For decades, she was catwalk royalty – but now Jerry Hall is hoping for a new accolade: to be crowned queen of Ardross Castle.
The former supermodel and wife of Rolling Stones star Mick Jagger was seen arriving at Inverness airport on Saturday soon after the BBC announced the 21-strong A-lister line-up for their much anticipated second series of Celebrity Traitors.
Texan-born Ms Hall, who turns 70 in July, was seen stepping off the plane to join her new co-stars and spend the next few weeks plotting murder as they battle it out to win the coveted prize of £100,000 for their chosen charity.
Friends say she has a competitive streak and is ‘there to win’, four years after her split from media tycoon Rupert Murdoch.
So will Ms Hall be a Faithful or a Traitor? She famously dumped Roxy Music frontman Bryan Ferry for Jagger, with whom she went on to have four children.
She later kicked Jagger out, and went on to marry the media tycoon Murdoch, who infamously split with her by email in 2022 after six years.
Indeed, she will have some stiff competition for what promises to be the television ‘water-cooler’ event of the year.
Shortly after Ms Hall arrived in Scotland, Cambridge-educated University Challenge host Amol Rajan touched down ready for action, while The Last Of Us actress Bella Ramsey was also spotted en route to Ardross Castle.
Thought the Celebrity Traitors couldn’t get any more A-list? Think again
Catwalk model and ex-wife of Mick Jagger was spotted arriving in Inverness to start filming
So, too, was the Cambridge-educated host of University Challenge, Amol Rajan
Also heading to the Scottish Highlands are A-list actors Michael Sheen and Richard E Grant, former EastEnders star Ross Kemp and singer James Blunt – who has reinvented himself as an online jester.
And there will be no shortage of humour because the cast list boasts six comedians – Miranda Hart, Rob Beckett, Romesh Ranganathan, Joe Lycett, Joanne McNally and James Acaster.
Love Island host Maya Jama has signed up, as has Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock.
Mathematician Hannah Fry, ex-Coronation Street actress Julie Hesmondhalgh, YouTube prankster and boxer King Kenny, Industry star Myha’la – known for her role as the super smart Harper Stern – Heartstopper’s Sebastian Croft and My Mad Fat Diary’s Sharon Rooney complete the line-up.
A Corporation source says bosses are thrilled with the line-up. ‘It’s wild, it is absolutely brilliant,’ they said. ‘It’s television like this that will hopefully make sure people don’t feel short-changed for buying their television licences.’
BBC bosses will be confident they can repeat the success of last November, when the first series was won in a thrilling finale by comedian Alan Carr. An astonishing 12million viewers tuned in to see Carr, a Traitor, had hoodwinked everyone.
This year’s contestants have form. Ms Hall and Grant are well known to one another, living just a stone’s throw apart in Richmond, south-west London.
Ranganathan and Beckett have been friends for years after meeting as they clambered on to the comedy circuit.
Actor and Richmond local Richard E Grant was also spotted at Inverness Airport ahead of filming
Actress Bella Ramsey also made her way to a taxi ahead of the filming of the new series of the much-loved BBC programme
The full list of the 21 celebrities confirmed to star in the upcoming series of Celebrity Traitors. Pictured, top row, left to right: Amol Rajan, Bella Ramsey, James Acaster, James Blunt, Jerry Hall, Joanne McNally, Joe Lycett; (middle row, left to right) Julie Hesmondhalgh, King Kenny, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Maya Jama, Michael Sheen, Miranda Hart, Myha’la; (bottom row, left to right) Professor Hannah Fry, Richard E. Grant, Rob Beckett, Romesh Ranganathan, Ross Kemp, Sebastian Croft, and Sharon Rooney
They latterly appeared on a Sky One show together, Rob & Romesh Vs, and Ranganathan often appears on Parenting Hell, the podcast hosted by Beckett and Josh Widdicombe. Ranganathan and Beckett are also friends with Lycett. ‘Surely the producers have something lined up for the three of them,’ says a BBC source. ‘It will be dynamite.’
And there will be fireworks. Back in 2022, there was a hilarious spat between Lycett and Acaster after Lycett used a picture of his rival on a poster to advertise a show at SSE Wembley Arena. In what was thought to be a quirky stunt, Lycett went to apologise to Acaster.
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Jerry Hall and Bella Ramsey arrive in Scotland for Celebrity Traitors after line-up was revealed
On Saturday the BBC announced their line-up with a tongue-in-cheek clip set in an airport, showing a line of actors as drivers standing with the iconic round-table chalk boards revealing the names.
But in a hilarious nod to the show, many of the stars’ names were spelled wrongly, such as ‘Rob Bucket’, ‘Miranda Heart’ and ‘Richardy Grant’. It is a running gag in the show that excited contestants sometimes scribble down wrongly the name of the person they want to banish.
Elsewhere in the clip, one of the people holding a board had his the wrong way round – again something stressed contestants sometimes do during tense round-tables.
Taking part in the show has become a ‘must’ for any celebrity keen to increase their profile and earnings.
Despite losing out on winning the programme, retired rugby player Joe Marler became a household name after the nation fell in love with him during his time in Ardross Castle last year.
And BBC bosses have appeared to root out the real traitor – the leaker who was selling information about the celebrity contestants to a red top newspaper.
Last year, the entire line-up was revealed by the tabloid. But this year, only a handful of names were, meaning there were still many surprises for the millions who will tune into the series when it airs later this year.
The BBC’s controller Kate Phillips was said to be very cross when it was revealed there was a traitor somewhere inside the show for last year’s series.
The cast will surely delight host Claudia Winkleman too. Her six-episode chat show struggled to capitalise on last year’s ratings success, in what was a rare misstep for the star.
‘Claudia is used to everything she does turning to gold,’ says a friend of the former Strictly Come Dancing host.
‘Her shows always do so well but the chat show just didn’t fly in the way it was hoped it would. Now she’s back in the castle where she is absolutely adored and revered.’
