It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV Reload, the podcast past leep that line. Welcome back, guys to TV Reload. As you may know, my name is Benjamin Norris and this is your podcast to get all the inside goss on the popular TV shows you may be watching from around the world Undernia Blow. Our TV sets are a major part of our home entertainment, and yet very little is known about how our favorite
shows get made. So each episode I've been finding guests they'll want to dive just that little bit deeper into those shows they're currently making so that you can hear all their exclusive stories and gain access to the biggest names in Australian television. I want to thank you for downloading or subscriber to this podcast however you found me. I love hearing your feedback, so make sure you leave a review or a comment on your chosen podcast platform.
On today's podcast, I have my latest favorite reality TV contestant, Annabel Fiddler here to talk about her time on The Trader season two, which is completely addictive and currently on Network ten. Annabel is a producer's dream. She's a super fan ready to play hard, brings an entertaining game and never takes herself too serious. From the moment she entered the mansion, we know she was going to make this
game her bitch. And while she has exited the competition a little earlier that I thought, I do believe people will remember her and I think future players will be definitely taking some notes. I love that she settled up with the familiar faces actors and reality TV stars, wasn't afraid of the big personalities, and made the show always very entertaining. I will ask Annabelle if The Traders lived up to her expectation and what producers could do next
with the format. We will unpack the first week's twists and turns and find out what Annabel really thinks of Sam and if the dumb dumbs will ever catch him. Annabel will talk alliances with Luke and if she had secretly hoped to be picked as a Trader or even recruited as a Trader before being eliminated. Plus, we will get plenty of exclusives from behind the scenes of The Traders Season two, which continues this Sunday night at seven thirty on Network ten, and you can now catch up
on ten Play if you've fallen that little bit behind. Anyway, let's bring Annabel into the podcast. Guys, I really hope you're enjoyed this very full on, but very insightful episode of TV Reload. Hi Anna Belle, how are you?
I am absolutely fantastic. Thank you well.
I think that you have been the most exciting player that we have seen in the two seasons of The Traders, So I'm very excited to be talking to you this morning.
Benjamin, you're sending my main character, syndrome into overdrive.
I wanted to know how much research did you really do, because you know, sometimes when they put together people's bio videos, they can inflate things a little bit. But I kind of feel like with you, maybe it was a little bit spot on. Did you finish the Internet on the Traders before going in?
Absolutely? I mean I didn't just listen to every podcast that mentioned the Traders. I listened to podcasts that could have, you know, application to the Traders, ones that were on body language and whether it actually means anything. Everything in the reddit, every interview, through all of the instagrams. I was in nerd overdrive.
Let me tell you, where was the best pieces of information that you found putting together your little research book. Was there a hot spot of go to information to get on the show?
Yeah? Absolutely. I think one of the most helpful podcasts was the one that is done by three of the guys who were on the UK Traders with wilf, Ivan and Ryan, and that was really great because they had actually played and you know, they would allude to things like their being cliques rather than alliances and just little things like that that really helped me get into the headspace of what it might be like to be there.
And then another podcast that was great was one by that was recommended by David Bloomberg, and that was about how little ticks like scratching the neck or rubbing your nose mean absolutely nothing. You know, everybody lies in such different ways, and that really freed up my headspace to look at more important things, like the way people would overreact in certain situations, or when people weren't being consistent
with their personality. I wasn't getting distracted by, you know, information that didn't matter.
So in taking that on board, were you right or was it just a really good starting off point? Oh?
No, it was. It was correct. When we came in. You saw in episode one everyone was going after Payden. You know, there's this idea that he had, I don't know, done something with his body when we were in the banishment room, and you know, I knew that was nothing. I mean, it could be because he was stressed and
we did see he was an anxious mess. Whereas, for example, Blake, who's a pretty steady hand the whole way throughout, is all of a sudden having this over the top reaction to Ian's exit when I know they liked each other, but they weren't super tight in the game, and you know, I was pretty sure I'd heard Blake bring up Ian's
name in the past. So the way that Blake was behaving there was inconsistent with his personality and was actually shot similar to the way that Sam would behave when I knew Sam was lying.
