I feared I’d get sacked before series two of The Traitors – my impostor syndrome is severe, says Claudia Winkleman
CLAUDIA WINKLEMAN finally bagged a Bafta after three decades on TV for her surprise BBC One hit The Traitors.
But instead of feeling safe on her throne as a queen of the small screen, the recognition for the global-smash game show has given her the jitters.
Chatting to The Sun at the Scottish castle setting, 51-year-old Claudia — also the co-host of Strictly Come Dancing — has revealed that her impostor syndrome is so severe she was even unsure whether she would be called on for series two.
She said: “I was hopeful they’d ask me back but you don’t take anything for granted.
“And they phoned me and said, ‘We’re going again’, and I thought they were going to say . . . ”
Pausing for breath, she continued: “You know, I never take it for granted.
“Even with Strictly, I don’t take anything for granted.
“You mustn’t do that, because we never know what might happen.”
Even with a string of gongs?
She said: “No, no.
“I mean, make no mistake, this is my baby.
“I am currently breastfeeding it as we sit here together.
“But you’re still very grateful when the job offer comes in.”
The Traitors was one of the BBC’s biggest hits last year, pulling in 34million views on iPlayer by March.
Just 3,000 people applied to take part in the first series but in testament to the cult status it has since achieved, 180,000 tried to bag a place in series two.
The psychological reality show is based on the simple premise of the party game wink murder — though with a potential £120,000 prize in the new series.
Ceremonial pouches
A cast of 22 ordinary people from diverse backgrounds gather in the Highland castle before some are chosen by Claudia as The Traitors, who are known as such only by viewers and each other.
The remaining members of the group are The Faithful, and their job is to try to detect which of their number are the deceitful few who are “murdering” one of them each night and banish them from the game — the only evidence they have to go on is when the victim fails to turn up for breakfast next morning.
Nothing is disallowed, including Traitors turning on Traitors. In short, anyone can betray anyone.
Meanwhile, the group take part in daily missions to try to win money to add to the prize fund.
In a time when very few new programmes become instant hits, the success of The Traitors came as a surprise to everyone.
Claudia said: “We had absolutely no idea, we were just giving it a go.
“I remember sitting with (BBC bigwigs) Kate Phillips and Charlotte Moore, going like, ‘Just run this through for me again, we’re saying murder, I’ve got some ceremonial pouches, we’re wearing cloaks and this is fine?’”
Claudia has been on our screens since 1992, when she made her debut on the BBC’s Holiday programme, but it was not until 2002 that she bagged a permanent role, on BBC Three’s entertainment show Liquid News.
It was Strictly that cemented her place in prime-time TV.
The London-born presenter began on its spin-off show It Takes Two in 2004, and her dry wit proved to be the perfect fit.
So fans of the dancing mega series were thrilled when the BBC chose her to fill Bruce Forsyth’s shoes when he retired in 2014, rather than opt for a male presenter to double up with co-host Tess Daly.
In December 2022 the Traitors became the second string to Claudia’s bow, with her pithy manner and quirky sense of style — mostly gargantuan polo neck knits and tweed blazers — adding to the programme’s unusual format.
She said: “You don’t want to go, ‘Babe, you know what? I’ve seen the tweed blazer in the sale. I think I’ll probably get that’.
“Then they said, ‘We’d like you to do it again’, and I immediately googled the funnel necks, because I know what my job is.
“My wardrobe is Ronnie Corbett meets Princess Anne with a slight touch of, I want to say Nancy Dell’Olio.”
Her outfits, hotly discussed on social media, are just one of the ways that drama is added to the game.
Chatting around the stately round table which is the setting for each episode’s banishment, Claudia told why she thinks the format became such a hit on its debut.
She said: “What I love about The Traitors is all our lives we’ve been told to trust our gut, you will know if this person is good or bad. This game throws all of that in the shredder, because you can’t trust your gut.
“You might be best friends, you might be having an absolute laugh with somebody who’s going to murder you that night.
“Secondly, I think a fear that lots of us have is that people aren’t being completely honest. And that comes into play here.”
Recalling a pivotal moment from series one, she continued: “I try and disappear into the walls but when two Traitors went up against another Traitor . . . I just didn’t think it was going to happen.
“It was absolutely silent, and Wilf said, ‘I think it’s you, Alyssa’.
“And I thought, ‘This is not nothing, this is something’.
“The tension is really, really high. It’s because if you’re a Faithful and you fail, you feel like a fool.
“And if you are a Traitor, you are tap dancing for your life, so it is really tense.
“I do want you to know that they are all looked after — the level of care is extraordinary.”
Fans’ excitement for the new series and the show’s bulging trophy cabinet means the pressure is on for series two, which begins on January 3.
Claudia added: “I think we feel under pressure because we are still dazzled and shocked by the way people embraced it. We couldn’t have imagined it in our wildest dreams.
“All we wanted was for fans, people who loved it the first time, to love it the second time.
“We feel very responsible.”
It means that secrecy is at an all-time high, with the castle’s security becoming like Fort Knox — even now The Sun cannot reveal which castle the BBC uses.
TV bosses also asked us to keep some of the show’s inner workings under wraps too, to “preserve the magic of telly”.
Claudia — who last month announced on air that she will leave her Radio 2 show in April to spend more time with her three adolescent children — said with a laugh: “We are fiercely protective and private.
“My family think I’ve gone out for milk.
“I’m like, ‘Choosing a pasta shape can be complicated, I’ll see you in three weeks’. And they’re like, ‘Claud?’
“When I signed off at Radio 2 I didn’t say I was coming here.”
So what can Claudia tell fans about the new run?
She said: “There are new twists.
“What I want to say to the new cast is, ‘You’ve watched, and you think you know how to win — but you don’t’.
“The missions are bigger, with an added twist.
“I’m not sure people want to go, ‘Oh yes, they do this now. And this happens in X and then they do Y, now they’ve been ejected and they’ll come back in’.
“I think people want something a little bit different.”
What viewers will hope has remained the same is the dedication to casting ordinary people who just want to play the game, rather than seek fame.
Series one favourites included Welsh grandma Amanda Lovett, skateboarder Matt Harris and customer service assistant Meryl Williams.
Now early trailers for series two suggest bosses have stayed true to that ethos.
Claudia said: “I think a lot of people saw Amanda and thought, ‘Oh, you know, she’s a mum and she’s older and she’s a woman so therefore she couldn’t possibly lie to everyone’, and it was unbelievable, but she was amazing.
“There were times I stopped myself from storming in and just kissing her on the forehead.”
Some of series one’s cast have carved a niche online or, in one instance — actress Maddy Smedley — have bagged a role on Hollyoaks.
And Claudia reveals she has stayed in touch.
She said: “They’re great people.
“I’m obsessed by them.
“I know what Meryl wore to the races.
“I know about Wilf’s wedding.
“I’m practically going to be at the birth of Maddy’s baby.
“I can’t release them.
“They’re like, ‘Please stop ringing me, you weird orange old lady’.
“I can’t help it. And I won’t release these people, either.
“When the game starts, I am obsessed by the day.
“I watch them and listen to them.”
Now Claudia is biting her nails as she waits to see if Britain takes to the second string of Traitors and Faithfuls.
Each week a number of episodes will land on BBC iPlayer so viewers can binge-watch a section of the game.
Claudia added: “It’s the greatest privilege to watch these people work it all out.
“I have to be slightly separated, but I cried at the end.
“I’ve never cried on television — even when people win Strictly I’m like, ‘Well done’.
“But I love them.”
- Series two of The Traitors starts on Wednesday at 9pm on BBC One.
