‘Strictly is wounded’: Why Celebrity Traitors is the golden ticket for stars

A seat at the next Celebrity Traitors round-table is the golden ticket for talent, a leading agent claimed, after 12 million viewers watched Alan Carr triumph in Thursday’s final.

An accidental online leak by a Canadian broadcaster ultimately did not affect ratings for the dramatic denouement of the BBC One show, which was watched live by 68 per cent of all TV viewers.

National Treasure Alan Carr became one of TV’s hottest properties after lying and backstabbing his way to victory in the challenge.

He has already filmed a pilot for a new BBC game show that insiders confidently expect to go to a full series, with audiences keen to see the comic presenter’s next venture.

The finale had 1.9 million live requests on BBC iPlayer – the highest live-viewing number of all time for any entertainment episode on iPlayer.

It’s hardly surprising that famous faces are vying to test their skills at treachery in the next edition of The Celebrity Traitors, which has dominated the nation’s conversation over the past month.

The Traitors’ positive media profile – and a conveniently compressed filming period – has seen the format outstrip Strictly Come Dancing, recently tainted by scandal and I’m a Celebrity… as the top target for potential reality show contestants, industry figures said.

“For every celebrity being booked on the next Celebrity Traitors is the Willy Wonka Golden Ticket,” said Jonathan Shalit, chairman of InterTalent Rights Group, a major talent management agency.

“Any celebrity who says it’s ‘not for them’ is really saying ‘I wish I’d been asked, but I was not!’ Everyone who has taken part in this series has come out a winner.”

Shalit, whose client list includes GMB presenter Susanna Reid, Dame Joan Collins and singer Emeli Sandé, said the Traitors, filmed in the Scottish Highlands over three weeks during spring, promised higher rewards and less risk, than rival celebrity shows.

“From an agent’s point of view, Celebrity Traitors is an easy win,” Shalit told The i Paper.

“No grubs to eat. No brutal dance rehearsals. No injuries from physical training. Just strategy, wit, and personality. Everything that makes for great television and great talent exposure.”

Celebrity representative Mark Borkowski agreed. “Strictly is wounded, especially with the anchors exiting before they rust,” he said. “Traitors is a format that allows talent to shine.”

Carr’s fellow finalists are benefiting from the exposure. The new album from Traitor Cat Burns, released this week, is soaring up the charts.

The BBC hopes Traitors-deprived fans will follow Prof David Olusoga’s new series on the British Empire, which launches on BBC Two on Friday night.

Joe Marler will use the round-table skills he acquired to conduct “pseudo-psychological” interviews with celebrity guests in a new video podcast, Joe Marler Will See You Know.

However being a big name is not sufficient in itself to qualify to become a Faithful or Traitor.

Producers Studio Lambert Scotland test how well potential candidates really know the game when casting the series.

“You choose the cast much like you’d assemble a jury,” Celebrity Traitors producer Mike Cotton told Radio 4’s The Media Show. “All of our cast came because they loved the game. They weren’t doing it for their profile. They loved the Traitors and just wanted to play it.”

The BBC green-lit a celebrity version after the success of a US spin-off, also filmed in the same remote Scottish castle – though the inclusion of former Commons speaker John Bercow baffled some US viewers.

Jonathan Ross, a huge fan of the civilian version, was an early BBC sign-up, encouraging other “big dogs” to put themselves forward.

Which famous faces will we see in the next Celebrity Traitors?

Whereas Strictly has struggled to attract A-list talent following bullying accusations, the halo glow surrounding the Traitors helped the shows celebrity bookers to lure household names like Stephen Fry and actress Celia Imrie, who would normally reject offers from reality shows.

Lead talent scout Ros Phillips, sister of Kate Phillips, the BBC’s chief content officer and entertainment supremo, can now play “fantasy Traitors line-up” with the celebrities tipped to await a tap on the shoulder from host Claudia Winkleman next year.

Danny Dyer, Sandi Toksvig, Meera Syal, YouTube star Amelia Dimoldenberg, consumer champion Martin Lewis and Doctor Who star David Tennant are among the names being whispered.

With viewing figures including iPlayer reaching 15 million for each episode, Celebrity Traitors has given the BBC welcome ammunition in its battle to retain the licence fee.

Undisputedly the jewel in the BBC’s entertainment crown, it is one of the few programmes, outside of live sport, that can win the kind of huge audiences that linear TV channels used to enjoy before the streaming revolution.

Episodes have been accompanied by a TV Licensing trail telling viewers this is the kind of programming that their money is paying for.

But The Traitors won’t always be the BBC’s “hero” show. One producer said: “It’s the hottest thing right now but so was Strictly and Bake Off before it. We’re coming to series four now and viewers might tire of the format.”

“There’s also no guarantee that celebrities will always come out if it well. You are always at the mercy of editing you can’t control. There’s been plenty of social media abuse for the famous Faithfuls who singularly failed to identify the Traitors,” the person added.

However prominent the names are, the contestants will still be expected to surrender their phones and stay at the modest Inverness airport hotel when the day’s filming is done.

Cotton said: “We were very clear with all the celebrities that if they come and do this, they would be treated exactly the same way as on the regular version. They had no special treatment. You block that time out entirely, you’re cut off from the outside world.”

Traitors finalist Nick Mohammed said he was only allowed his phone to make one call to his children a day.

He told the Comedian’s Comedian podcast that crew members even refused to tell the contestants the time, provoking a backlash.

“They’d be like ‘It’s Traitors time’. Every single member of production had to just answer with that until someone kicked off and they said, ‘It’s a basic human right, you can just tell us the time, it doesn’t mean anything!’”

All3Media International, the Traitors‘ international distributor, apologised for the early airing of the final in Canada and New Zealand, which caused dismay inside the BBC. The company said it was “urgently reviewing” its processes.

The final dropped on streaming platforms 24 hours ahead of its scheduled BBC broadcast “due to an internal miscommunication regarding release dates. The episode was taken down immediately once the issue was identified”, the company said.