As Episode Magazine, we spoke with Yasemin Yürük from The Traitors Türkiye team, whom we hosted on our cover for our April 2026 issue.
I couldn’t convince anyone about the traitors or about finding each other as innocents. I don’t even want to talk about being on high alert anymore. Even thinking about it causes stress.”
Set in a castle in Belgium, in an atmosphere where all ties to the outside world are severed, The Traitors Türkiye is not just a competition for Yasemin Yürük and the others; it is a harsh experience where trust, intuition, and human psychology are tested. For Yasemin Yürük, known for Türkiye’s first girl band Hepsi, this process turns into a confrontation that begins with the feeling of a “game within a game” from the very start and deepens with loneliness, suspicion, and mental fatigue as it progresses.
In this world where phones, communication, and reality are left outside, the biggest struggle for Yasemin Yürük becomes understanding how much she can trust her own intuitions rather than deciphering others. Let’s see what Yasemin Yürük has to say about the competition.
The first moment you entered that castle in Belgium… Did the feeling of “I shouldn’t trust anyone here” prevail, or was it the curiosity to solve the game?
Actually, both. They showed very harshly that there was a game within a game even before entering the castle.
How did your mind change when the phone, internet, and outside world were completely cut off? Did your perception of reality shift?
It felt very good to me at the beginning. Towards the end, I really wanted to share the difficulties I was experiencing with my friends and relatives. And dealing with it all alone caused a mental breakdown.
Is it harder to read people in the game or to hide yourself?
Reading… Ah! And convincing yourself of what you’ve read…
Who was the first person you suspected and why? Was there a moment you were mistaken?
Of course, there was. Yaren… And I felt very sorry afterwards.
How did it affect you when someone you said “this person is definitely a traitor” actually turned out to be faithful?
Yaren… I was also very angry with myself.
Was it strategy that carried you forward or your intuitions?
My intuitions…
What was the most challenging thing in the castle: loneliness or being constantly on high alert?
Both. After Cem left, I was generally left alone. Because I couldn’t convince anyone about the traitors or about finding each other as innocents. I don’t even want to talk about being on high alert anymore. Even thinking about it stresses me out.
Living with the possibility that someone you trust might eliminate you… How did you cope with this psychology?
Being under threat as an innocent by other innocents had made me lose sleep.
Was there something new you realized about your own character in the game?
It turns out I can’t do hypocrisy. 🙂
If you entered again today, would you play the same way or would you build a completely different strategy?
Hmmm, am I an innocent or a traitor? That changes things. 🙂
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