By 
TYRONE man Niall McKeown has survived being murdered in the new Irish version of hit TV show The Traitors.
Niall was one of 24 contestants unveiled on the first episode of the show on Sunday night.
On the first night three contestants were secretly appointed as traitors.
The remaining contestants, including Niall, then become faithfuls and it is their aim to guess who the traitors are
The traitors have covert nightly meetings throughout the duration of the game and select one of the other contestants to murder. Dave from Dublin was the first person murdered last night.
During the daytime, the faithfuls must try to deduce which players are traitors. An evening ritual known as the roundtable gives players the chance to vote for a player to ‘banish’ – the faithfuls are trying to eliminate a traitor, whilst the traitors must hide their identities and blend in among the faithfuls.
All the while, the players are set daily challenges – activities that involve a physical and/or mental task with an element of teamwork thrown in – to try to build up a prize pot to a maximum total of €50,000.
At the end of the game, if there are any traitors in the group, they walk away with the money.
If not, the remaining faithfuls share the money.
There is huge local interest in the show given Niall’s involvement.
His former hurling club, Coalisland-based Naomh Colum Cille, wished him luck on their Facebook page.
Niall works as a maths tutor at Coalisland Training Services Ltd and his colleagues said they are excited to follow his fortunes on The Traitors.
“We know Niall’s got the brains, charm, and cool-headed strategy to thrive in the ultimate game of trust and deception,” the company said in a statement on Facebook.
“Whether he’s a Faithful or a Traitor… our money’s on him making it far!”