Exclusive: The Traitors Australia's stars spill on the 'real' Gretel Killeen on set: 'She never talked'

The Traitors Australia returned with a vengeance in 2026, delivering a truly chaotic season that ended with Kirby Bentley pulling off the ultimate deception to claim the $200,600 prize pool.

After fellow Traitor Rhys Nicholson was banished, Kirby reached the final firepit alongside Faithfuls Keira Maguire and Krissy Marsh. Krissy was eliminated next, leaving Keira convinced she and Kirby had finally cleared out the Traitors — only for Kirby to reveal her true identity and take the prize. Sneaky!

But arguably one of the season’s biggest wins was bringing Gretel Killeen back to Australian reality television. Replacing Rodger Corser, the original Big Brother Australia host brought exactly the kind of spooky weirdness The Traitors demands, presiding over murders, missions and Round Tables with deranged delight.

Gretel is basically Australian reality TV royalty. She hosted Big Brother from 2001 to 2007, and she has worked as a comedian, writer, author, broadcaster and documentary-maker, while spending decades being gloriously unpredictable on television as the best in the biz.

For The Traitors, she went even further, inventing an entire ‘Lady of the Manor’ character. Gretel created a backstory in which she inherited the mansion and had survived mysteriously deceased spouses. The result was wonderfully camp and distinctly Gretel.

But what was Gretel actually like on set and did she ever break character? Chattr asked the manor’s celebrities about their experiences with the hostess with the mostest (murdered exes).

Luke Packham revealed in an exclusive interview with Chattr that Gretel didn’t speak to him when the cameras weren’t rolling. “Everything you see of Gretel is what I see. That’s it. If I’m completely honest, I’ve never had another conversation with Gretel. That’s my experience. Gretel’s an awesome professional,” he said.

“I didn’t see Gretel again. She just drops you out of the game, and then off she goes — just disappears into the shadows. I never see her again. It’s not like I have a drink with her or anything like that.”

Luke’s twin brother Josh Packham had a similar experience with the host. “Unfortunately, I haven’t actually spoken to Gretel outside the show at all. I haven’t had a one-on-one conversation with Gretel,” he admitted to Chattr.

“That’s her professionalism coming to the front. Gretel doesn’t want to talk to anyone because then they’ve got a personal relationship… I think Gretel was very much thinking along those lines, so wouldn’t give anyone the time of day to chat to them when the cameras weren’t rolling.”

Tully Smyth has a Big Brother connection to Gretel — albeit from opposing network seasons — and she said that the host was a consummate professional.

“She really takes her job seriously. I’m sure she was offered many roles to come back on television, but she took this one, and she loved it, and we loved having her,” Tully said.

That said, Tully did admit that one moment left her ‘terrified’ of the host. “A few episodes ago, Rhys makes a comment, ‘Oh, Mum’s mad.’ She went off script. That was Gretel actually mad at us. That wasn’t her character. That wasn’t part of her lines. She was genuinely frustrated that she thought people were throwing votes away so close to the end,” Tully recalled.

“She was terrifying.”

Aside from this stern moment, it sounds like Gretel might have had a soft spot for her fellow Big Brother family member, Tully. “She was very nice to me when I completely ruined that throwing challenge. She was very sweet to me,” she said.

Tully even managed to get Gretel to break character in an unseen emotional moment between the women. “I actually got a tear out of her in that first ep, when she asked everybody whether they want to be a Traitor or a Faithful,” Tully said.

“I talked about my mum again and helping my dad out. I actually got a tear from Gretel. But they didn’t show it because it goes against her [character].”

The Traitors Australia can be streamed on 10Play.