You know, it's funny because we're watching the show and we're in on the joke kind of thing. You know, we know who the Traders are, so for that reason, it's hard for us to not understand how you guys can't see it because Blake and Sam, to me, just look like they're really iffing obvious to be the Traders in order.
To be the kind of nutter that goes on reality TV. You've got to be the kind of person who has absolute confidence in your own opinions, And there were a lot of people out there incredibly confident in their incredibly wrong takes. And especially you know, when you have a lifetime of experience, you know, in the police force or in the military, and you know, you think you're this
expert in reading people. Who is this little twenty nine year old sales rep who's never done anything more challenging than a zoom conversation got to teach somebody who has that kind of experience behind them. But you know what, I would argue that having a bunch of sketchy ex boyfriends sets you up way better to read when men are playing you than when you've got an entire institution backing you in your pursuit of the bad guy.
Had you met people like Sam before in your world? Like did you peg him and say, I've met this character before.
One hundred percent? I mean, look, I know a million SAMs, so many sales bros. I dated Sam's and I think that's why I felt so comfortable with him, because I knew exactly who I had to be for him in order for him to feel comfortable with me, to trust me, and in order to not hurt me. And you know, I think it was as soon as we made eye contact, I thought, all I need to do is tell this guy every day how beautiful he is, how smart he is, how and just ustily spotted with him. All I care
about in this game is you, Sam. As long as you and I are good, then I'm happy. And most people, Benjamin, if someone said that to them, they would go, all right, what's this woman's angle? Instead, Sam has the confidence to think, oh my gosh, I need to get a restraining order out on her after this game because she would be obsessed with me.
He leaned into his villainry too well when he was being a little bit evil, Like even when you were talking about getting rid of Blake, you know, he says me too, And the way that he was doing all of that just seemed a bit cartoony for me.
I don't think that Sam is as subtle as Sam thinks he is. That's coming from my perspective to Luke and I and Gloria to an extent as well, bleedingly obvious the chokehold that man has on that hotel, you know, Luke and I could not have spelled out more clearly last night. This is the evidence. This is exactly how we worked it out. And I'm just speaking facts, and they're not subtle facts. They're there in your face. Hunt.
If I was in that show and a personality type like you and a personality type like Luke was driving that conversation, I would have followed you all the way.
I'd say two things Ego, as I alluded to earlier, you know, you could not shape the confidence that some of these people had in their own opinion. You know, you had a lot of people there who'd never watched Luke play anything before, who had who Luke was, and I would you know, I'm I fill a room, I'm super super confident, I'm outspoken. You know, I'd like to think I'm quite intelligent. I'm very extra and you know that, let's be honest, that can be pretty obnoxious on a map.
You a woman. It's unforgivable. And I don't think that people looked to me as someone who they wanted to follow. They looked at me as a threat. And I got such a different response to the way that I was laying out my game as opposed to Sam, who was kind of screaming across the table. No one was looking at that and thinking that's untoward, that's suspicious, that's too defensive.
You know, there's a few key points throughout your gameplay that I wanted to ask you about. And Guidon and I were talking about this when you were crying after you eliminated him. We kind of joked a little bit about maybe it was a bit sociopathic for you to do that. Can you tell me why you were crying to eliminate him? Is that because you knew there was no other way to play that even though he was your mate.
Yeah, there were a few things there. I mean, first of all, I'm a girlie who wears a heartless sleeve. I am a ball of emotion. I feel my feelings very intensely. I'm a passionate person. But there were a few things there which had me feeling really emotional, and I think the main one was the frustration that my agency had been taken away. So as a faithful the only thing you have control over is who you vote for and banishment and the ability to rally votes in banishment.
And when Sam had come to me and said we're making a move on Ash. I had really committed to that, you know, I'd rallied my girlies. I was all in on it. I had a really good relationship with Geiiton. I felt strongly that he was a faithful but that also he was somebody who I could work with strategically as well, and so as and you could see Sam, you know, making his aggressive faces at me across the table at banishment as we're walking into banishment. We don't
have the votes for Ash anymore. And because Ash really is a trader, and because Sam is my Trader protector, my Trader daddy, you could say, who's keeping me safe from murder? I can't blow up his spot by outing Ash if we don't have the votes. So I'm now in this really difficult position where I can't rock the vote. I have to vote out somebody I know as a faithful who I know will work with me down the line,
and someone I really like. You know, we were a bunch of crazies in there, ben people like me who are supermanic and extra and we're all making little jabs at each other. And Guidon was just like this steady rock of calming energy and a presence like that is just invaluable. So I was crying for myself, I was crying for my game. I was crying for him, and I was just crying because I'm like that. You know.
