The Celebrity Traitors 5* review by CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: Claudia’s Traitors fight for the best prize of all – more screen time

Famous Traitors (BBC1)

Evaluation:

What wouldn’t you give to be a traitor? Some of the stars competing to stab each other in the back at Claudia Winkleman’s Highlands castle are so eager they would literally kill to take part.

The cast of The Celebrity Traitors is more spectacular than any reality show that has appeared on British television before. Among the names are a few who you’d think would be mortally insulted by the idea of ​​being featured in a smaller showcase.

To suggest that Celia Imrie could do Dancing on Ice or that Stephen Fry would be a candidate for Taskmaster is nothing short of slanderous.

But she and her fellow contestants, including Jonathan Ross, Charlotte Church, Paloma Faith, Kate Garraway and Alan Carr, are boiling with excitement to be transported across the Scottish moors in a convoy of all-terrain limousines.

They’re not doing this for money. Rumor has it they each receive a flat fee of £40,000 – decent money, but less than half what successful ungulates would pay on Strictly, and a pittance compared to the rewards of eating bugs in the Australian bush… Nigel Farage is said to have raised £1.5 million for the 2023 run on I’m A Celebrity.

The 19 participants of The Celebrity Traitors are in for some absolute hell. And it was hell from the start, as the first evil game had them digging around in a graveyard before they even set foot in the castle.

Their cortege took them directly to the battlements, then doubled back and deposited them next to the tombstones. Each one had a celebrity’s name engraved on it.

Claudia, in a cloak and knee-high black boots, like an evil spirit in a fairy tale, ordered them to dig into the freshly dug earth and find six amulets or shields. These will guarantee the finders immunity in the first round of eliminations.

Christopher Stevens writes that some of the stars jostling to stab each other in the back at Claudia Winkleman’s Highlands castle were so eager they would literally kill to join in.

The cast of The Celebrity Traitors is more spectacular than any reality show that has appeared on British television before.

And in case we didn’t understand its importance, he explained it. Celebrities were being ‘made to dig their own graves’.

Some used trowels and shovels. Others were clawing at the ground with their bare hands. Neither of them looked like they were doing much yard work, and former child star Charlotte looked like she was trying to bury a bone like a dog does; ruining her white dress in the process.

Actor Nick Mohammed, known for the AppleTV+ series Ted Lasso, tried to dash Celia’s hopes of finding a shield early on by helping her search for her own shield.

This was bad policy on two counts. First, 73-year-old Celia doesn’t even act like a sweet septuagenarian. ‘People think I’m good. But I’m not,’ he admitted to Claudia later during a fireside chat.

‘People have the wrong impression of me and I could be very useful in this game.’

Second, it doesn’t help to ostentatiously beg for brownie points when everyone is suspicious of each other’s intentions. Nick seemed insincere at best, conniving and deceitful at worst.

From now on, nothing he says or does will be taken at face value.

All the stars are already fans of the show. Otherwise they wouldn’t be here. They plan their gameplay and practice their poker faces. But each new version of The Traitors brings tweaks and changes.

Charlotte Church (pictured) is among the gorgeous celebs including Kate Garraway and Alan Carr

Stephen Fry is among the amazing cast of Famous Villains. They’re not doing this for money. Rumor has it they will each receive a fixed fee of £40,000

The 19 participants of The Celebrity Traitors are in for some absolute hell. And it was like that from the very beginning

I predict it will be a surprise if at least one new player is introduced into the game next week; because 19 is a very unexpected number for all celebrities. The only other explanation was that one of them was shot down at the last minute.

Perhaps the last time Sarah Ferguson was sentenced was until the PR disaster broke out.

We can also expect other changes in the format. Claudia was promising us the same with her greenish-beige make-up that gave her face an immortal look. ‘Celebrities think they know what they’re signing up for,’ he said, ‘but they have no idea.’

Most of all, nearly every single one of them was eager to become a Traitor… not for the sense of power or the opportunity to play the bad guy, but for the most ostentatious reason.

Traitors get more screen time.

Claudia singled out Jonathan, singer Cat Burns, and Alan, who started sweating with anger until his hair looked like it had been washed in the kitchen sink.

If you missed the first two non-famous series (and the Alan Cumming-hosted US spin-off), the gameplay is deceptively simple. Three players were secretly identified as Traitors. They meet every night in a castle tower and decide which contestant will be eliminated or ‘killed’.

The rest are called Sadik, and their job is to identify the killers among them, sifting through comments at every turn to find clues, lies, and clues. In daily roundtable discussions, they get a chance to voice doubts and point fingers before blaming and sending off a player.

Claudia cast Jonathan, singer Cat Burns and Alan (pictured) as Traitors; Alan immediately started sweating nervously and his hair looked like it had been washed in the kitchen sink.

They are boiling with excitement to be ferried across the Scottish countryside in a convoy of all-terrain limousines

If the Believers prove their predictions correct and eliminate the Traitors, they will split the prize money: in this case £100,000 for charity. But if no Traitors are detected, the whole pot will remain in their hands, as former soldier Harry Clark did in the series last year.

This series will be broadcast for three weeks with its second episode tonight. No one has been killed so far, but we end up on a cliffhanger where Alan the Traitor is about to choose his first victim and destroy them by touching their faces.

Viewers tune in to enjoy the spreading paranoia and brazen display of lies as the players are neutralized one by one. The weakest part of this format is usually the daily team game, where players can add money to the pot by completing physical challenges.

This time the sport was fun, as the celebrities dragged a giant Trojan horse up a hill, opening a series of doors by solving puzzles along the way.

TV star Clare Balding made a few enemies when she made a mistake during one of the tests and nearly cost them a game. He’s not one of the traitors, but he gave everyone a reason to fire him.

So far we’ve barely seen actor Mark Bonnar, comedian Lucy Beaumont and historian David Olusoga. Could they come up later? Or am I falling into the trap of the show and seeing signs that don’t exist?

It’s too early to predict. As Stephen Fry sarcastically said, ‘May the worst man win.’