The Celebrity Traitors Season 2 Cast Tease What To Expect From New Episodes

As the summer blends into autumn, and the days get shorter and darker, we’ve reached that stage of the year when loads of our favourite reality shows are up and running again, from Drag Race UK and Strictly Come Dancing to the Great British Bake Off.

But let’s face it, there’s one that’s about to blow them all out of the water.

The castle doors to The Celebrity Traitors are now less than a week away from opening up again to another exciting group of famous faces from the world of film, music, sport and beyond.

And if last year’s run is anything to go by, we’re in for some more TV gold.

While exact details of the series are being kept under wraps for now, the cast have slowly been teasing how they’re feeling about it all in interviews conducted before the action officially got underway.

To help prepare for what promises to be another gripping season, here’s a selection of what the new cast members have had to say about The Celebrity Traitors’ return…

“They excelled at the missions,” Claudia Winkleman enthused, praising the group’s “amazing teamwork” and the fact they “just really wanted to build the prize pot” for their chosen charities.

Speaking more generally about the cast, she told the BBC she “couldn’t get over” the calibre of celeb contestants when she was first told about the cast.

“My bosses had to repeat the names at least three times,” she claimed. “We’re so lucky they said yes.

“Everyone taking part is fantastic. We are honoured they wanted to play the game.”

Following Alan Carr’s victory this year, The Celebrity Traitors has brought together some of the biggest names on the comedy scene right now, from James Acaster, Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan to Joe Lycett and Joanne McNally.

“They all made me laugh,” she admitted. “They are all utterly brilliant and the funniest people on earth.”

As for any scene-stealers to look out for, she teased that Rob Beckett “said something that made me hide in a bush until I composed myself”.

“[That is] a concern,” he revealed. “There will be suspicions that it’s going to be at least one of these guys, that we might form an alliance if we’re not broken apart.”

James speculated: “I think we’re going to be the first ones under the magnifying glass being looked at. Particularly at the beginning when you have absolutely nothing to go on.

“And then, you consider that a comedian won last year with Alan Carr disarming everyone with jokes the whole time. He has tainted us all!”

“Hannah Fry [mathematician and fellow Celebrity Traitors star] will probably tell you that probability-wise, there’s most likely to be at least one comic chosen as a Traitor because there’s enough of us,” he went on to theorise. “Even though it could, obviously, easily be three people who aren’t comedians…

“I don’t know how it works out, but if maths turns against us we’re in big trouble.”

“Rob is one of my best friends, and we’ve worked together for a decade now,” Romesh explained. “But I still won’t be able to trust [him]. I mean, he’s just as easily going to be on my side as he is going to twist the knife in my back given the opportunity.”

He revealed: “ It’s going to be a weird thing where normally when we’re doing Rob And Romesh vs., we’ve got each other’s backs and are helping each other out. Whereas this time, he can’t be trusted.”

So, could Romesh see himself stabbing Rob in the back?

“In a heartbeat, yeah,” he quipped. “Yeah, I think I would. It’s all fair in Traitors, isn’t it?”

Joe recalled: “When I started doing stand-up, my on and off-stage persona were quite similar. I showed off at parties because I wanted attention and then, gradually, as I got that attention through doing stand-up, I could calm down in real life.”

He continued: “When I’m not out on stage I’m very calm, thoughtful and peaceful. I think the comics know what I’m like on and off stage, but I think the others who, for the first time, will spend time with me not in ‘show mode’ might see that as suspicious.

“I definitely come across assumptions of ‘oh, he’s the gay comedian off the telly’ and I explain I’ve got a female partner and a son with said female partner. I’m really quite a tranquil individual when not in performance mode which may surprise some.”

“I am nothing like Harper!” she insisted. “I’m more of a ‘kill them with kindness’ kind of girl rather than a blatantly bullish bulldog.”

Because of this, Myha’la admitted she had “very deliberately planned the looks that I’m wearing” to “really separate” herself from Harper, “and be seen as me and not that character”.

“I’ve got my jewelry; my hair is different. I’ve really, really, really planned this,” she claimed. “I just decided to make everything lighter, gentle, feminine. Everything is soft and knitted and cosy and entirely unlike her.

“There are no shoulder pads, I’m not wearing any suiting of any kind. I’m trying to position myself as far away from Harper as possible. It’s also an exercise in me being quiet, which is really hard. It’s like so about my personality.”

“I’ll be interested to see how this one goes because I feel like I will be battling Harper’s persona and the perception of her,” she mused, before admitting: “All that said, I want to be a Traitor. Obviously!”

Asked what inspired her to sign up for The Celebrity Traitors, Miranda Hart explained: “My decision making in life generally – and certainly [with] work – is ‘follow the joy’.

“I haven’t done much TV work for a long time, having only recently come out of long-term ill health issues, and when I was offered this, my whole body sort of relaxed. I smiled, and I just wanted to jump about like a schoolgirl with joy. It’s just fun. It’s outdoors, it’s games. All the stuff I love. It’s play basically.”

The Miranda star disclosed that she’s “still living with elements of ME”, which can bring “fatigue and pain to manage”, but added: “I’ve come to a point where I feel well enough to step out, and that’s also partly why I’m doing this. The joy of mucking about on television again will hopefully outweigh some of the challenges.

“And I think it will be challenging on my body, so it’ll be interesting, and it’ll take some courage as this is a big next step.

“When you live with a chronic illness, it’s invisible, so people don’t know that you’re sitting there in pain. But then it reminds you that everybody’s got their thing.

“So, I’m also really looking forward to making friends and looking after each other and hopefully they can carry me up a hill or whatever we’re going to have to do!”

