We’ll admit it Celebrity Traitors UK last year got us hooked on the reality TV show, and now we’re all charged up for the new regular UK series that’s just arrived on Australian streaming via 10Play.
Claudia Winkleman is back in her Scottish castle with a whole new bunch of contestants and a big twist for the shows fourth series. Don’t read further if you’re planning to each, there’ll be spoilers.
‘The Traitors’ has become a sensation around the globe
The Traitors has been around for several years now. The show first appeared in The Netherlands as Ver Verraders in 2021, the following year international versions were launched in the United Kingdom and the United States.
The show sees a bunch of contestants sequestered away to a remote castle, most are deemed the faithful, while a select few are secretly selected by the host to be traitors.
The faithful need to work out who are the traitors in the midst, each day they get to vote at a round table and banish someone from the game – the aim being that you exile a traitor and not a loyal faithful. Each night the traitor meet in secret and choose to ‘murder’ one of the faithful, each breakfast gathering their numbers dwindle.
Along the way all the contestants must work together to complete missions that add to the potential prize pool. If only faithful remain at the end of the series they share the cash, if any secret traitors are still in the number though, the traitors get all the dough.
Both the British and the US version are filmed in a castle in Scotland, with Claudia Winkleman hosting the UK version, and actor Alan Cumming camping it up on the US take. They are very similar as they shot at the same location and use many of the same missions.
There’s now versions of the show in Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Ukraine. Plus it’s soon to get a version in Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Mongolia, Slovakia, South Korea, South Africa, and Türkiye.
You can watch many of the international versions on 10Play, and there’s now definitely enough versions around the world to round up all the hosts and make them contestants in an international version.
Some versions, like the UK, have separate regular folks and celebrity editions, while others fill the house with reality TV stars from other shows and familiar faces of actors and comedians.
Australia had a version that ran for two seasons from 2022 until 2023, but it didn’t quite have the same gravitas as the UK and US version, the lack of a castle was a factor, host Roger Corser lacked the casual comical asides that you get from Winkleman or Cumming.
An Australian version will return in 2026 with Gretel Killeen as the host. It’s been filmed in New Zealand, so watch that version if you want to get a feel for what it might be like. Rhys Nicholson, Qween Kong, Gamble Breaux and Tully Smyth are among the cast.
Season 4 of the UK version arrived on New Year’s Day and and arrived in Australia the following day, several episodes will come each week.
Twenty two new faced headed into the castle, and there’s some interesting one among the bunch. There’s builder turned ghost hunter Adam from Essex,
Also in the mix is Harriet, a former criminal barrister turned successful crime writer – she’s keeping her background a secret. Hugo’s letting people know that he’s a barrister though. Amanda is also not letting anyone know she used to be a senior police officer – she was a Detective Chief Inspector!
Ben told everyone he’s an artist, before joking that he draws his pension. Ellie’s a psychologist, Faraaz is an auditor and might use the winnings to make a religious pilgrimage, or maybe buy a car. Fiona from Wales comes across as a bit ditzy, but is it an act?
Judy from Doncaster has come into the castle with a secret, fellow contestant Roxy is her daughter, they’re not telling the others.
Jade is studying for her PhD, James is a gardener, Jessie is a hairstylist who also has a stammer, Maz is a father with five kids, Netty is a kindergarten teacher, Rachel is a communications expert, Reece works in a sweet shop, Yorkshire man Sam is wanting to start a family.
There’s a few very fit contestants including personal trainers Jack and Ross. Ross admitted he sweats a lot whch might not be a good attribute when grilled at the round table.
We know a few of the contestants are part of the LGBTIQA+ community, Stephen grew up on the remote Isle of Lewis in Scotland. He’s got a wardrobe that Alan Cumming would approve of.
Matthew is a creative director living in Edinburgh, he campaigned for marriage equality in his native Ireland and would use the prize to have a big wedding. The British tabloids have noticed that also has an Instagram will with photos of him doing naked headstands in beautiful settings.
Read interviews with all the players.
This series has a big twist
In their interviews with Claudia nearly all of the contestants said they’d like to be a traitor.
At the round table Claudia picked Rachel who had declared she was “100% traitor” material in the fireside chats, camp Stephen who said it was a “free pass to be a wee bit naughty” and barrister Hugo who described himself as a “psychopathic teddy bear.”
Then Claudia picked a fourth traitor that the audience didn’t get to see. When the trio of traitors met in the turret for the first time dressed their green cloaks it was revealed that there was also a secret traitor whose identify would be a mystery to them.
Bringing a twist to the show there are now layers of traitors, and for the first time the audience don’t know the identity of one of the villains. It’s a move that puts the audience into the same psychological space as the faithful.
Claudia met her secret traitor and gave them a distinctive red cloak.
“You are my Secret Traitor, you will not be joining your fellow Traitors tonight. Instead, you will be controlling them,” Claudia tells the mystery figure, before revealing to them who the Traitors are.
The Secret Traitor will work alone and will be responsible for drawing up a murder shortlist. The Traitors must them murder someone – but it can only be someone whose name is on the murder shortlist.
Only the Secret Traitor will know everyone in the game’s true identity.
Let the game begin!
