Charlotte Minter
Published January 9, 2026 7:41pm
Updated January 9, 2026 7:42pm
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Many of the contestants are hiding things from the other players in this season of The Traitors (Picture: BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan Cherry)
Last night Amanda revealed a huge secret on BBC’s The Traitors which caused chaos – this Traitors star said they don’t regret keeping theirs.
After becoming close in the castle, Faithful Amanda confided in Traitor Rachel that she was a retired police detective – something she hadn’t told anybody else in the game, and wasn’t planning to.
The danger of the Traitors knowing you possess the kind of skills needed to identify liars and solve cases, is that they may bump you off early so you’re not a threat to their mission.
Maz Bana, 59, knows this potential all too well.
The ex-police officer chatted with Metro about his decision to keep his former profession under wraps.
He was planning on being transparent about his career history, but things changed: ‘I was battling with the thought of whether to say or not.
Now, Maz works as a civil servant (Picture: Cody Burridge/BBC/PA Wire)
The two contestants with links to the police didn’t clock the Traitors in time (Picture: BBC/Listen Entertainment/James Green)
‘It was a last minute decision by myself not to go ahead with it.’
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Like Amanda, Maz thought that there could have been some advantages to letting people know his background: ‘Police officers are trustworthy, honest – they’ve got all these skills and it could be really useful for people.’
However, he also admitted: ‘At the same time, you could place a big target on your back.’
Maz thought that revealing his previous role might also bring ‘expectations and responsibility’ which could have conflicted with his strategy to avoid attention as much as possible.
So after weighing it all up, he decided not to volunteer that information: ‘And do you know what? I don’t regret it, to be perfectly honest with you.’
When asked if he was using those skills he’d learnt as a copper while playing the game, Maz said:’I was using them.
Inside the castle, nobody suspected him (Picture: BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan Cherry)
He’s got no regrets about how he played the game (Picture: BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan Cherry)
‘But it’s a balance, isn’t it?
‘Because you can’t be too forthright […] I played it in the sense of, “Let me just step back, let’s just see how it entails and unfolds.”
‘And, you know, a bit longer, you would have seen a lot more of me and coming forward.
‘But obviously, Fiona had her me in her sight and unfortunately, I didn’t get to that stage.’
Maz was murdered in the fifth episode of the show by the treacherous trio: Rachel, Fiona and Stephen.
Since then, unprecedented in-fighting has begun between two of the Traitors, after Fiona accused Rachel of lying to the Faithfuls about Amanda telling her she was a retired detective.
@metroentertainmentPopcorn at the ready 🍿 Well that was a dramatic ending to episode 5 of The Traitors on @BBC 😮 Has this just saved Stephen’s bacon? Or will it bring all of the Traitors into the spotlight? @charlotteminter_ discusses… #thetraitors #bbc #gameplay #traitors #dramatic #tv #realitytv
♬ Dramatic Tension – Litne
Maz was seated next to Fiona at the round table and called her a ‘bestie’ (Picture: BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan Cherry)
When asked who he would believe in that situation, Maz seemed conflicted.
He revealed: ‘This might sound funny but those two were my actual besties in there.’
‘I had a really good relationship with Rachel.
‘I had a really good relationship with Fiona – she was sat next to me around the round table.’
It seems that Maz and Amanda didn’t just share a similar previous career, but also a penchant for befriending Traitors.
Therefore, seeing the trio reveal themselves just before they murdered him was a shock to Maz: ‘I didn’t know Fiona was gunning for me.’
Unlike Amanda, Maz kept his cards close to his chest until the end (Picture: BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan Cherry)
It all ended too soon for the 59-year-old, who hadn’t had much heat on him from the Faithfuls who clearly believed he was telling the truth.
Could this have made him a good addition to the Traitors gang, should they have chosen to recruit? Maz thinks so.
‘At one point I thought: “Do you know what?
‘This is going all right.
‘If I play my cards right and carry on this trust with people, I’m not so much in the line of fire with the Traitors. At some point I would be a candidate for being recruited.”
‘Because, you know, I came across so faithful.
His time on the show came to a brutal end after the Traitors decided to murder him face-to-face (Picture: BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan Cherry)
‘And the Traitors could have really used that.’
When asked if he’d have said yes, Maz exclaimed: ‘Absolutely!
‘I would have jumped at the chance. I would have loved it!’
‘How good would it have been in the sense that: I’ve made my mark, I’m playing my strategy, I’m playing this game, and my natural character is of somebody that’s likeable – well, I think so – and trusting.
‘I think I would have been an amazing recruited Traitor.’
Maz has been at the centre of a theory that’s been doing the rounds on social media.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DTP0y2Vjf8i/
Some viewers think that everybody is somehow linked in this season, due to the prominence of the family tree.
Banished Faithful Judy told Metro there was even some talk in the castle that Maz and fellow player Faraaz might be father and son.
Judy had a secret connection on the show, and said that contestants in the castle suspected Maz and Faraaz to be related (Picture: BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan Cherry)
On this, Maz clarified: ‘I don’t know where it came from and how it came about, but obviously it’s not true’.
One of the reasons Maz wanted to win the prize money was to support his five children.
His eldest is 32 and his youngest is 18.
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Talking about their reaction to the show, Maz said: ‘My family, my kids, they’re just so proud.
‘They loved me before, but I think they love me slightly even more now.
‘And I’ve got a whole level of new respect from my kids.’
The Traitors returns tonight at 8pm on BBC One.
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