The Traitors is a high-stakes game that favours deception and betrayal, often uncloaking the darker side of a contestant’s nature.
And so when 21 celebrities – whose job it is to maintain a pristine public image – play the game, it’s no surprise there is more than just on-screen backstabbing going on.
A whopping 14.9million people watched each episode of the first series of The Celebrity Traitors last year, most glued to the intense spotlight the show puts on every contestant’s unique personality quirks. So it’s hardly surprising that this time around some big names are more than a little anxious as filming begins.
We can reveal there are some in this year’s line-up who are ‘terrified’ of how they will appear in the final edit – and pressure is already being put on the BBC to ensure they will come off ‘positively’.
It comes as the likes of Maya Jama, Amol Rajan, Richard E Grant, Michael Sheen, Romesh Ranganathan, Miranda Hart, Ross Kemp, James Blunt and Rob Beckett were all sighted landing at Inverness airport over the weekend ahead of filming series two.
As one show insider told the Daily Mail: ‘While some of them are just in there to have fun, there are others who are very much in there for themselves as a strategic career move so they are terrified of how they will come across.’
Our insider added: ‘As it’s the second time round, they’ve seen just how big a boost it can give to a personal brand but it needs to be orchestrated carefully.
‘Last year there were a few celebrities who were not best pleased with how they came across. But this year they are adamant they will come out positively and the BBC is under pressure to make sure they do.
Comedian Miranda Hart has taken her rarely seen husband Richard Fairs with her for support since this will be her first major television appearance in years
Friends and comedians Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan were sighted landing at Inverness airport over the weekend ahead of filming series two
‘One foot wrong, and it could become a PR nightmare.’
The format – which sees 21 famous faces playing games to win £100,000 for a chosen charity and ‘traitors’ secretly sabotaging them while trying to avoid being exposed and ‘killed’ – is notorious for provoking blazing rows between contestants and encouraging even the closest of friends to backstab each other.
Last year’s show was a smash hit for the BBC, with 15.4million viewers watching the finale, and also gave a boost to the careers of fan favourites such as 49-year-old comedian Alan Carr and retired rugby player Joe Marler.
Six years after quitting England rugby, Marler, 35, has now hired an acting agent, and Carr has been inundated with job offers, even turning down the role of Strictly Come Dancing host.
‘The stakes are very different for this year’s celebrities from what they were in the first series,’ our insider added. ‘You can’t buy this kind of exposure now but it has to be the right kind.’
It has been revealed that each contestant will receive a flat fee of £40,000 for the series – a major pay cut for many of them and a testament to how desperately they want to be on the show.
Contestants such as ITV golden girl Maya Jama, the 31-year-old Love Island host, and Irish comedian and podcaster Joanne McNally, 42, were reportedly seen arriving in Scotland with their managers by their sides. Something not seen last year during the two-to-three week filming stint.
The stakes are much higher for contestants at a transitional point in their careers. Indeed, one of this series’ biggest signings, the BBC’s Amol Rajan, 42, said in January he would be leaving his post as presenter on Radio 4’s Today programme to launch his own production company.
While Ms Jama will be coming into her fourth year as host of Love Island, it’s known in media circles that she has hopes of expanding her career beyond ITV.
The presenter is also a panellist on ITV’s The Masked Singer UK. But a stint on The Celebrity Traitors would help introduce her to the BBC audience.
Meanwhile, it could be a helpful career move for the former Little Mix singer Leigh-Anne Pinnock, 34, who has been unable to make it solo since the band went on an indefinite hiatus in 2022. Her debut solo album, My Ego Told Me To, released this February, has not come close to the heights of her work in the girl group.
The 53-year-old comedian Miranda Hart has taken her rarely seen husband, Richard Fairs, 61, with her for support since this will be her first major television appearance as she’s been out of the limelight for five years battling Lyme Disease.
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Maya Jama, the 31-year-old host of Love Island, was seen arriving in Scotland with her manager by her side
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The stars and their plus-ones, be they management or partners, are staying in the Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Inverness.
Last year the BBC was inundated with jittery PRs begging to see early edits to protect their client’s image. But bosses stood firm and refused to allow any changes to the final cut. The same concerns have been raised this year.
With more managers on tap in Scotland, the BBC will provide celebrities and their aides with a briefing of what is to come in each night’s episode. And, insiders tell us, the show is being ‘highly managed’ to ensure both viewers and the A-list contestants are pleased with the outcome.
Of course, explosive moments are the reason The Traitors has become one of our best-loved shows and bosses will not shy away from them in the upcoming series.
Producers encourage them by cranking up the air-conditioning during important discussions, making sure everyone is cold, uncomfortable and tense.
Filming has begun at Ardross Church, located just outside the grounds with huge spotlights and cameras set up, while red-cloaked Druids have been spotted outside the entrance alongside members of the production team.
The black Land Rovers that ferry contestants from 19th century Ardross Castle to the four-star Courtyard by Marriott hotel at the airport, and to mission sites, have also been spotted.
But, in an upgrade from last year when the celebrities were ferried around in minibuses, this year the stellar line-up will be driven around in limos.
Filming has previously been described as a ‘military operation’, with over 200 crew descending on the rural Scottish area.
The BBC said last year that The Traitors contributed £21.8million to the Scottish economy.
The show has also been a great advertisement for Ardross Castle, and the venue, which hosts weddings and large events, is already fully booked until 2028.
The Courtyard hotel, meanwhile, typically costs £70 a night. However, rooms are currently being advertised at £280 a night, with little availability left. One would-be guest fumed: ‘Is that why I couldn’t get the hotel at the airport for a reasonable price?’
The Celebrity Traitors series two cast was officially announced on Saturday. Shortly after, stars were spotted touching down in Inverness before jumping into cars which were given special access to drive on to the runway – meaning they avoided any encounters with the public.
Once the series starts later this year there’s no such easy escape.
