Why isn’t The Celebrity Traitors on tonight? 

The Celebrity Traitors will be back on 15 October. (BBC)

There’s bad news for fans of BBC murder mystery reality series The Celebrity Traitors, as the cherished show isn’t on tonight (Friday 10 October).

The first two episodes of the new series, which features an incredible, star-studded line-up and some pretty impressive queer talent, have been a major hit. Wednesday’s premiere episode attracted 6.5million viewers, which is the largest-ever launch number for The Traitors in the UK. 

Many of the moments from those first two episodes – such as a cloaked Alan Carr stalking the castle corridor, and Tom Daley giving Kate Garraway rotten side-eye – have already become social media memes.

Alan Carr is flustered, sweating, and making TV gold. (BBC)

Yet those hoping to see episode three on BBC One or iPlayer tonight will be disappointed, as the The Celebrity Traitors isn’t back until Wednesday 15 October.

Why isn’t The Celebrity Traitors on tonight? 

Unlike the civilian series of The Traitors, which airs on BBC Wednesday through to Friday, The Celebrity Traitors will only air two nights a week.

According to the BBC’s release schedule, the next episode of The Celebrity Traitors will therefore air on Wednesday 15 October, with the fourth episode of the series airing on Thursday 16 October.

Episodes five and six will then air on Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 October, with the release schedule expected to stick to these two days of the week.

It’s a big let down for anyone hoping to tuck into a Friday night takeaway while watching Stephen Fry and Clare Balding go at each other in a Scottish castle. But the positive news is that airing just two episodes a week means The Celebrity Traitors will be on screen for more weeks than a regular The Traitors series, which is usually wrapped up within three weeks.

The Celebrity Traitors episode two ended with a cliffhanger. (BBC)

In episode two, viewers watched in shock as it was revealed that – spoiler alert – singer-songwriter Paloma Faith had become the first victim of the Traitors.

At the following roundtable, the celebrities appeared torn on who they believed to be a Traitor, with most of the votes – the ones we got to see, anyway – being given to either TV presenter Kate Garraway or YouTuber Niko Omilana. The episode ended with a cliffhanger regarding who had ultimately received the most votes and would therefore be banished from the game.

In addition to Fry, Balding, Daley, Garraway, Carr, and Omilana, the other celebrities in this series of The Celebrity Traitors are actors Celia Imrie, Ruth Codd, Tameka Empson, and Mark Bonnar, comedians Lucy Beaumont, Nick Mohammed, and Joe Wilkinson, musicians Cat Burns and Charlotte Church, TV presenter Jonathan Ross, historian David Olusoga, and former rugby star Joe Marler.

The Celebrity Traitors continues on Wednesday 15 October. The first two episodes are streaming on BBC iPlayer now.

Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.