It’s official – the BBC is making traitors and faithfuls out of celebrities.
The UK broadcaster has just confirmed its long-gestating Celebrity Traitors series and the Claudia Winkleman-hosted show will land next year. The BBC has also greenlit a fourth season of the regular version of The Traitors UK.
The news confirms Deadline’s scoop from several months back, when we told you a deal between producer Studio Lambert and the BBC was close.
The smash hit show, which has sold around the world, sees contestants live together and take part in challenges while seeking to uncloak the traitors among their number. Harry Clark won the previous series.
Kalpna Patel-Knight, Head of Entertainment at the BBC, said: “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.”
Given the roster of big-name Traitors fans, Deadline was previously told the BBC has big ambitions for the caliber of guest it could attract, and will be aiming high. A recent promo casting call video featuring Courteney Cox had fans wildly speculating that the U.S. star would appear in a celebrity version. Elsewhere, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Mary Berry all featured in a Celebrity Traitors sketchlast year for Comic Relief.
The BBC and Studio Lambert have cast the UK version differently to the U.S. by going 100% non-celebrity for the former and hybrid celebrity-civilian for the latter. The latest U.S. season featured British celebrities including Love Island winner Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu and ex-politician John Bercow.
In the UK, The Traitors has been a ratings juggernaut for the BBC. The Season 2 finale was the most-watched show on UK television in the week in which it was broadcast.