It's interesting to me is that I'm always looking at the detail. And there is quite a few times in the show where you've got tears on your cheeks, but they didn't show the crying starting if you know what I'm saying, will not to be shown the full reason as to why you were crying, or.
I was so lucky I had the world's most generous storyline. You know, they really got to They really told my full story. And I don't need a reason to cry. Sometimes I just cry. I mean, you seem sobbing. After the first mission, I was crying because I was profoundly unfit and having to winch that horse hurt. You know for another time. What's another time I was crying. I was constantly crying. So I'm not embarrassed by my emotions.
It's just part of who I am. And I don't you know, I cry because I care and because I love hard and I play hard, and I think that that it's one of my best traits.
Did you when you turned up. This is what I was thinking, you know, being a bit of a super fan, you would have all of a sudden seen these familiar faces, like I loved when you saw Luke for the first time. That would have been my reaction as well. So fair play to that is that when it's sort of the penny dropped and you realized that it was more the format had changed since the year before and it was more like the English version. Did you pick up on that?
Yes, so I had. There were a few things. I mean, I wasn't shocked at all that we had sort of familiar faces. They'd done the same thing in the USA. They did that in Australian Survivor as well, only a couple of seasons in I think season three or something, so that wasn't surprising. The Trojan Horse challenge we had seen already in both the UK and the US version. In fact, a lot of the challenges that had been
similar ones, so you know, that was really helpful. I think what was so shocking to me I cannot fathom going in to sit a test and not study for it, and so to go in there and realize I was one of a tiny handful of people who'd watched a full season, let alone all the seasons let alone, and to interviews with former contestants. I mean most of the people there hadn't even seen Luke play. To go in and just be playing on a completely different strategic level
for everybody else to be picking up on that. That's what bonded Luke and I so closely was, you know, being really two people who saw the game in the same way, wanted to play the same kind of strategic game, and instead of being able to use that to secure the win, it's really just made us threats.
I love the relationship that you both had. I mean, that's as I said a little bit earlier, kind of teased that I would have played it the exact same way that you did. The only thing I would have done a little bit different to your gameplay is I may have in the banishment room, I probably would have allowed whatever work I'd done before getting in there to have been cooked without fully, you know, putting the icing on it in that space.
I think I was set up really, really well in the game. You know, I've got the most stubborn voy stress traitor in my corner. I've got you know, a really strong group of people working with me in the banishments, my ultimate flaws, just my entire personality.
Which makes a good television. Anabelle, I can't I know the answer.
I can't stop myself. I've got to put my hand up and give it, and I can't tone it down. I just can't, even when I know I should, I can't stop myself.
How much had you thought about that final banishment, that when you would be banished, that you would give us such a delicious line like the pandas did that just come to you in that moment? Horrace? You thought about multiple scenarios and quotes that you could use.
That was the only line that I didn't think up on the spot. Everything else I ever said just literally spewed out of my mouth with that.
It was.
It was when we were preparing to go into the banishment, and I thought, you know, well, Annabelle, this could go tits up for you. There's a really good chance that this doesn't work out the way that you want it too. And you know I come from a family of conservationists, So I thought, let's give a shout out to the animals. We love the animals.
I just loved it so much I was like, yes, it was. It was well delivered, it made sense, it was perfect. Do you ever get more than one chance to say those things? Or was that just how it happened? And that is it?
That is exactly how it happened. You get one go, I mean, the bit's slipped out my honestly, I'm getting up there and Sam's already got his pre prepared shot face. He's like, I couldn't help. I said, Sam, stop pretending to be surprised before the moments even happened. Toney, you've got thirty seconds.
This is so good, though, Like you know, just to remember to call Sam out exactly, was just that little bit more evidence that that's one hundred percent of Trader and you got him with that, and then you walked out.
