Story perspectives

BBC Announces Celebrity Traitors Series 2, 21 Stars Filming

5/3/2026

Summary

BBC Launches Celebrity Traitors

BBC announced Celebrity Traitors series two will begin filming at Ardross Castle with 21 celebrity contestants.
Claudia Winkleman will host a cast featuring Maya Jama, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Michael Sheen, Amol Rajan, Bella Ramsey and James Blunt.
The series will air on BBC One and iPlayer in 2026.
Contestants will compete for up to £100,000 to donate to charities, while the previous finale earned a BAFTA Moment of the Year nomination.

Summary

BBC Scores 12M

Season 1’s finale peaked at 12 million viewers and averaged 11.1 million, delivering the series’ largest overnight audience.
Studio Lambert Scotland produced the show for BBC One and iPlayer, commissioned by Kalpna Patel-Knight, Head of Entertainment Commissioning.
Mike Cotton, Sarah Fay, Lewis Thurlow and Katy Fox served as executive producers for the series.
The format originated from the Dutch series De Verraders by IDTV and RTL Creative Unit, with All3Media International handling global sales.

Summary

Celebrity Traitors Returns

The second Celebrity Traitors series will consist of ten hour-long episodes.
The regular version of The Traitors aired in January 2026, drawing over 12 million viewers per episode.
Media described Celebrity Traitors as a nationwide phenomenon after its first season.
The fourth season of the regular series, broadcast earlier in 2026, averaged 12.5 million viewers across 12 episodes, making it the second-most-watched series on TV since early 2025.

History

Historical Context

John de Mol Jr.’s Dutch ‘Big Brother’ debuted in 1999 and spawned 508 seasons across 63 countries, establishing a format where celebrities compete for charity, as seen in the UK’s first Celebrity Big Brother in March 2001. BBC One’s 2026 ‘Celebrity Traitors’, hosted by Claudia Winkleman with Maya Jama, follows that licensed-format model and remains a staple of primetime TV across Europe.

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BBC Launches Celebrity Traitors

BBC announced Celebrity Traitors series two will begin filming at Ardross Castle with 21 celebrity contestants.
Claudia Winkleman will host a cast featuring Maya Jama, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Michael Sheen, Amol Rajan, Bella Ramsey and James Blunt.
The series will air on BBC One and iPlayer in 2026.
Contestants will compete for up to £100,000 to donate to charities, while the previous finale earned a BAFTA Moment of the Year nomination.

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