A Traitors contestant from Cornwall says the way to win is to "befriend everyone" - and thinks he came up short because he went in "too hard".

Ivan Brett, 34, starred in the first series of the hit BBC show, which aired in late 2022.

Ivan, from Polruan, near Fowey, was a 'faithful' - meaning his job was to identify the eponymous 'traitors' and hunt them down.

But when another contestant convinced others Ivan was a traitor he was voted out - missing out on the cash prize.

Looking back, Ivan believes his tactic of "playing hard" was the reason for downfall.

The second series of the Traitors is currently airing.

Ivan, an author, said: "The biggest piece of advice is to watch out for confirmation bias.

"It is really easy to come to conclusions quickly, as humans we all do it.

"We come to conclusions quickly and look for evidence to support those conclusions.

"A lot of things we are seeing in season two we saw in season one.

"You come up with a world view that these three people are traitors and the rest are faithful.

"And then absolutely anything you see confirms that it doesn't help."

Ivan left the show in episode five after magician Tom Elderfield convinced the rest of the cast to vote him out.

The dramatic round table came after Tom and his partner Alex revealed that they were a couple.

In a bid to confirm they were legitimate, Tom convinced everyone he knew who the traitors were.

Ivan said: "What he had to do on that morning is go for the people that he thought it was.

"For the majority of the day I was trying to prove to him that I was faithful.

"With Tom, he was convinced that Hannah and I were traitors and nothing was going to change that.

"But the reason he had to go hard on it was because he had to protect Alex.

"I was aware that some people suspected me on day three but that breakfast came out of nowhere.

"The accusation from me was shocking and I had an emotional reaction.

"In the end, he had to go hard, he knew it, he had to go hard to protect Alex.

"If he had got me and I was a traitor then he would have ridden that traitor hunt to the finish."

Falmouth Packet: Ivan says one tactic is to 'befriend everyone'Ivan says one tactic is to 'befriend everyone' (Image: Paul Madeley / SWNS)

Ivan said that fellow contestant Meryl, who was among three contestants who won the show, had a "viable strategy" of befriending everyone on the game.

He said: "It's a viable strategy to befriend people, be lovely and get through the game.

"This game, despite it being social deduction, is a single-player survival game.

"You don't need to solve the game by day three, you need to put yourself in a position not to be murdered and not put yourself in a position to be banished.

"Meryl did that brilliantly, it is a really good strategy not to appear as a threat.

"She deserved her win, people who think they are going to go in there and play hard are the first ones to go.

"Look at me, I played really hard. If I had survived that roundtable I would have been banished within the next two days.

"I would not have never got to the second half of the series like Meryl did and she won - she deserved it."

Ivan said that contestants of this year's show should gather as much data on everyone as they can.

He said: "I would advise people to gather as much data as they can and keep it as open as they can.

"But, this isn't something I could do, I am not saying this from a position of authority.

"I am saying this from a position of don't make my mistake.

"You need to gather as much data as you can.

"We know about voting patterns on the roundtable, we know about emotional reactions where people can't control their tears.

"These are hugely important bits of information that you should be thinking about, memorising and writing down."