"For the last few months," Rachel said to a hushed silence at The Traitors round table on Wednesday, "I have been been trained by a former FBI agent in the beauty of micro-expressions and people's ability to lie."
Living rooms across the country erupted. Why do these players keep insisting on admitting they've been keeping secrets? It's like saying, "Hey I've been lying to you so far! But you can trust me now."
But what is this FBI training Rachel speaks of? We don't know who Rachel has been training with, but a number of online agencies offer courses in lie detection with specific reference to FBI techniques.
Udemy offers an "Award-Winning Lie Detection Course: Taught by FBI Trainer". In this course by Dr David J Lieberman, you can apparently learn "to tell if anyone is lying without ANY interaction – from listening to a conversation or speech," and be able to work out if someone is nervous but pretending not to be.
Examples include the use of pronouns: a person giving a compliment is "more likely to use a personal pronoun [such as 'I'] because it establishes ownership of the compliment."
Another instance given is that of someone who is the victim of an assault – they will apparently rarely refer to themselves and their attacker as "we" because it implies an association.
What to Read Next
Other parts of the course promise to instruct you on the analysis of statement structures, detail, the appearance of 'trying too hard', and sociopathy.
According to the course blurb, Dr Lieberman "conducts training for elite FBI profilers, NSA, the United States military, and for police departments and private security firms on six continents – and created the program that is mandatory for all Psychological Operations (PSYOP) graduates."
If we are to believe all that (how would we know if he was lying?), then he seems highly qualified to instruct us in the field of deception. He's published a lot of books and been on a lot of TV shows promoting his 'Neuro-dynamic Analysis' method (not to be confused with the established scientific study of neurodynamics), so the media certainly like him.
Another course is offered by the Whetstone Security Group, which is a company that sounds – probably not by coincidence – a lot like the shadowy organisations behind the Jason Bourne movies. (It also shouldn't be confused with the Whitestone Security Group.)
Their course promises to teach you "how to instantly know when people are lying to you, without having to use lie detection equipment." (Which is fortunate, because even the US Supreme Court acknowledges that polygraphs can't be relied on.)
Whetstone claims that with their proprietary BLAST™ method "you will be able to spot over 100 proven body language indicators of deception" along with a way to know the reliability of those indicators.
Bold claims. Digital Spy hasn't tested any of these courses, so we can't speak for their value.
OR CAN WE? Mwa-ha-ha-haaaa…
The Traitors airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. You can see when it's on next here.
The new edition of Living Legends, celebrating music icon Dolly Parton, is here! Buy Dolly at 80 in newsagents or online, priced at just £8.99.
Editor, Digital Spy Chris has over 25 years' experience as a writer and editor, having worked as a journalist covering TV and movies since the '90s. Starting out as a TV listings editor at the Press Association, he was quickly hired by the nascent Heat magazine, where he rose to become Senior Editor, interviewing the likes of Simon Cowell, Boris Johnson and Paris Hilton. Over the years he has written about entertainment with clarity and wit for Heat, Elle, Q, The Telegraph and of course Digital Spy, and has served many times as a judge in the Royal Television Society awards. He has written and recorded a novelty single with Lord Lloyd-Webber, written scripts for the National TV Awards, made Noel Edmonds cry, accidentally punched an Inbetweener and stolen a small piece of rubble from the Battle of Hogwarts movie set. (They can't have it back.) LinkedIn
