Steven McIntoshEntertainment reporter
BBCThe first series of the Celebrity Traitors kicks off later, with Sir Stephen Fry, Celia Imrie Alan Carr and Jonathan Ross among the contestants.
Presenter Claudia Winkleman will welcome 19 famous faces to the Scottish highlands when the 70-minute opening episode launches at 21:00 BST.
Charlotte Church, Kate Garraway, Paloma Faith and Tom Daley are among the other stars who will be sitting at the famous round table.
Ahead of the launch, Winkleman told journalists: “You think you know these people, and then you watch them play this game, and I was awestruck by the way they played it – with empathy, with wit and with real smarts.”
It is the first celebrity version of the show, and will consist of nine hour-long episodes.
The show has already made headlines for the starry cast it has attracted – with many viewers saying the line-up features bigger names than other celebrity TV series.
“I don’t think there’s ever been a reality show on television with a line-up like this,” commented BBC Radio 2 breakfast host Scott Mills on Wednesday morning.
As in previous years, the series will see three of the contestants assigned as “traitors”, while the remaining “faithful” contestants must attempt to root them out.
Who are the celebrity contestants?
The contestants are:
- Alan Carr – Comedian
- Cat Burns – Singer/songwriter
- Celia Imrie – Actress
- Charlotte Church – Singer/activist
- Clare Balding – Broadcaster
- David Olusoga – Historian and filmmaker
- Joe Marler – Former England rugby union player
- Joe Wilkinson – Comedian
- Jonathan Ross – TV Presenter
- Kate Garraway – TV and radio presenter
- Lucy Beaumont – Comedian
- Mark Bonnar – Actor
- Nick Mohammed – Actor and comedian
- Niko Omilana – Online content creator
- Paloma Faith – Singer/songwriter
- Ruth Codd – Actress
- Stephen Fry – Actor and writer
- Tameka Empson – Actress and comedian
- Tom Daley – Olympian
What is the prize?
The celebrities will play for a cash prize of up to £100,000.
The exact figure will depend on how they perform in missions throughout the series, where the money can go up or down.
However, unlike the civilian version where the contestants keep the jackpot, the celebrities are playing for their chosen charity.
But they will receive a separate appearance fee for taking part in the series.
What can we expect from the series?
The trailer for the Celebrity Traitors shows the celebrities expressing their excitement as they are driven to Ardross Castle in Inverness.
But Winkleman soon tells them: “I know out in the real world you’re very important and successful, but here, there is no special treatment.”
The teaser also shows the celebrities taking part in their first mission, and sitting at the round table for the first time, wearing their blindfolds.
Looking ahead to the series, the stars also grapple with whether they will be chosen as traitors, or remain faithful.
“Maybe I have got a dark side,” says Carr, while Sir Stephen adds: “I don’t know what beasts lie within me”. Imrie simply says: “I’m here to win.”
For the first time, comedian Ed Gamble will take the spin-off show Uncloaked on location to the castle, to interview celebrities as soon as they leave.
Ahead of the series, Winkleman said: “We’re incredibly lucky these brilliant people have said yes. I’d love to say we’ll take it easy on them and they’ll just wander round the castle and eat toast for a couple of weeks but that would be a lie.”
Series three winner Leanne Quigley told BBC Breakfast on Wednesday: “What’s going to be so interesting about the celebrity version is they’re going in with a reputation, they’re all going to know each other.
“They know what it’s like to have cameras around them all the time, whereas we didn’t, so they’re going to know how to be on TV.
“So it’s going to be interesting to see if they immerse themselves in the game, because I know for certain it’s really difficult not to get involved and emotional, and play the game wholeheartedly.”
What have the contestants said?
The celebrities haven’t done many interviews ahead of the series launch, but here are what a few of them said in their Q&As on the BBC website.
Discussing her reasons for taking part, presenter Claire Balding said: “I really find it fascinating, the way group thinking can be influenced. I don’t know whether I can resist that or whether I can influence that and I’m kind of interested in it from a psychological perspective.”
Asked if she’d be good at finding traitors, comedian Lucy Beaumont joked: “When I was a teenager, I was good at spotting 15-year-old boys that were lying but things have changed since then. I hope the skills might return in this game.”
Singer Cat Burns commented she has “always been really intrigued to see if I would, one, be able to work out who the Traitors are, and two, if I was a Traitor, if I would be able to keep up the mystery of it”.
Actor Mark Bonnar said he was hoping to be a faithful. “I think that the added pressure of being a Traitor, just keeping that facade up the whole time, would be incredibly exhausting and quite stressful,” he said.
Singer Charlotte Church, meanwhile, said she didn’t have a game plan. “I’m going to read the field, moment by moment and be present. If you’re able to stay present and be really open to your sensory portals – your ears, your eyes, even your spidey senses, then I think that you’re able to be much more present.”
The Celebrity Traitors begins on BBC One and iPlayer at 21:00 BST on Wednesday.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.bbc.com ’
