Celebrity The Traitors: Everything We Know So Far

Grab your cloaks, people: The Traitors is back. But this time, there are a few familiar faces playing the game. Yep, it’s official: a celebrity version of The Traitors is coming to the UK, filmed as always at Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands. Set to premiere with a bumper episode on 8 October, here’s everything we know so far.

Claudia Winkleman makes an entrance with a special The Celebrity Traitors cloak. (© BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan Cherry)

The Celebrity Traitors UK: Line-Up, Release Date & More

The UK version of The Traitors is getting the celebrity treatment, with a new nine-part series on the way. The news follows the huge success of the first three seasons of the murder mystery reality series, which viewers praised for the normality and diversity of contestants.

‘The Traitors has well and truly established itself as an unmissable highlight of the year and the news of a fourth outing, alongside a brand new celebrity version coming to the BBC, will take the series to a whole new level,’ Kalpna Patel-Knight, Head of Entertainment at the BBC, said on the news.

A key part of The Traitors is the cash prize, with Faithfuls and Traitors alike tempted towards deceit by the prize pot. But as with all celebrity editions of fan-favourite shows, these contestants will be competing for a £100,000 charitable donation.

Over in the US, however, celebrities have always played a part in The Traitors. In season 1, also filmed in Scotland like the British version, ordinary Americans were spliced with celebrities, while the second and third seasons featured only celebrities – including famous faces from our side of the pond, former House of Commons Speaker John Bercow and Love Island star Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu.

Our celebrities gather at the roundtable for the selection of this year’s Traitors. (© BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan Cherry)

Who Will Star In The Celebrity Traitors?

The Traitors usually stars 22 players (or, if more, they’re eliminated pretty swiftly as we saw in season 3). However, the BBC has revealed a full line-up of just 19 celebrity contestants. Let’s see if any surprise additions appear when The Celebrity Traitors airs.

‘We’re incredibly lucky these brilliant people have said yes,’ series host Claudia said on the big line-up reveal, who will also be returning with her iconic countrycore wardrobe in tow. ‘I’d love to say we’ll take it easy on them and they’ll just wander round the castle and eat toast for a couple of weeks but that would be a lie.’

Drumroll please… Here’s the Celebrity Traitors UK line-up in full.

• Stephen Fry
• Alan Carr
• Nick Mohammed
• Tom Daley
• Joe Marler
• David Olusoga
• Niko Omilana
• Mark Bonnar
• Jonathan Ross
• Paloma Faith
• Joe Wilkinson
• Clare Balding
• Lucy Beaumont
• Ruth Codd
• Tameka Empson
• Celia Imrie
• Charlotte Church
• Kate Garraway
• Cat Burns

There’s quite the spread across British stardom: world-famous Traitors fan and distinguished thespian Stephen Fry is arguably the biggest name – though TV host Jonathan Ross, singer Paloma Faith, Olympian Tom Daley and acting legend Celia Imrie are also heavyweights. They’re joined by Line of Duty star Mark Bonnar, Ted Lasso star and comedian Nick Mohammed, EastEnders star Tameka Empson, sports presenter Clare Balding and TV presenter Kate Garraway, among other sportspeople, comedians and even a YouTube prankster.

(© BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan Cherry)

‘We are thrilled to be inviting some celebrities into our castle to come and play the game,’ Mike Cotton said on behalf of the BBC when the celebrity edition was officially announced. ‘Seeing famous faces navigate the round table or don the infamous green cloaks will be unmissable TV, and what a double treat for the fans with Series 4 also confirmed too. There’s a whole lot of exciting treachery and deception yet to come from the Highlands… Claudia’s going to have to pack some extra knitwear.’

The BBC’s interim Director of Unscripted Syeda Irtizaali discussed the news at the Edinburgh TV Festival, adding: ‘I was worried about how they [the celebrities] were going to play it compared to members of the public, but we have nothing to worry about. Some of the things you’ll see them doing are extraordinary.’

Other stars previously rumoured to appear in the series included Friends star Courteney Cox (a friend of presenter Claudia Winkleman), Rylan Clark, Kathy Burke, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Alison Hammond, Jason Manford, Victoria Coren Mitchell, Liz Truss and EastEnders star Adam Woodyatt who wrote on Instagram during series 2, ‘If they ever do a celeb version of #traitors I would walk to Scotland to be part of it!!’.

In the US, celebrities have spanned reality stars, Olympians, actors and more, including Cirie Fields, Kate Chastain, Ryan Lochte, Chrishell Stause and, of course, Ekin-Su and John Bercow.

When Is The Celebrity Traitors On TV?

The Celebrity Traitors will premiere at 9pm on Wednesday 8 October 2025 on BBC One and iPlayer. The first bumper episode will run for 70 minutes.

Unlike ordinary The Traitors, only two episodes will air each week – on Wednesday and Thursday evenings – and the series will be made up of nine episodes instead of the usual 12.

The release schedule is as follows:

• Episode 1: 9pm Wednesday 8 October 2025
• Episode 2: 9pm Thursday 9 October 2025
• Episode 3: 9pm Wednesday 15 October 2025
• Episode 4: 9pm Thursday 16 October 2025
• Episode 5: 9pm Wednesday 22 October 2025
• Episode 6: 9pm Thursday 23 October 2025
• Episode 7: 9pm Wednesday 29 October 2025
• Episode 8: 9pm Thursday 30 October 2025
• Episode 9 – Finale: 9pm Thursday 6 November 2025

What About Ordinary The Traitors?

Don’t worry: The Traitors series 4 is still set for broadcast starring ordinary Brits. We expect The Traitors series 4 to kick off on British screens in January 2026.

Best of all if you think you have the wits to win, The Traitors series 5 is confirmed, with applications to take part open now. Enter here.

The first three series of The Traitors are streaming now on BBC iPlayer, along with the American version and more from around the world. bbc.co.uk