Claudia Winkleman and Alan Carr: TV’s Ultimate Puppetmasters Return for Traitors’ Showdown

Max Sterling, 12/3/2025Get ready for the thrilling return of The Traitors on New Year's Day, featuring 22 new contestants navigating a web of deceit for a chance at £120,000. With an expanded format and celebrity insights, this season promises even more twists and high-stakes drama.

Claudia Winkleman stands sentinel, her fringe as legendary as the calm steeliness she wields when tossing contestants into new layers of suspicion. In this fourth round, 22 fresh faces arrive—not all bright-eyed innocents; more than a few seem ready to try their hand at outfoxing the game itself. The prize remains a handsome up-to-£120,000 (not exactly Monopoly money), set against a gothic backdrop where alliances spring up only to be stabbed repeatedly in the back. The BBC has promised an even more winding labyrinth of twists this year: extra secrets, a glut of banishments, and the inevitable flurry of scripted “murders” that, if handled well, will keep even the most jaded armchair detective guessing. If there’s a British winter tradition more devious than this, it might only be slipping extra sherry into your neighbour’s trifle.

Here’s the twist to the twist: for 2025, the season launches with a rapid-fire three-night rollout—episodes on January 1st, 2nd, and 3rd—before settling into a weekly rhythm throughout its twelve-episode journey. Right after each primary installment comes The Traitors: Uncloaked, a sort of digital confessional where Ed Gamble and an evolving panel of celebrity fans, ex-castle dwellers, and eager amateur sleuths dissect the night’s carnage. Imagine Graham Norton after a couple espresso martinis, but with more banishment tallies and less glitz. The BBC seems delighted with this format, blending forensic analysis with exuberant watercooler gossip.

Now, this isn’t just another blip in the pop culture radar. The recently announced celebrity edition detonated across the UK’s living rooms—with 15.2 million viewers tuning in for Alan Carr’s Machiavellian masterstroke. That opening episode, boasting nearly 15 million eyeballs, dethroned years’ worth of unscripted programming. Some folks might still be arguing over the Gavin & Stacey holiday comeback, but viewership numbers speak: The Traitors has left even the strongest contenders gasping in its wake.

It’s not difficult to see why the entertainment brass wants a repeat performance. Doors to the castle are guaranteed to swing open once more in 2026 for another celebrity special—agents and would-be contestants are likely preparing their “most treacherous” headshots as you read this. Kalpna Patel-Knight, the BBC’s boss of all things entertainment, declares the forthcoming season “unmissable,” and clichés aside, there’s evidence to back it up. In its wake, there’s also hard currency: Scotland, that brooding, misty host for this high-stakes social theatre, has felt an influx of nearly £22 million, according to recent economic reports. Not bad work for a show whose premise can be boiled down to "spot the liar before they spot you."

And it’s probably worth pausing here. The Traitors’ rise has been more than just a case of good scheduling and snappy editing. Its core—the primal push-and-pull of trust and betrayal—mirrors the uneasy thrill of ancient campfire stories. This isn’t just voyeurism; it’s a kind of participatory theater. Audiences at home squint at the screen, sussing out who’s bluffing, imagining how they’d fare in a similar pit of snakes… all from under a duvet, snack bowl at the ready.

Of course, this show slides neatly into the BBC’s broader winter smorgasbord. Marshalled alongside The Night Manager’s fresh plotlines, the Yuletide dust-up over in EastEnders, and a flurry of seasonal specials, The Traitors becomes both a nudge toward comfort viewing and a soft push into edgier territory. There’s a knowingness to the programming: the BBC understands that, for many, nothing soothes the late-December blues like a sudden vicarious plunge into castle-fueled duplicity.

But perhaps the greatest surprise is just how elemental the show’s draw has become. Modern reality TV rarely leaves a mark much beyond meme culture, but Traitors digs in, poking at age-old questions: Who can be trusted? What would you do for a life-changing sum? And—come to think of it—how long until the contestants turn on the audience?

As a new cast steps warily past the castle’s heavy doors, nerves jangling, the country waits, popcorn in hand, for the first accusation to fly. It won’t take long. There’ll be banishments and betrayals; a few predictably absurd plot turns, and more than a handful of moments when viewers blurt “surely they’re not falling for that?” into the silent room. Maybe that’s the show’s most lasting gift: in the dark post-holiday hush, it gives everyone license to second-guess, to scheme safely from the couch—and, occasionally, to admit that being a Traitor looks almost more fun than being Faithful.

Let the new games begin. After all, when the nights draw in and the world seems hung between years, a little manufactured suspense isn’t just entertainment. It’s tradition.

