How a Burnley version of hit BBC show The Traitors is fuelling the Clarets' bid for promotion

Over recent weeks, members of Scott Parker’s squad have been embroiled in their own version of the hit BBC competition.

Set up by Zian Flemming in January, the aim of the game is for the ‘faithfuls’ to identify the two ‘traitors’, who themselves attempt to fool their teammates in a bid to claim victory.

Since then, the squad has been playing it out on a regular basis, with players keeping an eye out for clues and taking a daily vote after training.

Hung up in the changing room at the club’s Gawthorpe training base are the players’ pictures stuck to the wall. Once a player is eliminated, a big cross is struck across their face.

The finale was held in the canteen last week, with all players and staff present to watch. The victors? Joe Worrall and, perhaps unsurprisingly, Ashley Barnes.

Despite emerging victorious, Worrall was as taken aback as anyone else by Barnes’ treachery.

“I actually was [surprised] because we car share and he was a traitor from the beginning,” he explained.

“There's me, Josh Cullen and Ashley Barnes who travel in every day and Barnesy, he was a Traitor from the start but we had no idea. Once we found out I was like ‘you bugger’.

“It’s a brutal game though. Some of the boys were absolutely devastated because I had lads ringing me for half an hour before we'd come into training or at night when I was at home saying, ‘who do we think it is?’ And I was like, ‘mate, I'm sure it's him’ yet it was me all along.”

The 28-year-old added: “Flem was Claudia Winkleman and he organised it all. I bought him a wig but he didn't put it on.

“We had 25, 26 lads and Zian drew the traitors out of us and it's a big guessing game at the start.

“You've got no idea. I mean, if you watch the TV programme, you think, ‘oh, he's a traitor. You can tell clear as day’, but you have no idea.”

While it might sound like a bit of fun, it actually proves just how united and together this current Burnley squad are.

“Exactly that,” Worrall added.

“Zian did it at Millwall when he was there. He said he organised it there and they bought into it and enjoyed it so he said we'll give it a go and the lads were straight on board with it.

“It's good fun. It takes your mind off some of the pressures and the relentless schedule you have and to be able to chill out and have a good time with your mates is what you want.

“Of course the football is really important but alongside that is enjoyment and togetherness and the glue that holds that team together is massive. We've got that.

Worrall hasn’t played as much football as he would have liked this season, making just nine appearances following his summer move from Nottingham Forest.

The centre-back has done little wrong, but following his injury back in September, CJ Egan-Riley stepped into his role and has never looked back.

There’s a good chance Worrall will feature at Deepdale today though, having played in all of Burnley’s cup ties so far this season.

With the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham already out of the FA Cup, there’s a big opportunity for a so-called lesser-fancied side to go deep into the competition.

“We've gone pretty deep so far, haven't we?,” Worrall added. “One of us will go out and another Championship team will progress to the quarter-finals and hopefully it's us. We've got a really good chance.

“We've played each other a few times, one being a couple of weeks ago where we should have won the game comfortably. We had two or three chances that we know on a regular day they would have found the back of the net, but they didn't for whatever reason.

“It's a game that we've done a lot of homework for and we'd like to think we've sussed out their weaknesses, so we're going to try and capitalise on those at the weekend.”

Despite playing out two goalless draws in the league this season, Worrall is confident that won’t be the case on this occasion.

“It won't be 0-0, that's for sure,” the defender added. “I think we'll be chomping at the bit to try and put a few past them.

“They're a stubborn Championship side, they're very well drilled. The manager's experienced. A lot of their players have played north of 100-200 games for the club, so they're quite a well-gelled team.

“They're difficult to break down, as you can see. Their form and where they are in the league shows that.

“It's going to be a good fixture and we'll see with their 11 and their squad that they put out what kind of team we face.

“The motivation is we've played them twice and not scored yet. That's the motivation. The motivation is getting to the quarter-final of the cup and trying to be in the hat again.

“You're on the telly, on the BBC. You're a couple of 90 minutes away from playing at Wembley, which is your dream as a kid.

“Everybody watches the FA Cup every year and sees there are teams that do push on and there are fairytales. That's something that we definitely want to be part of.”