CASTLE OF CUNNING
CLAUDIA WINKLEMAN hosts a new game show that rewards deceit and trickery
NEW ENTERTAINMENT The Traitors
Tuesday-thursday, times vary, BBC1
As the co-host of Strictly Come Dancing, Claudia Winkleman is used to being supportive – so she was delighted to get the chance to show her dark side in BBC1’S new game show The Traitors.
Based on a Dutch format, the series sees 22 strangers convene on an estate in the Scottish Highlands, where they will take part in missions to win a cash prize of up to £120,000. But three of the contestants have secretly been designated ‘Traitors’, who will pick a player from the rest of the group (the ‘Faithful’) to be ‘murdered’ each night.
The following day, the group meet at the ‘Round Table’ and vote to banish one player suspected of being a Traitor. At the end of the game, the players will take a share of the prize pot if they are all Faithful – but if any Traitors remain, they scoop the lot.
Here, Winkleman, 50, reveals more about the show…
WHAT APPEALED TO YOU ABOUT
The Traitors? I said ‘no, thanks’ at first, but after I watched the Dutch version, I got obsessed with it. I phoned the producers and said, ‘I’ve booked a train, I’m coming to Scotland now!’
WHAT MAKES The Traitors STAND OUT FROM OTHER GAME SHOWS? It’s not a game of luck, it’s a game of wit.
I’ve never seen anything like it. The missions are good, the people are nice, and I get to dress like Princess Anne mixed with Ronnie Corbett…
DOES THIS FEEL VERY DIFFERENT FROM YOUR ROLE ON Strictly? I wish the best for the contestants, and I try to look after them, but it’s quite
difficult because
I can’t say anything. Unlike my other shows, I have to be slightly distant.
HOW DO THE UK CONTESTANTS COMPARE TO THE DUTCH IN TERMS OF DEVIOUSNESS? The same – we’re right up there! I think a lot of people came for the thrill, to be on telly, and then that changes. All of a sudden, everybody’s playing a game.
DID YOU GET COLD FILMING IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS? Freezing! It was the most beautiful place in the whole world, because there were five weather fronts happening at the same time. You go on the weather app, and at one point it just went, ‘Good luck.’
Game