Claudia Winkleman warns of 'brutal' new Traitors series
Claudia Winkleman has teased the upcoming new series of The Traitors is "really, really brutal".
Claudia Winkleman has teased the new series of The Traitors is "really, really brutal".
The 53-year-old presenter has warned the upcoming episodes of the show - which returns to BBC One on New Year's Day (01.01.26) - is more "hardcore" than ever, with some "very juicy" confrontations at the round table.
She said ahead of the series launch: “It gets really, really brutal.
“The celebrity one, they were adorable, but they were at the round table like, ‘No, no, after you’. That’s not how this one goes. These players play it differently. It gets hardcore, it gets very heated.
“We get some very juicy round tables.
“Did they keep the bit in when I scream? I get ugly.
"At one point, all the hairs were standing on end because you think, ‘Yeah, I’ve seen this, it’s going to go down this route’.
“And all I can say is that it absolutely doesn’t.”
Trailers for the new series have hinted at a new red-cloaked Traitor but Claudia refused to be drawn on what it could mean.
She said: “All I will say is there’s something new and what happens in this series is truly extraordinary, with moments that made me gasp.
“The people in charge always have excellent ways of changing the game.
“You think you know how to win. Turns out you don’t. The castle has many secrets.
“It gets twisty. I mean, the people who create the show, you have to keep on changing it. And they tell me ideas and I’m like, ‘You’re joking’.
“The brilliance is you can have your strategy worked out, but once you’re in the castle everything changes.”
Claudia finds it "nerve-wracking" selecting which of the contestants will be Traitors so she is grateful to get help from producers.
She said: “It’s nerve-wracking but I don’t choose them alone. I interview all the players and some are absolute desperate to be faithful.
“Anyone who convinces me otherwise is in contention.
“I then go into a small room with the bosses and an enormous tin of biscuits and we pick."
And she admitted she gets pleasure from ramping up the tension when she's tapping the chosen Traitors on the shoulder.
She said: “The walk round the table is very tense.
“I can’t tell you how many times I walk around it but I really try and build the tension which is hideously mean but also quite addictive.
“I try and wear clompy footwear to add to it. It gets a bit flamenco. Alan [Carr] recently said I walk round the table like a carthorse and he’s bang on.”
