INTERVIEW: 'I was 100% me' - Tipperary's 'Pauric O' reflects on Traitors Ireland journey

​The Traitors Ireland season two is over, and what a whirlwind it has been for Borrisokane musician Pauric O’Meara.

​Pauric, or ‘Pauric O’ as he became known to the public in recent weeks, had what was arguably the most eventful journey of the series. Beginning the show as a Faithful, he quickly became one of its central figures, dividing opinion along the way and becoming one of the most talked about players of the season.

He eventually found himself on both sides of the game, spending time as both a Faithful and a Traitor, he gave everything to both roles before making it all the way to the season finale.

For a while, it looked as though Pauric was certain to take home the prize money, but an under-the-radar Diego shocked viewers by revealing his final vote, identifying Pauric as the last remaining Traitor and allowing Diego and Anna to win the season, leaving Pauric to finish in third place.

Despite missing out on the prize, Pauric has emerged from the series as one of its most recognisable figures, alongside fellow Traitor Carla.

“I’m absolutely buzzing. Not buzzing that it’s over, but buzzing that I got the opportunity to do it.” He said.

“I feel like nothing has hit me fully yet,” Pauric admits.

“I think in a couple of months’ time I’ll probably go back and watch it, and then that’s when it’ll hit me.

“But no, it’s been absolutely amazing. I’m just delighted that the secret is out and that I don’t need to be lying to anybody anymore.”

While the series may have finished on television, the relationships formed during the experience have clearly continued.

The contestants now have their own group chat, with Pauric saying the unusual experience of taking part in The Traitors has created a bond that few people outside the cast can fully understand.

“We’re all there to support each other,” he says.

“There’s a very small minority of people in the entire world that have ever taken part in this series, you know what I mean? So we have to be there for one another.

“There’s an awful lot of stuff going into the group chat. There’s an awful lot of stuff going on privately between different individuals, but we all have each other’s backs.

For the contestants, there is also the bizarre reality of going from anonymity to suddenly being recognised across the country.

“It was an absolute crazy time. I wouldn’t regret it for the world.” Pauric says.

“But yeah, I think it is important to be there for each other and, you know, take the good with the good, but also take the bad for what it is and be there to pick each other up if anyone’s feeling a bit down.”

One of the most interesting aspects of Pauric’s journey was the reaction to him as the game progressed.

As a Traitor, he inevitably found himself on the receiving end of criticism from some viewers, while others became invested in seeing him and Carla make it to the end.

For Pauric, however, the answer is simple: it was a game.

“You’re going to have the 50/50 split. Some people were mad for me and Carla to win; some people were mad for the Faithfuls to win.

“It’s nothing personal, it’s just a game show.

That attitude also carried over when Pauric finally got the chance to watch the series back.

He says he had no interest in second-guessing himself based on what people were saying online.

“The opinions of people online are going to happen regardless,” he says. “But I would not have changed anything I did or said because it was 100% me.

“If I was disappointed with something I said, I’d need to look at myself in the mirror and change my whole lifestyle.

“There’s nothing that I’ve seen that I was like, ‘Oh my God, why did I do that? Why did I say that?’ Because that’s me.

“And it might mean you get the negative, but I’m also getting way more positive and the people who did like me like me even more now. That’s way more important.”

Pauric’s strategy was evident from the early stages of the series.

Having gone into the show as a self-confessed superfan, he admits he had convinced himself he would be selected as a Traitor.

“I’m a superfan of the show, so I just wanted to be a Traitor.

“Obviously, I didn’t mind either way, but you have the control as a Traitor, and it’s a game. You need to be able to control the game you play.”

When he was instead selected as a Faithful, Pauric quickly realised that building relationships could be just as important as making accusations.

“A big thing was forming relationships because if you form relationships, you can then kind of show your opinion a bit stronger because you know you have people that will back you up.”

Rather than immediately putting himself at the centre of the hunt for Traitors, Pauric wanted to build friendships across the castle.

“If I can make as many friends as possible, the likelihood of me befriending a Traitor is very high.”

That strategy eventually paid off when he identified Carla as a Traitor.

“When Aoife put Carla’s name on the board, I was like, ‘Oh my God, there’s a high chance I could get recruited here because clearly it’s Carla.’

“But me and Carla are also friends, so she’s not going to murder me and she might recruit me.”

There were plenty of memorable moves throughout the series, but one player in particular stands out for Pauric.

“I think when Denis caught out Pauric K was probably the strongest roundtable moment of the series,” he says.

“Denis is an absolute genius. He is the nicest person of all time as well. But he played a similar game to me in the sense that he made loads of friendships and then went after people with evidence.

“But I think he came across so smart and so dangerous.

“He was by far one of the strongest players in the game and if he had been in when I became a Traitor, he was the first person getting killed.”

But it was Denis’ husband who perhaps surprised Pauric most of all.

Diego had been relatively quiet early in the series, but as the numbers dwindled, the two became closer.

“The more I got to know him, the more I was like, ‘Wow, he’s so clued in, he’s so smart, he’s playing this game so well.’

“And then, obviously, when I was trying to hoodwink him and I started to realise that I didn’t exactly have him in my pocket, I was like, ‘Wow, he’s playing the same game I am.’ Major respect.”

It was only afterwards that Pauric fully appreciated just how well Diego had been playing.

“From someone that was so quiet at the start and went so under the radar, he really was probably the most clued-in player out of everybody.”

Away from the game itself, one of the most important parts of the experience for Pauric has been seeing his family’s reaction.

Everyone in his family watches The Traitors, meaning his appearance came as quite the shock.

“They are so proud,” he says.

“When they turned on The Traitors Ireland and saw me pop up on the screen, they were like…”

His father, he says, was left stunned.

“My dad froze for the whole day. He just couldn’t even talk until the next morning. Then he was delighted.”

For Pauric, making it to the final meant more than simply progressing through the game.

“I think the fact that I got to the final, they just can’t believe it. They’re just so proud.

“Obviously, that makes me extremely happy because all I ever want to do is make them proud and make myself proud.”

The reaction has extended beyond his immediate family, with people in his hometown now approaching his relatives to discuss the latest episode.

“They feel like they were involved,” Pauric laughs.

“It’s really like they were on the show themselves.”

While his performance on screen may have brought a wide range of opinions, Pauric says the people closest to him knew exactly who they were watching.

“Anyone who knows me knows I can’t keep my mouth shut.

“So if I have something to say, I’m going to say it.

“I’m just privileged that I had the likes of my friends backing me up when things might not have seemed that way online.

“If people are looking at how I was on the show and have negative things to say, they don’t know me. They don’t know who I really am.

“And once my boys and once my family weren’t ashamed of me, I couldn’t give a rat’s after that.”

If there is one lesson Pauric would take from the experience, it is to embrace exactly who you are.

His advice to anyone considering applying for the next series is simple:

“If you think you want to do the show, just apply.

“My biggest advice is to be unapologetically yourself because it will make the experience a hell of a lot easier when you’re looking back on it.”

Pauric says he has heard from other contestants who look back and feel they didn’t behave like themselves during the experience.

For him, that isn’t something he has to worry about.

“I can hand on heart say, no matter the negativity or the positivity, I was 100% me.

“Don’t go in trying to be somebody different. Go in and be yourself.

“Then, regardless of whether you get to the final or you get killed on the first day, you’ll always be happy looking back.”