I was on The Traitors and Claudia Winkleman showed true colours on set

A former Traitors star has opened up about what it’s like working with show host Claudia Winkleman – admitting he still gets ‘chills’ thinking about her. 

The presenter, 53, has hosted the series, and its spin-off Celebrity Traitors which is currently airing on BBC One, since it first launched back in 2022.

She’s known and loved by show fans for her aloof and serious on-screen persona on the series, overseeing the action as the Faithfuls hunt down the Traitors among them. 

And her presence often draws gasps and stunned silences from the reality format’s competitors, who are left hanging on her every word. 

Now, former show contestant Paul Gorton – who was picked as a Traitor by Claudia in series two – has revealed that what viewers see at home is exactly what you get, and that contenders really do get ‘chills’ whenever Claudia enters the room. 

While some fans might expect Claudia’s ‘act’ to drop when the cameras aren’t focused on her, Paul, 37, insists that is ‘actually what she’s like’ and it ‘never drops’.

Speaking to Wales Online on behalf of WhichBingo, Paul said: ‘You’re looking at her and you’re going, she’s got quite piercing eyes and you know like obvious beauty, and you get chills! I’ve honestly got chills talking about it now.

‘That never drops. Like when you’re at breakfast and she storms in, it is kind of like everyone just goes into silence because the queen is about to talk.

‘I find it quite remarkable, just Claudia’s character and personality because I genuinely think she isn’t doing an act. I think this is just what she’s actually like.’

Claudia has been back overseeing the action as the BBC One show returned with its first ever spin off series, this time featuring famous faces. 

She picked chat show Jonathan Ross, comedian Alan Carr and singer Cat Burns as her Traitors from the star-studded Celebrity Traitors line-up. 

Viewers of the hit series are convinced, however, that Claudia has chosen one more role for this year’s series: a detective. 

Taking to Reddit, a fan theory has teased that actress Celia Imrie could be secretly working as a detective character.

They said: ‘Celia is secretly a detective character. When she makes a correct guess at the roundtable, Claudia surreptitiously responds to her with a wink. No wink means her guess isn’t a Traitor.

‘The existence of a detective in the game will be revealed to us sometime this coming week, then at some point later on to the Traitors.’

Explaining their thought process, they continued: ‘The very first 30 secs of episode one, in which Claudia was hanging portraits of the players. She says, “as for this one…” then Celia’s portrait winks at her.

‘Claudia replies, “knockout”. None of that makes any sense – but it all happens in such a blur you forget it immediately.’

The user theorised that Celia’s declarations during the game about ‘snooping’ are a hint at what’s to come later in the series when her role could be revealed. 

Elsewhere, fans were left raging at ‘criminal’ BBC bosses, hitting out they have ‘spoiled the series’ thanks to a behind-the-scenes choice. 

While the series has proved itself to be a big hit so far, pulling in the show’s largest ever audience with 11.7million tuning in for the launch, not everyone is happy with the roll out of the episodes. 

The civilian version of the series previously ran on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings at 9pm on BBC One, giving fans three chances to tune in each week. 

But the Celebrity Traitors has only been airing twice a week, on Wednesday and Thursday nights, missing out on the coveted primetime Friday slot. 

It was confirmed by the BBC earlier this week, too, that while the civilian version normally airs for 12 episodes, the spin-off will feature nine episodes finishing on November 6 with a special 70-minute episode. 

The Friday night slot has instead been dished out to comedian Steve Coogan, with his new series How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge), part of a roster of a number of comedy shows filling the slot. 

Nonetheless, the BBC confirmed the mammoth viewing figures for the Celebrity Traitors last week, following its launch show last Wednesday on BBC One. 

The series has broken its own viewership record, and taken over all BBC unscripted series’ since 2022 to take the most-watched title. 

Around ten million viewers watched the first episode of the most recent non-celebrity series of The Traitors, clocking up 5.4million tuning in live. 

Celebrity Traitors continues Wednesdays and Thursdays at 9pm on BBC One and is available to stream on iPlayer