Even before the bleak dawn of January settles in, there’s already a peculiar static in the air—an anxious anticipation that has little to do with frozen sidewalks or leftover mince pies. As clocks strike midnight and 2025 shuffles into frame, the BBC’s The Traitors readies its next curtain call, returning on New Year’s Day at the enviable 8 p.m. slot. The castle doors swing open again, and as anyone who’s been marathoning past seasons can attest, this isn’t your garden-variety reality show. Some might call it a test of cunning or a celebration of British duplicity, but calling it "just entertainment" feels a bit like describing Glastonbury as "a little get-together in a field."Claudia Winkleman stands sentinel, her fringe as legendary as the calm steeliness she wields when tossing contestants into new layers of suspicion. In this fourth round, 22 fresh faces arrive—not all bright-eyed innocents; more than a few seem ready to try their hand at outfoxing the game itself. The prize remains a handsome up-to-£120,000 (not exactly Monopoly money), set against a gothic backdrop where alliances spring up only to be stabbed repeatedly in the back. The BBC has promised an even more winding labyrinth of twists this year: extra secrets, a glut of banishments, and the inevitable flurry of scripted “murders” that, if handled well, will keep even the most jaded armchair detective guessing. If there’s a British winter tradition more devious than this, it might only be slipping extra sherry into your neighbour’s trifle.Here’s the twist to the twist: for 2025, the season launches with a rapid-fire three-night rollout—episodes on January 1st, 2nd, and 3rd—before settling into a weekly rhythm throughout its twelve-episode journey. Right after each primary installment comes The Traitors: Uncloaked, a sort of digital confessional where Ed Gamble and an evolving panel of celebrity fans, ex-castle dwellers, and eager amateur sleuths dissect the night’s carnage. Imagine Graham Norton after a couple espresso martinis, but with more banishment tallies and less glitz. The BBC seems delighted with this format, blending forensic analysis with exuberant watercooler gossip.Now, this isn’t just another blip in the pop culture radar. The recently announced celebrity edition detonated across the UK’s living rooms—with 15.2 million viewers tuning in for Alan Carr’s Machiavellian masterstroke. That opening episode, boasting nearly 15 million eyeballs, dethroned years’ worth of unscripted programming. Some folks might still be arguing over the Gavin & Stacey holiday comeback, but viewership numbers speak: The Traitors has left even the strongest contenders gasping in its wake.It’s not difficult to see why the entertainment brass wants a repeat performance. Doors to the castle are guaranteed to swing open once more in 2026 for another celebrity special—agents and would-be contestants are likely preparing their “most treacherous” headshots as you read this. Kalpna Patel-Knight, the BBC’s boss of all things entertainment, declares the forthcoming season “unmissable,” and clichés aside, there’s evidence to back it up. In its wake, there’s also hard currency: Scotland, that brooding, misty host for this high-stakes social theatre, has felt an influx of nearly £22 million, according to recent economic reports. Not bad work for a show whose premise can be boiled down to "spot the liar before they spot you."And it’s probably worth pausing here. The Traitors’ rise has been more than just a case of good scheduling and snappy editing. Its core—the primal push-and-pull of trust and betrayal—mirrors the uneasy thrill of ancient campfire stories. This isn’t just voyeurism; it’s a kind of participatory theater. Audiences at home squint at the screen, sussing out who’s bluffing, imagining how they’d fare in a similar pit of snakes… all from under a duvet, snack bowl at the ready.Of course, this show slides neatly into the BBC’s broader winter smorgasbord. Marshalled alongside The Night Manager’s fresh plotlines, the Yuletide dust-up over in EastEnders, and a flurry of seasonal specials, The Traitors becomes both a nudge toward comfort viewing and a soft push into edgier territory. There’s a knowingness to the programming: the BBC understands that, for many, nothing soothes the late-December blues like a sudden vicarious plunge into castle-fueled duplicity.But perhaps the greatest surprise is just how elemental the show’s draw has become. Modern reality TV rarely leaves a mark much beyond meme culture, but Traitors digs in, poking at age-old questions: Who can be trusted? What would you do for a life-changing sum? And—come to think of it—how long until the contestants turn on the audience?As a new cast steps warily past the castle’s heavy doors, nerves jangling, the country waits, popcorn in hand, for the first accusation to fly. It won’t take long. There’ll be banishments and betrayals; a few predictably absurd plot turns, and more than a handful of moments when viewers blurt “surely they’re not falling for that?” into the silent room. Maybe that’s the show’s most lasting gift: in the dark post-holiday hush, it gives everyone license to second-guess, to scheme safely from the couch—and, occasionally, to admit that being a Traitor looks almost more fun than being Faithful.Let the new games begin. After all, when the nights draw in and the world seems hung between years, a little manufactured suspense isn’t just entertainment. It’s tradition.