A celebrity series of The Traitors could shoot early this summer – as long as the BBC can get Claudia Winkleman to sign on the dotted line.
I understand that the plan is to make a starry spin-off of the hit show ‘back to back’ with series three, currently in production near Inverness.
It had been thought that the celebrity version would go into production next year.
But Studio Lambert boss Stephen Lambert told me it’s coming up much sooner than that. Possibly as early as next month.
He said there won’t be any tinkering with the successful format — which sees the faithful try to sniff out the traitors, while everyone is subjected to various games and challenges — for the celebrity version.
A celebrity series of The Traitors could shoot early this summer – as long as the BBC can get Claudia Winkleman to sign on the dotted line, Alison Boshoff revealed
It is understood that BBC bosses are trying to get Claudia to sign up to filming back-to-back series in the Highlands
‘The plan is to shoot them pretty much back to back, so at the moment it is just a question of having to be very nice to Claudia Winkleman, so she agrees to spend twice as much time up in Scotland.’
Lambert added: ‘We are very much going to make a series which is just like The Traitors . . . apart from the fact the contestants will be celebrities. We are in the process of finalising everything with the BBC.’
Speculation has been raging about who might take part, with Lambert saying he would like former Prime Minister Liz Truss in the series, and fans speculating that Courteney Cox — a friend of Winkleman’s — might do it.
Lambert was celebrating two wins at the Baftas on Sunday — for Squid Game: The Challenge and Celebrity Race Across The World.
The new series has been shooting for a week and Lambert said: ‘We’ve had some amazing twists.
‘It’s hard making season three, because the expectations get bigger and bigger. Fortunately, I think it’s going well.’
Filming normally lasts for around five weeks, meaning a June finish. So if the celebrity version comes together in that period, it would allow Winkleman to be free for the summer holidays — children Matilda and Arthur are still at school, and oldest son Jake is at university — before work starts on Strictly Come Dancing in September.
Speculation has been raging about who might take part, with Lambert saying he would like former Prime Minister Liz Truss in the series, and fans speculating that Courteney Cox — a friend of Winkleman’s — might do it (Claudia pictured with series 2 winner Harry)
The new series has been shooting for a week and Lambert said: ‘We’ve had some amazing twists (Pictured are Claudia and series 2 final five)
One concern is the swarms of midges which can make summers in the Highlands a challenge.
Lambert admitted: ‘The midges do worry me. Let’s hope we manage.’
It comes after the planned 2024 series was thrown into chaos when it was revealed in March that amongst the 300,000 people who applied for a space on the show, some were plotting to conspire against the BBC.
According to The Sun, some applicants – who were through to stage 2 of the process at the time – had grouped up and planned to use a secret code if they appear in the show.
But one traitor had already betrayed their mini alliance by disclosing the plan to producers Studio Lambert.
It comes after the planned 2024 series was thrown into chaos when it was revealed in March that a mongst the 300,000 people who applied for a space on the show , some were plotting to conspire against the BBC
A source told the publication: ‘The group chats spoke about using code words. If they were chosen as a Traitor, they were going to say “I’m feeling hotter than usual today, anyone else?” Traitors would answer “yes”, Faithfuls “no”.
‘They agreed to split the prize pot. Some were just interested in fame and had fake arguments planned to get more airtime.
‘But they gave so much personal information away, they could be pinpointed directly to their auditions. One was a surgeon, so it was easy for casting to pick out applicants by name and give them the boot.’
Rest assured, all the swindlers were weeded out because they risked the integrity of the show.
