"I Didn’t Feel Like I Got The Fairest Edit": Zack Davies On The Traitors And Working In Parliament
7 min read
If you work on the parliamentary estate and are a fan of a certain reality game show, you may have found yourself doing a double-take and wondering how you recognised a particular staffer.
That would be Zack Davies – senior parliamentary assistant to a 2024 MP… and faithful star of The Traitors series two. We love to hear a fun backstory for someone working in Parliament, so sitting down with Zack was an absolute delight.
Before we dive into everything Traitors… give me some background on what you do in Parliament.
I’ve worked for five MPs across two years. I worked for an MP who then became a minister after the 2024 election, then helped a few new MPs set up their offices, and have been with my current boss for two months as her senior parliamentary assistant. So I’ve constantly had to build new relationships, new friendships with the MPs I’m working with, but I really enjoy that part of the job.
Had you wanted to work in Parliament for a while?
Yes. Before this I was working as a parliamentary affairs adviser at The Pensions Regulator for four years. I really enjoyed it, but I knew I wanted to work for an MP. I wrote select committee responses, did lobbying, ran working groups etc. That’s the job I was in when I applied to go on The Traitors – and when it came to it my bosses were super supportive… they even revealed it to the whole organisation a bit before they were allowed to, but no harm done!
So you go from spending your days with your head in pensions policy to filming a game show in Inverness for three weeks… what was it like day-to-day?
It’s heavy going; you work 18 hours a day every day (except Tuesday). You get picked up from your accommodation at 8am and the breakfast filming starts at 9am. 12-1pm you have time when you’re hanging around the castle. 1.30-5.30/6pm you’re doing the challenges, you’re back to eat around 7pm, then it’s into the round table. That can last from 8pm until 11pm some nights… then you’re straight into the bar room for drinks. Often you don’t get picked up until 1am, and you’ll get back to your room around 2am.
So if you’re lucky, you’ll sleep for five or six hours?
Yep. It’s exhausting. No matter what people say when they come into breakfast, no one ever sleeps well! It actually takes quite a toll on your mental health.
Sounds like a very intense experience.
It triggered a lot of anxiety for me – the lack of time by yourself, the intensity, the arguments and the suspicion. You got to hear from one nominated person once a week, when production would show you a video they’d sent.
No phone use! So how did you spend what little downtime you had?
I played Pokémon Gold on my partner’s brother’s old Gameboy Advance. I did the Elite Four twice. (TSR does not understand this but hopes some readers will appreciate.)
You mentioned the impact on your mental health – what support was available?
They have a great welfare team who look after you while you’re on the show. I suffer from OCD and anxiety quite badly – I definitely played down how bad it was in the application process because I knew I wouldn’t be accepted otherwise. I was having panic attacks every day, crying often. The psychiatrist took me under her wing and she actually encouraged me to quit the show because of my health, but I was pretty determined to keep going.
One time I had a panic attack at the round table that was so bad I had to leave the room, but they didn’t show it. It was the episode where we were building up to voting Paul out and I just felt so anxious and guilty. Obviously, he turned out to be a traitor, but before the filming of the round table, he’d been applying the pressure on me to not vote for him.
So fast-forward to the show coming out, how did you find the public reception to you?
I didn’t feel like I got the fairest edit. I actually mentioned this to one of the editors at a screening of the finale – I said “I think it gave me quite a bad edit”. And they were like, “What do you mean? It's exactly who you are.” And I said, “You literally have no idea who I am. You've never met me before. You've seen snippets of the whole day and pieced together this painting of me.” I felt really offended, though.
I was going to ask you about what that feels like, having the other contestants slag you off on TV but then also seeing strangers insulting you all over Twitter?
I knew that some of the players would have been critical of me in the talking head bits, but that was fine, we all smoothed things over. That’s part of the game. A lot of the players who I clashed with on the game, like Paul and Miles, I’m really good friends now. Jasmine is one of my best mates. I went to the pub with her, Molly and Ross last week.
When it’s people online, that’s a different story. Initially, it was quite funny having all these people come up to me in public thinking I’m their friend, but after a while, it just got a bit nasty. Some people would genuinely come up to me and tell me how they hated me on the show. And I was thinking, hang on… I wasn’t an actor playing a character they didn’t like… they’re literally saying they dislike my personality. I would get stared at on the tube, in the supermarket, I even had someone have a go at me at a wedding. It made me scared to leave the house to be honest, and already having anxiety and OCD didn’t help.
Did you watch the Celebrity version? I liked how Cat Burns spoke about being neuro-diverse, even if it was slightly disingenuous as to why she said it...
I actually didn’t watch that series. I don’t agree with celebrity versions of these shows.
Fair enough. So the show comes out, you go back to the Pensions Regulator, but you want to make the move to Parliament. Were you worried about your new status having an impact on applications?
I struggled to get interviews for quite a while, which I didn’t really expect given I had four years of experience in public affairs. Eventually, an MP interviewed me and it went really well. He admitted afterwards that he and the team had all watched the show, and were big fans, but he did have concerns that hiring me might impact his reputation or create negative stories.
Did it?
No. There were a couple of strange articles… Politico put something out about me being “spotted” getting jerk chicken!
Reporting about your lunch choices aside, how have you found your two years here?
I love the hustle and bustle. I love dealing with urgent issues, being busy, being around the politicians and the journos, the high-energy and pressure. It all really suits me. And it’s made me consider maybe becoming an MP at some point, because I think that’s as interesting a job as you could possibly have. Emotions form the basis of your work, and you get to make the country a better place. That’s something I want to be a part of; I’m still proud of having helped get a new phone mast installed in a constituency I worked for.
Quickfire – favourite thing about Parliament?
The lunches. Particularly the ramen with gyoza. I’d take out most of the noodles though and have more pak choi. (TSR loves the noodles and hates the pak choi. ZD suggests we get the ramen together next time and swap his noodles for TSR’s pak choi. A deal is struck.)
Least favourite?
Working in Richmond House and having to do the absolute trek of a walk to central lobby.
And finally – if we’re casting a parliamentary edition of The Traitors, who in the Cabinet is getting what role?
Traitors would be Wes Streeting, Shabana Mahmood, and Ed Miliband. Lisa Nandy would win it – as a faithful. Maybe bring John Bercow back to host? No, wait… Jess Phillips!
I’m sure we can make it happen. Thank you so much Zack!
