BBC The Traitors' Claudia Winkleman reveals importance of new shock twists and rules

As The Traitors show returned tonight, its host praised the move to stop the finalists from knowing if they are banishing Traitors or Faithful at the very last stage of the game

TV presenter Claudia Winkleman says the format tweak being introduced for series three of The Traitors will help keep it fresh.

As the BBC1 show returned tonight, its host praised the move to stop the finalists knowing if they are banishing Traitors or Faithful at the very last stage of the game. Traitors have to kill off fellow players without being caught, while the Faithful have to work out who the Traitors are and banish them, before becoming their next victim.

The final survivors have the chance of winning the cash prize. However, if a Traitor makes it through undetected, they will be able to claim the prize. Claudia said of the format tweak: “The final twist is so smart. At the end, I will thank somebody for taking part and they will just walk out.

“It underlines that you think you know how to play but you don’t. If you went to the castle, you might have a way of working it out – this change takes away all of that. It goes back to the main body of the show, which is trust and gut instinct.”

The presenter believes it is important to add new elements. “In any entertainment format, you can’t repeat. You want to give the people playing and the people watching something new.” She said having undercover sisters Armani and Maia on the show was another clever idea, especially with one being a Traitor.

Claudia hinted that the all-female Traitor line-up might backfire but said it was put together in reaction to the male-heavy team last year.

One Traitor, Linda, appeared to have been rumbled almost immediately in last night’s opening episode, and Armani was already making her sibling very suspicious. But Claudia defended the choices she and the production team made.

“I loved picking these three. I had faith,” she said. “They felt like the right three. Whatever happens, it was the right thing to do. All my faith is in the game.” In the launch show, viewers saw three players sent home during the train ride, before even reaching the castle. Claudia, 53, said she is tougher on the group now compared to when the show began in 2022.

“The first meeting I had, they said I had to send two people home and I just said, ‘I can’t’. They said I had to. Now I’m like, ‘What are going to do, push them off the train?’”

She continued: “When the contestants turn up, they assume they know the way the game is going to go and it’s our job to show them they don’t. We didn’t know how it was going to go. The beauty of The Traitors is the game itself.” Some of this year’s players have emotive medical reasons spurring them on to win the prize fund of up to £120,000, with three of them wanting IVF.

Care manager Alex, 29, from Whitby, North Yorks, said: “Me and my wife aren’t able to have biological children and it’s ­obviously very expensive to start IVF so that would be the first thing on the list.”

Business director Charlotte, 32, from Hampshire, is also seeking the money for fertility treatment, and so is Leanne, from North Wales, who is ex-military but pretending to be a nail technician. She explained that she had twin boys born at 26 weeks and would now like another baby with her wife.

She said: “I went through IVF with my boys, and I was very poorly throughout my pregnancy. I feel I missed out on enjoying that newborn stage. I’m so grateful to have them, and I’m so lucky that they’re alive. I’d love the opportunity to have another baby, hopefully have a better experience.”

Translator Elen, 24, from Cardiff, would spend the money on surgery for her stage four endometriosis, because the waiting list is more than three years. She said: “It is a condition so under-researched and under-funded, despite one in 10 women having it. I wish to raise awareness and to have the money to fund my treatment privately.”

And London property developer Nathan, 39, wants to win the cash to help his ill dad. “Last year, he had kidney failure and neither of my brothers or sister got a match. We had to put him on private medication, which costs an absolute fortune. The prize would fix a lot of things in the short term, so that’s a good motivation to win.”

The Traitors, tomorow night at 8pm on BBC1

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