Banished from The Traitors Australia at the end of episode four, Henry Nicholson has had the satisfaction of seeing things unfold on TV and realising he was completely right about Kirby Bentley being a Traitor, even if he wasn’t right about Josh and Luke Packham.
“It was nice to watch,” he tells TV WEEK. “I got one right and two wrong.”
Henry’s departure from the show was an emotional one, his tears making it hard for him to speak. The former Australian Survivor player says it was a “really intense” game, and he felt proud to see himself expressing emotions on TV.
“The emotions weren’t anger or frustration at the people that voted for me,” he explains. “I think I [got emotional] when Rob [Farnham] was saying really nice things about me. I really do get emotional when there’s so much love. I know it didn’t quite seem it, but there was a lot of love in that manor.”
Henry’s insistence on accusing Kirby, Josh and Luke of being Traitors was what got him banished. AJ Antonios advised him to pull back a bit, but Henry was never going to do it. Knowing that Kirby knew he’d heard Kween Kong talk about hearing host Gretel Killeen tap Kirby’s shoulder, he felt he was in danger of being murdered, so he had to keep accusing Kirby.
“From the moment that Kirby clocked me in the car, she knew that I knew,” he explains. “Having her as a shield was kind of irrelevant in my eyes. And I figured if we could get a Traitor out that was a Survivor player, maybe that would actually reduce our threat level.”
Henry regrets that he claimed Josh was in the conversation with Kween Kong and Rhys Nicholson about Kirby. It was a mistake that led him to believe that Josh was a Traitor.
“I thought Josh was the one that passed it over to Kirby, but it was Alvin [Quah]. So my regret, probably, is to not have gone to Rhys and had that chat about who was there. That’s probably my only regret in the game.”
Henry says he was “desperate” to take out Traitors. But he felt that wasn’t on Ian “Dicko” Dickson’s agenda.
“I think Dicko’s playing a Survivor-like game. He’s trying to get the numbers in alliance. I understood at the start that he wasn’t worried about Traitors. But then when he started mentioning that he actually didn’t care about them… that, I guess, watching back, was a little frustrating.”
Still, Henry says Dicko’s approach may work for him.
“You don’t know what game’s going to win until the winner’s announced, right?”
Despite Henry having accused Josh and Luke of being Traitors, and Josh and Luke having voted to banish Henry, the three of them are “all sweet” now.
“I watched the premiere with Luke right next to me, giggling and laughing,” Henry says. “So me and the twins are really good.”
But what about Cam Merchant, who was sent home at the beginning of the first episode? It was Henry who argued against letting Cam back into the game, when he and some of the others had the opportunity to do it.
“I think the game mechanics, it was unfair,” Henry admits.
He says there was more than one reason why he argued against Cam’s return. One was the obvious strategic one: the fewer people there are in the game, the greater each person’s chances of winning. But there was another reason: he didn’t think it would be Cam’s only opportunity to return.
“I thought there was a chance for Cam to come back again, because all the seasons I’ve seen before, the players haven’t really had the choice to bring people in or not,” Henry points out.
He understands why Cam wasn’t happy.
“It’s not fair and it’s brutal and all of those things are all true. And I feel for him and I do hope that Traitors goes really well because I’d love to see him play again and have that opportunity.”
Catch The Traitors Australia on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7.30pm on 10 or 10play.
