The Inheritance: Zara is eliminated from the game

Professional gamer Zara and chess teacher Pat were cut from The Deceased’s will in a double elimination on The Inheritance. The decision was made by Tia, who said: “We clearly have some weak candidates on our team and the ones at the bottom, like Zara, like Pat, they’re kind of slowing us down. So, the choice is very easy - goodbye ladies.”

Interview with Zara:

What were your first impressions of the house?
The house is very grand, but there's also an eeriness about the place. It's got a lot of mystery to it. So, it’s perfect, aesthetic wise for what the game is all about. It feels like there are a lot of secrets, each room has a secret. Some of the doors are built in, you don't know it's a door, you think it's a wall. 

What did you think of your fellow players at that first meeting?
I felt really happy with my surroundings and players. I wasn't sure about Hafsah from the beginning. I'm very energy based, and I felt she was withdrawn in a way. Maybe she was just feeling out of place. Catherine as well, she squeezed my arm day one, so I thought immediately I was drawn to her.

Did you have a strategy, and did you stick to it?
My strategy was always to be my genuine self. Treat people how you want to be treated. I try my best to avoid confrontation but if I have to speak up, then I will. I stayed true to myself. 

Tia and I butted heads straight away. She ended up being one of the queen bees in the hive! There’s a lot of herd mentality in this. I'm not one to follow the herd, I have my own mind, I have my own brain, I'm going to think independently.

How did you find the requests from The Deceased, and did you have any favourites?
I actually had two favourites. The first one, swimming and trying to recover wine, I really enjoyed that and I pushed my body to its limits. It went beyond just me swimming. I was shouting so much I lost my voice for a few days. I'm also carrying these crates of bottles; I never had empty hands. Wherever I went to and from, I was always carrying something and I did a lot of running. I did feel like I overexerted myself day one.

The farm was also amazing. I felt like I was connecting with Mother Nature again. I was cuddling up with the chickens. They actually liked me, they stayed with me and I was petting them. Being around animals, connecting with Mother Nature sort of grounds you. 

How does it feel to be leaving at this point?
We're halfway through now and I'm happy to be leaving because I know that the shit's about to hit the fan. I'll stand up when I need to stand up, my dignity is still intact, but I think that it's going to start getting a little bit nastier. I feel happy that I'm leaving graciously and I'm not stepping on everyone's toes. I just stepped on Tia's toes, for example, and look how far that got me.

Who do you think will go far?
I think Catherine, Matt and Cam will go far. I'm hoping Jesse does too. He was the first one to win the Division Ceremony so big up for that.

Do you have a standout highlight from the entire experience?
Well I’ll always remember having a big argument day one with Tia! I feel like that kind of screwed me over in hindsight, but at the same time I was playing the game true to myself, and I was sticking up for myself. There's a time crunch and there's pressure so I am trying to prove to everyone I'm here for you and you can trust me. The problem was, it was early days, and maybe I shouldn't have put myself forward that day. However, I felt like I did give it my all, mentally, emotionally and physically. Also seeing Hafsah on the top of the manure pile. She's this tiny little city girl. She's super glamorous, she's gorgeous, and then she's shovelling poop, that just made me laugh so much. Another one would be jumping into the lake, swimming and I also felt really proud of doing the tents on my own. 

Have you learned anything about yourself throughout this? 
I have. What I do in my day-to-day life as an online gamer, I am socialising but I'm socialising in a virtual world and a digital world. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. I've gone from socialising with usernames on a screen or just people in a game to the real world, where there's real people with emotions and feelings and facial expressions and tones that they use, and people of all ages, races, cultures, backgrounds. It's been wild, because I've gone from being around no one for three years to suddenly meeting all these people. But then not getting along with everyone. So, it was very emotional for me, and I think I've learned a lot. I've learned that I need to work on being more social in the real world. I need to prioritise that because it's important to have a backbone.

Stream The Inheritance on Channel 4 now: https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-inheritance