I swear if this nuclear bomb that we just dropped on his lap and exploded all over him isn't the end? All of my fingers are crossed for Luke tonight when I tuned in tonight, and please let him have been recruited. If they don't take out Sam next, then frankly, none of them deserve their money at this point.
Do you also think you could have done anything different? I mean, that's soundly. Thing is, I'm wondering if there's some Sunday morning quarterbacking that we could do about what might have kept you in the game longer.
Aside from having a complete personality transformation, there's actually three things that I think I should have done that could have kept me in. Number one, I invested so much social cachet in keeping Sarah in the game, so in the first banishment she would have gone one hundred percent if I hadn't really gone back for her and thrown Karin under the bus instead. I did that because I felt like Krin, you know, best case scenario, she's a traitor.
Worst case scenario, she's never going to tell me who she's voting to banish. She's never gonna vote with me. Whereas I thought with Sarah, if I she's not a traitor, obviously she we're both queer women, and if I can save her here, then you know, maybe she will stick with me moving forward. She was just too chaotic. I mean, it should have been red flag number one when she didn't vote with us at banishment the next couple of times.
I all of that time that I was investing moving forward and convincing other people, you know, not to banish Sarah in reassuring Sarah that her and I were good in emotionally supporting her in the game. If I'd let her go out first, then that was all emotional energy and time that I could have poured into Mistake Number
two my relationship with Simone. If I'd been able to make Simone feel really secure and like I was much closer with her than I was with Luke and Sam, then I don't think she would have come for me. And she was probably one of the few people who could have who was essential to my voting blog and had the social prowess to pull in other people to get rid of me as well. So if I had invested all of that time and energy I spent on Sarah in Simone, I think that would have been critical
to my game. And then number three, I needed Hannah out early. I wanted Hannah out early because, again, best case scenario, she's a traitor. Worst case scenario, I've got rid of someone who like honestly, I owe her thousands of dollars in back pay and rent the amount of time I was living rent free. In that woman's brain, she was just convinced I was a traitor and so but once we got rid of Ash, there's no way Hannah's also a traitor, right, you know, they're too similar.
So if I had somehow managed to pull off getting rid of Planner instead of guiding, or if I'd somehow managed to manipulate Sam into pushing for her murder, I really think I needed those three things to come together. And let's be honest, I've only got so much time.
In a day, absolutely, right. I mean I kind of feel like I can't work out as a viewer if Hannah's playing a smart game or she's just winging it, like I don't necessarily know whether or not she knows what she's doing.
That yeah, I don't know that she knows particularly what she's doing. I mean, love Hannah on below Deck, been a huge, huge fan of her for years. My mom my Auntie are absolutely obsessed with her. So yeah, it was a little bit disappointing that she didn't love me as much as I loved her. But I think she's really going with her gut. And you know, her and a couple of the others, they have a lot of experience on television, but perhaps not a lot of experience with social strategy.
Games, Did you actually want to be a trader? Like, had you been crossing your fingers to be a trader right from the start, and then on top of that, once you weren't and you were a faithful, had you been crossing your fingers and hoping to be recruited?
Yeah? So, I mean, as a you want to be a trader because you get double the agency. I mean, if you're a faithful, you only have control over half of the game, and even then you're one vote in a pool of what twenty, So if you want to maximize your agency, you really do need to be a traitor. That said, I think I would make a shocking traitor, no poker face. Everything I'm thinking written right across me, can't keep my mouth shut. I think I would have
been gone even sooner if I was a traitor. But I was really counting on being recruited, and you know, gutted that Sam and Blake didn't recruit Luke earlier in the piece, you know, like when they could have, because if i'd if I'd had two traded daddies, then maybe we could have offed Sam, who was frankly getting on my nerves a little bit. By that point, you're.
Living up to all my expectations of this chat. I knew it was going to be good, but I just, you know, it's great. That's exactly what I needed. The thing that I have a problem with this show for though, is that it is kind of designed in a way that when it plays out, the quieter, boring of players get left to the end, Which isn't that great for the viewer, I would say, because we want all of the big, noisy players to be the ones that stay in the show, but the format doesn't lean itself to that.
Do you think that at this stage of the game we should be fearful that there's going to be some very boring people left to the end?
