The second season of the UK’s “Celebrity Traitors” has gotten off to a record-breaking start.
Thursday night’s premiere of the BBC’s crooked reality show was watched by more than 8.8 million viewers, with overnight numbers taking viewership to 9 million. In addition, over 50% of TV viewers were watching “The Celebrity Traitors”, making it the top program of the evening.
This is a new premiere record for “The Traitors” series in the UK, having attracted almost 3 million more viewers than the previous launch for both its celebrity edition inaugural season last year and the most recent civilian season. This number will get even bigger as those who missed watching the first episode will join in in the coming days.
And what a premiere it was. There’s an impressive list of names joining host Claudia Winkleman on this season of “The Celebrity Traitors,” including Richard E. Grant, Bella Ramsey, MyHa’La, Maya Jama, James Acaster, Jerry Hall, James Blunt, Michael Sheen and more. Grant has already proven himself with his enthusiasm for the game, which immediately causes chaos in the castle. The show is set to air every Thursday and Friday at 8pm BST on BBC One and iPlayer for the next month, with the second episode dropping tonight.
Season 5 of the UK nationals “Traitors” is set to premiere early next year. The franchise has also become extremely successful in the US, with Alan Cumming hosting a celebrity version on Peacock, as well as a civilian spinoff called “New Blood” which launched in September.