It is a show that has gone on to become a massive hit with competitors battling to win by betraying each other.
But now, host Claudia Winkleman has revealed she initially turned down presenting The Traitors – because she didn’t want to spend more than three weeks filming in Scotland.
The 52-year-old won her first BAFTA in 2023 for hosting the iconic gameshow but said she very nearly rejected the job completely.
The star was offered the job but turned it down because she didn’t want to be away from her family.
But, after watching the original Dutch version, Winkleman became ‘obsessed’ and quickly fired off an email to BBC bosses changing her mind.
Winkleman, who also presents Strictly Come Dancing, told The Midpoint podcast: ‘The Traitors is something I initially turned down because I didn’t like leaving my bed or the kids and they were like “would you go to Scotland for three and a half weeks?”.
‘And I was like “I don’t think so” and then I watched the Dutch version and I became so obsessed.
‘I sent an email to Kate Phillips who offered me the job, who works at the BBC, saying “I’ve booked a train, I want to do this more than anything” because it is a privilege to watch the psychology and gameplay up close.’
Winkleman was concerned that the filming schedule in Scotland would mean she would end up spending too much time away from her family
The presenter has her work cut out juggling home life with her many presenting roles
Winkleman takes up her role on The Traitors when it returns on New Year’s Day
Winkleman lives in London with her film producer husband Kris Thykier.
The couple, who married in 2000, have three children Jake, 20, Matilda, 17, and Arthur, 12.
She has previously explained how she manages to balance her career with home life, quipping ‘my husband is a better parent than me.’
The TV personality also confessed her children beg her to give them some space during the 10 months of the year when she’s not busy presenting Strictly Come Dancing.
Speaking to MailOnline last year, she blamed the ‘awful’ habit on her former newspaper editor mum Eve Pollard, 76.
She began: ‘I get on the tube all the time but I’ve never been recognised in my life, never in my life. I’m on there four times a day with my kids…’
‘I’m on telly sometimes but only for two months in the year and the rest of the time, I zip around. For the rest of the year, I lick the children.
‘I follow them around and I’m a very annoying human being to them.
‘They say, “Mum give us some space,” and I say “no”. I’m awful. It comes from my own mum.’
The Traitors returns for a third series on New Year’s Day with more than 300,000 people applying to take part.
Season 2’s finale was watched by more than eight million people in the UK and Winkleman has lifted the lid on what it’s like to film the famous round-table scenes at the end of each episode.
She said: ‘All the cameras are hidden. To stand in there and watch people try and work it out is an honour, it’s the thrill of my life.
‘Sometimes they’re very short, sometimes they’re long, we don’t hurry anything, it’s shot as live, I get one chance, and when I go in there if I mess it up – which I have done because I’m so tense – then that’s what shown. We shoot the whole thing as is.’
