The Traitors would drop the controversial change after just one series

The Traitors will not hide another turncoat in its cast after the fourth series of the BBC show introduced a divisive new twist to the game.

The premiere episode saw Claudia Winkleman pick out three Traitors that viewers would know about, as well as a secret fourth whose identity was kept from us, at least for the first few episodes.

The changes included a series of complicated new rules and regulations in the game, such as a secret Traitor who would supply kill lists to the main tower, resulting in Maz being ready to commit multiple murders.

This change also injects some mystery into the post-roundtable reveal, which is probably the most boring element of the show for all of us viewers in the know (if we don’t count that energetic final episode mission, perhaps).

But higher-ups at Traitors HQ have now said that the twist only happened once and that the format is strong enough to hold its own with the usual Traitors variations.

Stephen Lambert, head honcho at production company Studio Lambert, discussed the changes at an industry event, after they were implemented in the US and UK versions – the former, The secret betrayer is Travis Kelce’s mother, Donna.

In the British version, when the hapless game player Hugo is thrown out of the round table, the red-robed Traitor is sensationally revealed to be the scene-stealer Fiona, a 62-year-old local government official who plays the game as a giddy and inattentive person.

Lambert detailed how Secret Traitor came about as a means to differentiate the civilian version from the celebrity spin-off, which had only previously aired in the UK, to rave reviews and ratings.

‘We introduced the idea of ​​Secret Traitor as a way to do something different, but it wasn’t something we wanted to go ahead with,’ he said at the University of East Anglia in Norfolk, according to entertainment site IGN.

‘A good format is something that is designed in a way that people feel familiar with, which is why they want to keep coming back and watching it.

‘But intrinsically it’s designed so that there’s enough variation – partly, of course, through substitutions, but you also want to make little changes to it.’

He continued: ‘There are other shows that do something similar, where the audience doesn’t know who the perpetrator is and the problem is that you completely fall victim to the editing and it doesn’t feel satisfying.’

Celebrity Traitor will return to the BBC in 2026.

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