You know, I think that this is only an issue as long as faithfuls aren't playing a strategic game. So we're actually seeing that in reverse in Survivor, particularly Survive a USA, where the more optimally people are playing the game,
the more you know, quieter characters are staying longer. Where I think with this if all Faithful's come into the game looking to shore up their traitor daddy and go to war essentially on behalf of their trader with their little pocket of faithful supporters, and they back their traitor against the other traitors, and it becomes more of a not just blindly shooting in the dark hoping that you hit the right target. I think that's when we're going
to see big gameplay. We're going to see you know more. I mean I came for Korean and was happy to boot Ian because again, worst case scenario, you're not moving my game forward. You're not voting with me, you're not throwing any names out, you're not feeding me information about where your vote's going to go. So I think if everyone is coming in with this strategic mindset, that's when I think we're going to start seeing all of the big characters lasting longer in the game.
Can you see really Sam, I mean you kind of answered this before, but can you see Sam and Blake being there towards the end?
Surely not. I mean, it's so it was so frustrating in the real time at my banishment, and again watch it on television last night that again speaking facts and no one's seeing it. But surely now that I have gone out and I'm faithful in More Universe, even giving these people the most minimal amount of credit would they not target them.
Can you please apply for the English version immediately? Like aus In, I think I just need to go and see you do a different format of the show. And it's not something I've ever said to anyone on any reality show that I've ever done an exit interview for. I just would love that so much. So that's a little project for you.
Thank you, Thank you. I'll make sure I renew my passport asap.
I am a pee girl friend. You know. I also was going to say I'm finding Liam a little bit sexy. I don't know whether or not. I guess you guys get locked up at nighttime, so there's no chance for any romances. But you know, if you weren't locked up at night and they probably did give you guys some more booze, would there have been any relationships happening like that?
We stand a short king, what can I say? And you know what, a lot of my male friends also eyeing up a slice of Liam. I gotta say he's been a real hit. Yeah. Liam is absolutely adorable and obviously love a snack I can eat alive. Liam was pretty intimidated by me. I think might have weed his pants a little bit every time I hit on him for gags, but yes, he was probably grateful he had security outside his room. Let's be honest.
I don't know why the same thing happened to last year with the same show. I can't remember his name now, so it obviously goes to show that I'm very fickle. But there was someone who looked very similar to him last year that did quite well.
It was it the other Sparky? Was it like basically his same ark type again.
One per thank you for coming with me on that one. It is just the same person again, and I have the same weird crush on him, and I think this the one from last year was small as well. Anyway, hilarious.
I'm wondering, after playing this game, you know, and spending so much time of pre planning how you would play the game, has it affected your life because I know that for myself and for people who have done reality shows, it kind of changes the dynamics and social situations and you can't help but start evaluating people and looking at people differently. How has the aftermath been?
It was nowhere near as stressful as I thought it would be. So I'm a massive nerd. I've done like the online versions of Survivor I done in real life, amateur versions, and all of those the where you're playing with other unhinged super fans, so they were really really full on. I think the online one I did went for something like two and a half months. That really kind of messed with my head and took a while
to come out of afterwards. So comparatively, this was pretty low key, and I have come out not super paranoid, and the way I went out couldn't have been more perfect as well. I think if I'd been murdered, you know, you'd have going through your head, what did I do wrong? What happened? Having to sort of wait for the show to come out, whereas you know, with this, I know exactly what happened. It was the dumb dums, and so I had that closure. I love it.
I love it well. I'm always going to be in your audience. But the last question I'll ask you is something that I ask everyone who joins the podcast. What is something from behind the scenes, from your experience, something that we won't see this an audience from filming The Trader season two.
So every night when I went back to my hotel room, I would lie in bed and I would spend hours committing to memory who was in what challenge car that day, you know, what order did people come into breakfast, and they'd have had more time to talk to each other, who voted for who banishment and sort of letting all of this marinade in my mind and connect it back to the sort of previous days to really try and say, Okay, well that person's probably not a traitor or there was
a little bit of consistency here and that helped piece together.
Blake, I think you are television gold and I'd love your insights.
Oh, thank you so much, and thank you. This has been so much fun. I'm so excited to finally meet you, and this has just been the best