Bella Ramsey said: “There are some real fans of The Traitors in my family.

“Seeing the cast list come out, there are people that my sister is so excited about, people that we watched growing up together.

“I’m very excited to play with Miranda. Her show was so brilliant, and I just love her so that’s really exciting.”

The mathematician and author claimed she was “here to fulfil the nerd quota for the year”, a “responsibility” she insisted she was taking “extremely seriously”.

“Have I gone back through the data of all the previous games and tried to find statistically significant patterns? Yes!” she said. “Are any of these going to help me? Honestly, who knows?!

“There is a pattern in the way that Traitors behave. For example, Traitors often do a burn vote in the first few episodes when they’re settling in. By that, I mean they just vote for somebody that nobody else has voted for. Cat [Burns] last year was a really good example of this…

“But across the board, the only problem with picking up on those signals is that the Faithfuls are such an absolute mess. They are so all over the place that it’s really hard to pick out what the signal is. That’s just one example of a little bit of Maths that I’ve got in my back pocket.”

“Whether it’s going to work or not, honestly, your guess is as good as mine!” she confessed. “I’ve got spreadsheets coming out of my eyeballs. I close my eyes and it’s like there are numbers tattooed on the inside of my eyelids at the moment for how much I’ve been looking at them.”

Hannah added: “I definitely have a public persona of being someone who is smart. I would say, people tend to think I’m smarter than I actually am, bluntly, and I don’t think that’s going to serve me particularly well as I may be seen as a bit of a threat.

“I might actually try and chuck out a few false theories, so I’m seen to be a bit of an idiot and not a threat at all.”

For Romesh Ranganathan, this prep included swotting up on “sports psychology books”.

“One of the things that I realised about this is the pressure really gets to you so that can throw your judgement off,” he suggested. “I want to remain completely cool and calm, so I’ve read some books about how to try and stay chilled in moments of pressure.

“I don’t really feel anything anyway, generally, but I think this is a specific thing.”

However, this is something he’s already found himself struggling with during his limited Celebrity Traitors experience.

Romesh recalled: “I was on The Jonathan Ross Show, and Joe Marler asked me if I was going to be on The Celebrity Traitors. I knew that I was, but I also knew that I couldn’t say. Even that felt really difficult.

“Up until that point, I thought I’d be alright at sort of lying, but now I don’t. That basically shook my confidence completely.”

“I’ve been playing a version of The Traitors since I was 10 years old when I joined The Television Workshop,” the two-time Emmy nominee claimed. “I’ve had game evenings and hosted them at my house and been to other’s evenings, so I’m familiar with the game.”

They enthused: “I love it so much, and that was really my reason [for taking part]. I was working on a production at the time of the last Celebrity Traitors – it’s called Maya which was filmed in Scotland, actually. We were all watching and so excited about it, and then we ended up playing a crew game.”

Bella continued: “I was playing a game as recently as two days ago. I was at my friend’s birthday, and we played.

“And a few weeks before that, I’d been hosting a game evening, so I’ve been playing it pretty regularly!”

“I do like games,” they continued. “I’m competitive to the level that I want to feel like I’ve done a good job. Not necessarily to win or triumph over others but to know I’ve played my best game. I feel the same about this. I want to stay in because I want to play the game. I just really enjoy it.”

“I’m going to say it – it’s the best show on TV,” the Bafta winner gushed. “The first series [of the regular Traitors] was just such phenomenally good television, and I didn’t think that it could be bettered, and then the celeb series came along

“The last episode was beautiful. That first year I sent a DM on Twitter, which was not responded to, to Studio Lambert to ask if they could send me all the rushes.

“I just was so hit by it and wanted more.”

He continued: “I am just thrilled to be part of the universe of The Traitors and to have been asked.

“I have no idea how to play it. I don’t think you can particularly. I think you just have to let it play itself a little bit.”

“A lot of my friends and family didn’t think I’d ever come on a show like this,” the comic said. “The truth is I didn’t think I would do this show because I really enjoy it.

“It’s one of those shows that’s a family event in our house, so we all sit down to watch it, and those things are few and far between now.”

“Contrary to popular belief, I do watch things and not ask to go on them!” he joked of his reputation for appearing on so many TV shows. “So, I was watching it, and we’re having a good time, and I’d never had any aspirations of being on the show, and then my youngest son was desperate for me to come on, so it’s kind of his fault.”

She revealed: “When someone said on Instagram, ‘Oh, I hope you gallop in the castle’, I foolishly replied, ‘Right, I now take that as a dare’. So that was idiotic of me.

“I will have to at some point gallop down a corridor. I’ll gallop when no one’s watching…”

“Or who would be the best person to encourage to gallop? I don’t know,” she pondered. “I mean, Kenny probably doesn’t even know who I am. So, if I could get him to gallop… I could get a new generation galloping.”

“It went a little Artful Dodger for this series,” she teased. “I borrow a lot of the clothes and the shops/designers were horrified when I asked if we could dip the clothes in tea.”

The full list of 21 celebrities on the line-up is as follows:

• Amol Rajan
• Bella Ramsey
• Professor Hannah Fry
• James Acaster
• James Blunt
• Jerry Hall
• Joanne McNally
• Joe Lycett
• Julie Hesmondhalgh
• Kenny Oghenovo “King Kenny” Ojuederie
• Leigh-Anne Pinnock
• Maya Jama
• Michael Sheen
• Miranda Hart
• Myha’la
• Richard E Grant
• Rob Beckett
• Romesh Ranganathan
• Ross Kemp
• Sebastian Croft
• Sharon Rooney

The Celebrity Traitors returns on Thursday 1 October on BBC One and iPlayer.