The Traitors' Lisa reveals lies she told congregation after 'priests can't lie' claim

The priest and Traitors star told her congregation she had gone to rehab and was on a silent retreat as a cover story for the BBC show.

Watch: The Traitors priest Lisa lied to congregation about being in rehab during filming

The Traitors' Lisa Coupland told her co-stars that she couldn't lie as an Anglican priest — but now, she has admitted she lied to her own congregation about going on a silent retreat and being in rehab as a cover story for the BBC show.

The Traitors contestants were stunned by Coupland's big reveal that she was actually an Anglican priest halfway through the BBC contest — as well as her claim that she couldn't possibly be lying about being Faithful as priests had to take an oath to tell the truth.

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It led to her eventual murder as Traitors Minah Shannon and Charlotte Berman decided to murder her because they felt the other players would never banish her as they were sure she was a Faithful.

However, appearing on ITV's Lorraine alongside castle best pal Alex Oleksy, she explained it was a different story in her day job when she had needed a plausible reason for why she was going to be absent from her congregation for so long during filming.

The Traitors' Lisa admitted she did lie - to her own congregation. (BBC)
The Traitors' Lisa admitted she did lie - to her own congregation. (BBC)

Coupland said: "If I'd gone in as a priest, an ideal situation would be to make a priest a Traitor — or that's what people would probably think. I thought I'm going to keep it quiet for a little while... that was a tactic to try to save myself."

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But she added of her day job: "The congregation had been wonderful. Obviously, I couldn't tell them I was doing it. When I went, I told them I was going on a silent retreat up in Scotland. It kind of was a silent retreat in some ways.

The Traitors' Lisa Coupland had told her co-stars priests can't lie, but admitted to Lorraine she was forced to tell a few untruths to her congregation as a cover story during filming of the TV show.
The Traitors' Lisa Coupland had told her co-stars priests can't lie. (ITV screengrab)

"A friend of mine, Harriet, the girls at the stables said we haven't seen Lisa in ages, we haven't heard from her in ages. She said, well you can't take your phone into rehab. She told everyone that I'd gone into rehab and that was the story I came out with."

Coupland added she harboured no hard feelings about being murdered, saying: "It is a kind of compliment because it means you're getting close and they're worried about you. So you can take a sense of satisfaction in that they knew I was getting close and I was onto them."

Lisa Coupland had tried to keep her day job a secret in The Traitors. (BBC)
Lisa Coupland had tried to keep her day job a secret in The Traitors. (BBC)

Meanwhile, Oleksy — who had sealed his own fate by appearing to suggest in a kitchen chat that he was a Traitor despite being a Faithful — said his slip-up had been entirely down to nerves.

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He joked: "I've never entered a kitchen since. I was so anxious, thinking 'don't say you're a Traitor, don't say you're a Traitor'... As soon as it was out I was like, why did I just say that?"

Alex Oleksy became good friends with Lisa and Linda. (BBC)
Alex Oleksy became good friends with Lisa and Linda. (BBC)

Coupland and Oleksy formed a close bond on the show along with banished Traitor Linda Rands — and became such good friends that Oleksy even invited them to his wedding after filming the show.

Oleksy explained: "It's such a high pressure environment that we found a bit of solace in just being really silly together. We connected and it was really special."

Coupland added: "Alex reminds me of my boys, a very similar dry sense of humour. Laughter would get you through an awful lot of testing moments. With Linda, we're women of a certain age, we have a level of experience and we both looked at Alex as our wee boy."

Joking about rumours amongst fans that they were secretly related, she said: "We're going to do a DNA test later."

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Talking about inviting his new friends to his wedding, Oleksy said: "It just had to happen. We got so close so quickly, you can't really explain it. I said I'd absolutely love to have you both at the wedding. It was a fantastic day, we had a really good time."

Host Lorraine Kelly said of finding a lifelong friendship on the show: "You didn't go in there thinking that was going to happen," and Oleksy replied: "No, I wanted £120,000, Lorraine."

Lorraine airs on ITV1 at 9am on weekdays.