Celebrity Traitors bosses 'scrapped' cliffhanger plans after another 'unbelievable' twist
The producers behind The Celebrity Traitors were reportedly forced to change plans on the fly after an "unbelievable" moment during filming.
The Celebrity Traitors bosses reportedly had to scrap an epic cliffhanger after an "unbelievable" incident on set.
The hit BBC show, which is hosted by Claudia Winkleman, returned for it's second celeb spinoff series last week and immediately caused a stir after Richard E. Grant confessed to being a Traitor immediately after he and Maya Jama were selected at the Round Table, but there is another moment still to come later in the game.
An insider told The Sun newspaper: "Cliffhangers on The Traitors have become legendary so bosses never want to disappoint and hope to have the nation on tenterhooks all week, waiting for Thursdays to come around – that’s part of the reason the format being fed out twice a week works.
“So they plot out likely moments in gameplay that will be the Friday cliffs. But during filming, something so unbelievable happened even execs didn’t see it coming.
“It forced them to throw plans out the window to accommodate the epic moment – which should make great TV.”
The Traitors executive producer Sarah Fay previously opened up about how Studio Lambert figure out certain gameplay moments which could work as end-of-episode teasers.
Speaking at the series launch, she explained: "We always have an idea before going into pre-production what might be cliffhangers but we have to be so reactive because who knows what the story is going to be."
Sarah pointed to last year's deadlock when the vote was tied between David Osuloga and Mark Bonner.
She added: "We never knew that that was going to happen until obviously, it was happening right before our eyes.
“I think the beauty of this game as well is every episode we’ve probably got about three options of what the cliffhanger could be because it’s so nail-biting.”
This time round, Richard’s fate is hanging in the balance after the second episode ended midway through the first round table, where his fellow contestants were closing in on him following his extraordinary decision to tell Joe Lycett, 38, he was a Traitor.
While talking to Joe in the lounge, Richard was asked directly: “What are you?”
“A Traitor,” Richard replied with a grin.
Joe responded: “I think you’ve just done something that has never happened in the game... bold strategy.”
Richard and Maya subsequently faced another major decision when journalist and broadcaster Amol Rajan, 43, and comedian James Acaster, 41, were put forward as potential additions to their ranks.
James was recruited as the third Traitor, while Amol became the first contestant to be murdered.
The drama has helped propel the second celebrity series to record ratings.
Its opening episode averaged 8.9 million viewers overnight and peaked at just over nine million – the biggest launch audience for any UK edition of The Traitors.
The second episode drew an overnight audience of 8.6 million.
The series returns at 8pm on Thursday (08.10.26),
