Iliass Ojja

**Iliass Ojja** is an Original Traitor and the winner of *De Verraders (Netherlands)/Videoland Edition*, along with Britt Scholte.

Iliass played a dominant social and strategic game, forging a strong overt alliance with Tisjeboy Jay while maintaining bonds with both his fellow Traitors, as well as the opposing women's alliance with Ellen Hoog and Shelly Sterk. When fellow Traitor Thijs Zeeman - thought to be the primary brains behind the group - was Banished, it was Iliass's strategic acumen that ensured their Faithful opponents were either Murdered or Banished, and that he would successfully reach the endgame with Britt Scholte. There, they split the prize fund with each other in a game of Prisoners' Dilemma.

## Gameplay

Upon entering the game, Iliass built up a rapport with Tisjeboy Jay and Tim Senders, one that he further cultivated after being selected as a Traitor. He committed to doing well in the role, even though he was typically - in his own words - an honest person in real life. At the first conclave, he agreed with co-Traitors Britt Scholte and Thijs Zeeman that Amara Onwuka should be Murdered for her threat level and being least close to them, with Iliass further noting she and Shelly Sterk seemed to be wary of him. Despite receiving a stray Banishment vote from Bettina Holwerda, who was otherwise Banished almost unanimously, his good acting skills (despite the mental strain he received from lying) and apparently middle-of-the-road persona made him one of the less-suspected contestants, even during the endgame.

Soon, his game was tested as his allies Jay and Tim were out for blood; unfortunately, their target was Thijs, whom the Faithfuls thought to be increasingly suspicious. While vocally appearing to side with Jay and Tim against Thijs, he worked out a plan with Britt and Thijs to ultimately send Tim out through the latter's antagonisation of swing voter Henk Grol. He persuaded the other Traitors that he needed to still vote for Thijs, in order to strengthen Jay's loyalty and deflect possible suspicions.

At the conclave after the second Banishment, Thijs shared that he won a Shield, arguing that the group should 'Murder' him and suggest he was a Faithful being targeted by the Traitors. While Britt and Iliass agreed to the plan, it fell apart almost immediately upon contact. With the understanding that Thijs was a dead man walking, the other two voted him out in a unanimous Banishment.

With Britt next in Jay and Henk's crosshairs, Iliass devised a plan with her to play both the main alliances against each other, alternating between Murdering and Banishing their members while still maintaining apparent loyalties: Iliass to the men, and Britt to the women. They first Murdered Shelly Sterk since the women's alliance did not visit the Armoury, and Shelly was a bigger strategic threat than her fellow alliance-mate Ellen Hoog. Iliass then appeared to side with Jay about his suspicions on Britt, such as voting with the majority to deny Britt an Armoury visit. However, he argued to Jay that since Britt was a known Traitor, the two of them could simply bring her to the finale. She would then virtually lose, due to the modified Prisoners' Dilemma rules where only the dominant faction gets to play.

Although he was ultimately unsuccessful in changing Jay's mind, this move laid the groundwork for him to Banish Henk, supposedly for being suspicious. It was made possible by exploiting Ellen's reluctance to Banish Britt, as well as Ellen and Romana van Baaijen's misinterpretation of Henk's eccentric behaviour. Later that night, the Traitors took advantage of Iliass obtaining the Shield twice in a row to Murder Jay, the latter still misled by his friend's apparent loyalty.

On the final day, Iliass further cultivated his relationship with Romana, dismissed by most of the others as strategically irrelevant. He persuaded her to Banish Ellen by claiming the two of them could then easily play Prisoners' Dilemma together, avoiding the potential stalemate of a 2-2 draw between Britt and Ellen. Romana agreed to the plan, believing (like most of the other contestants) that Iliass was a Faithful. Iliass's deception was so thorough that even though Ellen had clear doubts about him, she still ultimately voted for Britt at the final four, because the latter was that much more obvious. In the end, both Britt and Iliass successfully made the endgame. Despite some apparent doubts about the each other's loyalty, they both happily voted to share the prize fund.

## Post-Game

* Iliass took part in *Expeditie Robinson 2022*. He quit the game in 13th place, after stepping on a needle and not receiving timely medical attention from production.

## Trivia

* Iliass and his co-Traitor Britt are the:
	+ first Traitors to win as a group;
	+ first original Traitors win;
	+ and first winners to achieve a clear Traitor win.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.rtlboulevard.nl/entertainment/tv/artikel/5341997/iliass-ojja-expeditie-robinson-ongeluk-naald-vertrek