The Traitors will be a ‘new game’ when it returns to the BBC, according to the show’s production firm.
Following their historic Bafta triumph, Claudia Winkleman’s gripping gameshow has risen in popularity, with applications pouring in.
According to Studio Lambert, series two has received over 40,000 applications, following the show’s success over the Christmas season last year, when 22 strangers battled for a £100,000 prize at a castle in the Highlands.
The original model included discreetly dividing groups for “the ultimate game of detection, backstabbing, and trust.”
On season one, four participants were made covert traitors and were charged with’murdering’ the other faithful candidates, while the latter had to find and ‘banish’ the traitors.
Aaron Evans, Meryl Williams, and Hannah Byczkowski won the prize money by successfully voting off the final Traitor, Wilfred Webster, in the nail-biting final.
Toni Ireland, executive producer at Studio Lambert, said of the show’s second installment at Tuesday’s Wales Screen Summit: ‘The difficult second album (is what) we’re calling it.
‘We’re really excited about doing series two, we can’t give too much away at the moment, obviously, but we’re really looking forward to it.
“I’m excited because the game’s going to be different, people have watched the show now.
‘When this cast came to us, they had never seen the show, they were just playing with their gut instinct and just going: “This is how I’m going to play this game.”
‘Now, I imagine a (new) cast will have seen it, they’re going to come to us with pre-planned ideas of the way they think it’s going to go, and obviously it’s our job to make sure that they’re always kept on their toes and they don’t know what’s around every corner.’
On Sunday, the series won the TV Bafta award for reality and constructed factual, as well as an entertainment performance award for the show’s host Claudia.
‘(For) season one we received approximately 1,500 applications, so decent for a debut series, very modest,’ Sarah Fay, executive producer at Studio Lambert, said.
‘I checked in with our casting producers this morning…(we’ll) look at 40,000.’
She added: ‘We’re still (going to) be going out there and looking and targeting and finding people who wouldn’t necessarily have you know (thought to) apply.
‘We’re always looking at different ways to make sure we’ve got the very best people coming to the series.’
Syeda Irtizaali, the BBC’s unscripted editor, also stated that Claudia, 51, of Strictly Come Dancing, would return for a second series.
She added: ‘I’ll tell you the tagline for series two, which is “You think you know how to play the game, you don’t know anything”.
‘That’s all we’re (going to) say.’
