Luke Packham’s run on The Traitors Australia ended when he was murdered in a Death Match against his twin brother Josh, despite emerging as one of the season’s most successful Traitor hunters.
The 31-year-old is no stranger to reality TV: he first appeared on Love Island Australia before competing on The Block alongside his twin brother, Josh. On The Traitors, Luke was the first Faithful to seriously raise suspicions about Alvin Quah, before he and Josh helped turn the group against Alex Nation, resulting in two Traitor banishments in consecutive episodes.
After correctly helping to identify Alvin and Alex, Luke became extremely confident about his Traitor-hunting abilities, going as far as to label himself ‘the best Traitor hunters’ in the game’s history. That confidence didn’t always rub fans the right way, with some labelling him and brother Josh ‘smug’, especially after they ganged up against Claudia Bonifazio to incorrectly banish her as a Traitor.
For Luke, he told Chattr in an exclusive interview that he’s used to copping harsh criticism from viewers. “It’s not the first time I’ve got that from reality TV. On The Block, I had similar comments,” Luke said.
The brothers faced significant online criticism during The Block, with Luke revealing the abuse became so intense he temporarily quit social media.
“I think people just like to bring you down if you’re confident. I feel in today’s society there’s a lot of tall poppy syndrome, and everyone loves to bring you down. People will much prefer to celebrate your fall than celebrate you doing well.”
Luke did admit that his ‘ego’ played a part in some fans’ frosty reception. “At times, of course, my ego was quite high in there, and I’m confident. When I was getting it right, that’s just how I am, and I’m the first one to admit that I don’t hide from it,” he said.
“That’s why I’ve been on reality TV because I bring that to TV. That’s my personality, and you either love to hate me or you hate to love me. It’s one or the other, but yeah, people can say I’m smug.”
However, Luke believes that no one in the Traitors manor would agree with some of the twins’ online haters. “You ask anyone that I’ve been on reality TV with, we’re very personable. We’re very kind. We’re very loving. We’ll go into bat for anyone. We’ll try and do the right thing by people,” he said.
“People can say we’re smug, but… there’s not too many people I feel that would say anything bad or ‘smug’ about us who have actually been on TV with us.”
Luke addresses claim he’s the ‘best Traitors player’ in history
During his time on the show, Luke had a penchant for declaring he was ‘the best Traitors’ player ever. After his recent murder, he’s now not quite as sure about that. “Obviously not,” he laughed.
“It’s in the moment. When you’re in that position and you’ve gotten two [Traitors] right, I’m convinced I’m going to keep getting him right — that’s just how you feel in there,” he continued.
“By that point, I had to have conviction because I put myself in a position where I knew I played such a dangerous game by going so hard that if I was to get it wrong, I’m going to be murdered.”
But in retrospect, Luke can accept that while he played a strong game, he might have gotten a little overexcited. “Obviously, I have to eat humble pie. I didn’t get the third Traitor right,” he said.
“If I got three in a row, I would have been a really strong Traitor hunter.”
The Traitors airs Tuesday and Wednesday on Channel 10 and 10Play.
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