Warning: Spoilers for The Celebrity Traitors Series 2 Episode 1-4
The Celebrity Traitors has returned to BBC One and iPlayer to phenomenal success. Ofcom reported over 14 million for the opening episode’s seven day figures, a rise of two million from series one.
But this year’s series is missing an element that the last had in bucketfuls. The Traitors line-up have no passion for their murder mission.
Team Traitors
The current line-up – Maya Jama, James Acaster and Prof. Hannah Fry – has shifted since Claudia first selected her traitors. Initially as Richard E Grant proudly proclaimed he was a traitor leading to his banishment.
Maya and Richard recruited James after a face off against journalist Amol Rajan. In his conversation with Claudia, Acaster made it clear that he couldn’t lie as a traitor. And since donning the cloak he has been reluctant to stab his fellow celebrities in the back.
Hannah’s recruitment was risky as her great knowledge is incredibly useful to both sides. But she has come under fire because she is an obvious target for the traitors to remove from the game. If her logic can produce a murder plan then Hannah could be one of the best traitors we’ve seen.
The debut series, airing last year, saw Alan Carr triumph as a traitor with his winning moment being awarded Bafta TV Moment of the Year 2025. From the first murder, where Alan killed Paloma Faith in plain sight, he leaned all the way into the camp, murderous traits that make The Traitors so iconic.
Superfan and “big dog” Jonathon Ross joined him in the turret and was so in tune with the game and tactics that he managed to drive Alan and third traitor Cat Burns through the majority of the game without losing a member.
Following his win Carr said, “I’ve got such a taste for killing. It was nice to see their eyes as a I murdered them. What have I become?”
The viewing figures and social media discourse that surround The Traitors in all its formats is proof of how invested the viewers get in the game, it’s a mirror of how much Claudia herself enjoys being part of every series. So when it is only Maya Jama that cares, or doesn’t care, about murdering faithfuls it creates a disconnect.
In episode 4, she attempt to encourage her fellow traitors exclaiming “I can’t be the only one out here killing people!”
Team Faithfuls
In contrast, the team of faithfuls are more invested in the game than ever before. They seem to have taken some of Mark Bonnar’s energy and doubled it.
Ross Kemp is paranoid about every movement and gets very excited at the missions and when they do banish Richard.
Before her banishment, Julie Hesmondalgh was sharing as many theories as possible in her perpetually starstruck state. With her gone it leaves a gap for Miranda Hart to fully embody the “Miss Marple” role. Up to this point she has been tuned in and careful about what she shares.
On the quieter side we have Scottish actor Sharon Rooney and singer and actor Sebastian “Bash” Croft who are both massive fans of the show. King Kenny has survived longer than his YouTube co-star Niko Omilana which may give him credibility at the round table.
The faithfuls are far more engaging to watch this year but the nature of the game means that they will be picked off one-by-one as the traitors reluctantly murder and the players blindly banish.
The game, and therefore series, move so quickly and everything changes based on any rumour, wink or producer’s twist. So with any luck James and Hannah will take Maya’s advice, showing the same level of commitment that won Alan the game last year. Either way it won’t stop me talking about every episode to anyone who’ll listen.
Featured Image Credit: BBC/Studio Lambert
Journalism and Film and Media student who loves writing about TV. @darcyrobson07
