The BBC’s cult reality hit The Traitors is going A list. Production insiders confirm that Stephen Fry has checked into Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands to film the franchise’s first celebrity edition, slated for an autumn 2025 release.
Fry, 67, joins an eclectic line up including Alan Carr, Jonathan Ross, Olympic diver Tom Daley and soprano turned pop icon Paloma Faith. Also arriving at Inverness Airport this week were Charlotte Church, rugby firebrand Joe Marler, and historian David Olusoga 19 contestants in total. Host Claudia Winkleman has promised “even bigger twists” as producers install a no fly zone and code name scripts to prevent leaks.
While the BBC keeps episode details under wraps, leaked call sheets reveal the prize fund at £120,000, matching civilian series three and charity clauses allowing a portion of the winnings to be donated if a Traitor scoops the pot. Fry, long a fan of psychological strategy games, joked to airport reporters that he had “read Machiavelli for the flight” and was prepared to “lie beautifully”.
The celebrity spin off follows three wildly successful civilian seasons that reached a 6.4 million consolidated audience for January’s finale and became BBC iPlayer’s most binge watched unscripted series of 2024. A Radio Times industry plan released in March confirmed the celebrity series would air ahead of The Traitors’ regular season four in early 2026, cementing the format as a tent pole of the BBC schedule.
With filming running through early May, fans can expect the first teaser at the Edinburgh TV Festival this August. Until then, speculation over who will betray whom and whether Fry can outwit pro comedians and ex sporting rivals will fuel social media debate all summer.
