Each autumn, a Scottish castle becomes a stage for one of television's oldest dramas: the question of who can be trusted. BBC's Celebrity Traitors returns for a second series with 21 well-known faces competing not for personal gain but for charity, their reputations and instincts tested against one another in a game that drew 15 million viewers last year. The show's expansion — more contestants, more episodes, more elaborate tasks — reflects something the audience already sensed: that watching people navigate deception, loyalty, and self-interest holds a mirror to something deeply human.
Celebrity Traitors returns with 21 stars competing for £100k charity prize
Fame won't save them, Winkleman says ominously.
Mark
So what's actually different this year? Is it just more people and longer episodes, or did they actually change how the game works?
Mimi
The producers say they're pushing the envelope with the tasks themselves—new ideas, fresh cultural references. But the core game stays the same: traitors, faithfuls, the round table, the betrayals. What's different is the scale. Twenty-one people instead of twenty. An extra episode because last year's first series pulled 15 million viewers and became the most-watched show in the UK in 2025.
Luke
That's a huge number. But I'd want to know: was that 15 million people watching the whole series, or was that a single episode? The source says "most watched TV programme of 2025," which could mean different things depending on how you measure it.
Mimi
Fair point. The source doesn't specify whether that's cumulative or a single broadcast. What we do know is Alan Carr won the first series, and the show clearly resonated enough that the BBC expanded it.
Mark
The cast is interesting—lots of comedians. Does that change the dynamic?
Mimi
James Acaster actually said they're worried the comedians will be under suspicion just because there are several of them. Romesh Ranganathan said he'd betray his best friend Rob Beckett without hesitation if the game called for it. But whether comedians are actually better or worse at the game than, say, actors or mathematicians—that's not something the reporting can tell us yet.
Luke
Right. We have one data point: Alan Carr, a comedian, won last year. But that's one person. We don't know if comedians have an advantage or if Carr just happened to be the best player that season.
Mark
What about Claudia Winkleman? She seems to be the real star of the show.
Mimi
She's the throughline. She watches everything from a room full of monitors, chooses the traitors, sits at the table. She's described as barely sleeping during filming. Ed Gamble, who hosts the spin-off, said he watched hours of footage daily—sometimes eating cereal in his pajamas while watching contestants eat cereal.
Luke
That's a funny detail, but it also raises a question: how much does Winkleman's presence and her choices shape the game? Is she neutral, or does her personality influence who gets accused and who survives?
Mimi
The source doesn't explore that. She's presented as the impartial observer and guide, but you're right—her choices about who to make a traitor are fundamental to how the game unfolds.
Mark
She said she wouldn't want to be a contestant herself. Why?
Mimi
She said she's "too thick" and would be "too awful at it." Self-deprecating, but also maybe honest—she knows the game too well, knows how people think about it, knows what the traitors are looking for.
The Pulse
- The first series became the most-watched UK programme of 2025, and the BBC has responded by stretching the new run to two nights a week with an extended debut episode.
- Twenty-one celebrities — actors, comedians, broadcasters, a mathematician — arrive at Ardross Castle already calculating: some have sought advice from past contestants, others are mapping statistical patterns before the game even begins.
- The comedians in the cast worry they will be the first suspects simply by virtue of their number, while best friends Romesh Ranganathan and Rob Beckett have already declared they will betray each other without hesitation.
- Claudia Winkleman anchors the chaos from a room of monitors, barely sleeping during filming, having grown so attached to the Highland castle that she returns there on holiday.
- Producers promise evolved tasks and fresh cultural references, but the core tension remains unchanged: trust is the prize and the weapon, and everyone at the round table knows it.
Each autumn, a Scottish castle becomes a stage for one of television's oldest dramas: the question of who can be trusted. BBC's Celebrity Traitors returns for a second series with 21 well-known faces competing not for personal gain but for charity, their reputations and instincts tested against one another in a game that drew 15 million viewers last year. The show's expansion — more contestants, more episodes, more elaborate tasks — reflects something the audience already sensed: that watching people navigate deception, loyalty, and self-interest holds a mirror to something deeply human.
Celebrity Traitors returns to BBC One with 21 famous faces — actors, comedians, singers, broadcasters, and one mathematician — descending on Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands to compete for a £100,000 charity prize. The cast spans British entertainment broadly: Michael Sheen and Richard E Grant from film, Maya Jama and Amol Rajan from broadcasting, a cluster of comedians including James Acaster, Joe Lycett, and Romesh Ranganathan, and Bella Ramsey, who has been playing trust games since childhood drama clubs.
The show's first series was the most-watched UK television programme of 2025, drawing 15 million viewers and crowning Alan Carr as winner. That success has prompted the BBC to expand: the opening episode runs 75 minutes, the series airs twice weekly, and producers promise more elaborate tasks designed to keep even returning viewers off balance.
