Richard Osley in the armchair at The Traitors: Live Experience

Think you could be a winner on the BBC hit The Traitors? 100 per cent faithful Richard Osley tries the live experience attraction in Covent Garde

I KNEW it was Amelia, the smart university student just enjoying a day out with her mum.

She had skated under the radar, deflecting attention and shoving “the heat”, as it’s known, onto others. Instead of turning on her, my votes were ignored and the faithfuls rounded on me.

I was too quiet, apparently. The banishment boards flipped over: Richard… Richard… Richard. Amelia must have been smiling as I got out of my seat to tell the room that I’d made friends for life over the last hour and a half, loved them all – but they had got it all wrong and I was innocent of the charge. She had already coldly killed my colleague, Caitlin.

This, of course, was The Traitors and the “live experience” attraction now open in Covent Garden – the chance to play the game which has proved such a ratings winner for the BBC. You may have heard it said many times that all the producers did was conjure up a protracted version of the aged parlour pursuit known as Mafia and various other names.

But, as you can see from the dreadful bomb of Channel 4’s The Inheritance and other double-crossing imitators, it’s a task easier said than done. The Traitors’ success may be due to its trunk of polished imagery – the green cloaks, orange lanterns and its daunting round table. Then there are the catchphrases, running jokes and weekly discussion about Claudia Winkleman’s Highlands mistwear.

It all comes to life here as you are guided through a basement of medieval corridors with a group of people you only know from an introductory table of drinks. Saying you are a journalist – or an influencer, as per the label on my invitation – seemed like a risky move but from the first clink of glasses you have to decide whether it’s easier to tell the truth or make up a story.

At first, it’s all a bit tentative. Can you really immediately banish somebody who has just told you they have spent a good deal of money on a train fare from the Midlands and the entry tickets?

Richard Osley votes for Amelia – but she helps banish him halfway through the game

But 20 minutes in and such polite reservations are lost to the accusations and counter accusations, and the fear of a tap on the shoulder from the haunting host when the lights go down. At once, everybody is fair game – one of the wrongly accused faithful even went as far as swearing on her daughter’s life, drawing a sharp gasp of breath from the rest of us.

For me, the stakes rose when the blindfold goggles came off halfway through the game to find Caitlin had been whisked away. Dead. Noooo, not poor Caitlin! This must be Amelia’s doing.

Of course, being murdered or banished means going to a comfy lounge to watch the rest of the proceedings on a rack of CCTV cameras. How you ultimately rate your time in the castle may come down to how long you survive in the game – but Helen, a nice matron from Staffordshire, seemed to take her early poisoning well.

As there are no prizes to take away at the end beyond bragging rights, the missions in between the round table treachery lack a little bit of urgency. It wouldn’t take much for the organisers to offer a little gift, even one of the waxed scrolls from the merchandise shop to the winners.

The race for a shield and immunity from murder – and who seems to want it most or not – is perhaps your best chance in a condensed game to work out who might be the traitors.

Marina Sabeghi sees her name on the leaderboard after winning as faithful – pictured with friend and colleague Lauren Edwards

My end came because… “I looked like somebody who would ask to be a traitor.” Do I?

Amelia’s defences later fell apart too when she was rumbled by her own mother, Lisa, who had come down from Nottingham for the pleasure of doing all of this. She took home the kudos with fellow surviving faithful Marina, who seemed to have most things sussed from the start.

Their names went on a leaderboard in the foyer. Meanwhile, we were guided to the bar.

There was a clap and a “well done” but our new friends quickly became strangers again as they headed off into the night. Perhaps the £6 bottles of beer were a little too sharply priced to encourage a longer debrief. And I was left alone in the famous armchair to philosophise about the power of pack mentality.

No game is the same, but it’s definitely worth a go if you get the chance.