Claudia Winkleman has been crucial to the success of The Traitors.

But the host of the BBC hit show revealed that bosses ignored her when she made a plea not to make a celebrity version.

As the programme prepares to broadcast its first celebrity special next Wednesday, Ms Winkleman, 53, added: ‘My bosses, thank goodness, ignored everything I said.’

Ms Winkleman, who has won a Bafta for presenting the show, has hosted the TV game since 2022.

Yesterday the BBC released the first photograph of Ms Winkleman around the round table at Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands with the celebrity contestants.

Ms Winkleman said it was ‘scarier’ presenting a celebrity version. She said: ‘I could barely breathe when I saw them all in the Highlands. I’m such a fan of every single one of them.

Claudia Winkleman has been crucial to the success of The Traitors . But the host of the BBC hit show revealed that bosses ignored her when she made a plea not to make a celebrity version
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Claudia Winkleman has been crucial to the success of The Traitors . But the host of the BBC hit show revealed that bosses ignored her when she made a plea not to make a celebrity version

‘The whole team were just in awe, it was hard not to scream ‘You’re here!’ When I talked to Stephen Fry I almost welled up, I told him, ‘This was my dream’.

‘Each one of them is tremendous.’

Celebrity Traitors, which was pre-recorded earlier this year, launches on October 8 on BBC One and iPlayer. It will air every Wednesday and Thursday, with nine episodes in total.

The celebrities include TV historian David Olusoga, actress Ruth Codd, singer Cat Burns, YouTube prankster Niko Omilana and comedian Lucy Beaumont.

On Monday, fans were treated to the first trailer for Celebrity Traitors, showing there is plenty of excitement and drama in store.

The teaser showed the 19 famous faces arriving at the famous Ardross Castle, ready and raring to play the ultimate game of detection, backstabbing and trust, in the hopes of winning up to £100,000 for a charity of their choice.

Whilst most of the celeb participants have remained tight-lipped about the show, Stephen Fry gave an insight into his ’emotionally violent’ stint on the series, likening the experience to ‘a Chinese foot massage’ as he praised the programme

Speaking on The Show People podcast, the actor explained: ‘It was a bit like a Chinese foot massage. You know it is absolutely agony but you sort of want to do it again. It is emotionally violent but you kind of love it.

As the programme prepares to broadcast its first celebrity special next Wednesday, Ms Winkleman, 53, added: 'My bosses, thank goodness, ignored everything I said'
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As the programme prepares to broadcast its first celebrity special next Wednesday, Ms Winkleman, 53, added: ‘My bosses, thank goodness, ignored everything I said’

‘Obviously, I can’t say a word about what is in this recently recorded celebrity version I suppose. I am certainly not telling you if I am a traitor or a faithful. I am one or the other.

‘I have said no to any number of Strictlys and Get Me Out of Heres as it is just not my kind of thing. But this, I watched the first and second series and it is such a clever game.’

He added: ‘It’s so extraordinary what it does to the psychology of the individual. And I just thought it would be really interesting to play it. And what an opportunity to do so. And that’s what I found.’

As anticipation builds for the first ever UK celebrity iteration, the salaries of the high-profile cast were recently revealed by The Rest Is Entertainment podcast.

Celebrity Traitors, which was pre-recorded earlier this year, launches on October 8 on BBC One and iPlayer. It will air every Wednesday and Thursday, with nine episodes in total
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Celebrity Traitors, which was pre-recorded earlier this year, launches on October 8 on BBC One and iPlayer. It will air every Wednesday and Thursday, with nine episodes in total

Ms Winkleman said it was 'scarier' presenting a celebrity version. She said: 'I could barely breathe when I saw them all in the Highlands. I'm such a fan of every single one of them'

Ms Winkleman said it was ‘scarier’ presenting a celebrity version. She said: ‘I could barely breathe when I saw them all in the Highlands. I’m such a fan of every single one of them’

Rather than being paid individual wages, all of the celebrities were paid the same £40,000 fee to appear on the show, according to journalist Marina Hyde.

‘It’s certainly interesting to compare something like Celebrity Traitors on the BBC to I’m a Celebrity on ITV,’ she told her co-host Richard Osman while discussing BBC wages generally.

‘Although we haven’t seen the celebrity iteration yet, but we know it’s gonna be massive. Look at the calibre of the people they got.’

‘They were able to pay everybody a blanket 40k fee, right? I am spilling all my tea today. They’re paying them a 40k fee,’ she shared.

Celebrity Traitors launches on October 8 on BBC One and iPlayer. It will air every Wednesday and Thursday