show, but also a little shoutout for the critical research I am doing.” 

On whether experience playing circling days during her undergraduate days helped on the show, Scott added: “I definitely threw myself into the games during circling, like I did during the missions, regardless of how it made me look.  

“Perhaps circling made me more influential than I thought, as I think my proudest circling achievement (although savage), was screaming “SPILLAGE IS LICKAGE”, which consequently everyone jumped on board with and ultimately led to my friend licking the SU floor (ew). So, upon reflection, it might just have done.”