Some contestants arrive with plans already in motion. Leigh-Anne Pinnock sought counsel from a first-series finalist. Hannah Fry is hunting for statistical patterns in the game's structure. Ranganathan has pre-emptively announced he will betray his best friend Rob Beckett if the game calls for it — a sentiment Beckett apparently shares. Acaster fears the comedians' sheer numbers will make them immediate suspects.
Claudia Winkleman returns as host, watching everything from a monitor-filled room, choosing the traitors while contestants sit blindfolded, and presiding over the round table where alliances collapse. She describes her wardrobe as "human crow meets golf caddy meets the Artful Dodger" and admits she barely slept during filming. When asked whether she would ever play the game herself, she declined without hesitation — she knows it too well, she said, to trust herself in it. The series begins Thursday at 20:00 BST on BBC One.
The Celebrity Traitors is back. Twenty-one famous faces—actors, comedians, singers, broadcasters, a mathematician—will spend the next few weeks in a Scottish castle trying to outwit each other for a £100,000 prize that goes to charity. The show, which returns to BBC One on Thursday evening, has grown since its debut last year: one more contestant than before, one extra episode, and what the producers promise are fresher, more elaborate tasks designed to catch people off guard.
The cast reads like a cross-section of British entertainment. Michael Sheen and Richard E Grant anchor the acting contingent. Maya Jama, Amol Rajan, and Ross Kemp bring broadcasting credentials. There's Jerry Hall, the model and actress. There are comedians—James Acaster, Joe Lycett, Romesh Ranganathan, Rob Beckett, Joanne McNally—which means the round table will have people trained in reading a room and deflecting blame. Bella Ramsey, who played Ellie in The Last of Us, is there. So is Leigh-Anne Pinnock from Little Mix, who sought advice beforehand from Cat Burns, who made it to the final as a traitor in the first series. Hannah Fry, the mathematician and broadcaster, has already admitted to being "toxically competitive" and looking for statistical patterns in how the game works. King Kenny, a content creator, and Sebastian Croft, a musician and actor, round out a group that spans television, film, radio, and YouTube.
Claudia Winkleman returns as host, the person who watches everything from a room full of monitors, who chooses the traitors while contestants wear blindfolds, who sits at the head of the table as accusations fly. She has become the show's steady center—a woman in clothes she describes as "human crow meets golf caddy meets the Artful Dodger," applying fake tan while glued to screens showing the celebrities eating breakfast, sleeping, strategizing. She told the press she barely slept during filming. Ed Gamble, who hosts the BBC Two spin-off Uncloaked, said he watched hours of footage daily, often in his pajamas eating cereal while watching the contestants eat cereal. It is, he acknowledged, "quite sad."
The first series of Celebrity Traitors became the most-watched television programme in the UK in 2025, drawing 15 million viewers. Alan Carr won that season. The success prompted the BBC to expand this year's run: the debut episode stretches to 75 minutes instead of the standard length, and the series will air two nights a week rather than one. Executive producer Sarah Fay said the team "always want to push the envelope," evolving existing ideas and introducing fresh cultural references to keep the game unpredictable.
Some contestants arrive with strategy already formed. Romesh Ranganathan, despite being best friends with fellow comedian Rob Beckett, said he would have no problem betraying him if the game demanded it. "He's just as easily going to be on my side as he is going to twist the knife in my back given the opportunity," he said. James Acaster worried that the comedians would be "the first ones under the magnifying glass" as potential traitors, simply because there are several of them. Bella Ramsey has been playing versions of this game since age ten, at drama clubs and at home. Hannah Fry is already thinking in terms of patterns and probabilities. Leigh-Anne Pinnock took the advice seriously: "It might get intense around that round table, but remember, it's just a game."
The setting is Ardross Castle in Inverness, in the Scottish Highlands, which Winkleman called "the most beautiful place I've ever been in the world." The show is filmed there, with sweeping drone shots of the landscape, the castle where the celebrities meet, eat, and sit at the round table where alliances break and accusations fly. Winkleman has become so attached to the place that she and her family are returning for a holiday—a fact her husband found amusing, given how much time she already spends there.
When asked if she would ever want to be a contestant herself, perhaps on a US or Australian version of the show, Winkleman declined. "No, I'm too thick," she said. "I mustn't play it in public. I must not. I'm just being honest—it's a privilege to play that game and to be at the round table, but I think I would just be too awful at it." She knows the game too well, perhaps, to trust herself in it. The Celebrity Traitors begins Thursday at 20:00 BST on BBC One and iPlayer, airing twice weekly on Thursday and Friday evenings.
Notable Quotes
I've been playing a version of The Traitors since I was 10 years old.— Bella Ramsey, actor
He's just as easily going to be on my side as he is going to twist the knife in my back given the opportunity.— Romesh Ranganathan, on fellow comedian Rob Beckett
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