A year after it became the surprise hit of Christmas 2022, Traitors returned. Will honest believers be able to triumph again? Or will the disguised traitors retaliate by stealing the £120,000 prize fund?
With eleven episodes left of amateur investigation and delicious duplicity, it’s too early to tell. However, one result is already clear: presenter Claudia Winkleman is the winner of the BBC hit.
Last night, Winkleman kicked off the long-awaited second season of the reality show by talking to a Hedwig-esque messenger owl and writing on a scroll on a candlelit table.
A combination of high drama and high camp. Traitors it’s the best performance of the queen of primetime television’s career. Unsurprisingly, the show gave Winkleman her first Bafta win after three previous Bafta nominations. Come and dance strictly.
Winkleman finds the perfect balance between dry creepiness and demented self-parody. For example, this owl’s name was Barry. She clearly enjoys the backstabbing and backstabbing, and admits that the intense confrontations at the Round Table are her favorite part of the series.
Her secret selection of traitors was carried out with great gusto as she slowly walked around the 22 players and announced her selection with a pat on the back. She says the episode’s roundtable left her shaking.
The second episode may lack the element of surprise of the debut – registrations have increased twenty-fold and the contestants have clearly done their homework – but Winkleman immediately made it clear who’s in charge.
She ordered them to line up in front of Traitors’ Castle (actually 19th-century Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands) in order of likely success. Last time she shockingly sent the two at the end of the line home before they even started. “It’s like we’re doing the same thing!” This time Winkleman grinned, called them over and warned: “You think you know how this game works. You don’t do that.”
She also acts as a representative for us, the audience. Despite her role as a puppeteer, she remains engrossed in the gameplay and immersed in the twists and turns of the plot. When candidate Paul described himself in three words during last night’s fireside chat (“Competitive, cruel… traitor!”), she gasped with joy.
Winkleman sometimes supports their attacks (see her support on the riverbank during the rowboat mission from the first episode), but they also frustrate them. No spoilers, but the mood of exile in episode two clearly annoys her.
Stylistically, she pushed them aside Strict shines in the dark country style, also called “High Country.” Think Cruella de Vil and Guy Ritchie-era Madonna.
“There’s a lot of tweed,” Winkleman says. This is complemented by beautiful knitwear (in a fashionable nod to the environment, argyle, aran and tartan are common), chunky boots (best for sneaking around castle corridors) and the now-iconic fingerless gloves. Social media loved the red leather pair she wore last night.
Traitors is a glorified party game, but the over-the-top bells and whistles—flickering flames, hooded capes, jingling bells, an emo-pop soundtrack—give it epic proportions. Winkleman plays a key role in this. She has a gothic streak herself (see her heavy eyeliner and her preference for the color black) and so plays along nicely without taking herself too seriously. Traitors is a global format – originally Dutch, there are now 22 international editions – but Winkleman gives it a British flair, like an Agatha Christie mystery or the game Cluedo.
To the surprise of the television industry, where ratings success is often exploited, Winkleman wasn’t even sure if she wanted to return for a sequel. Last weekend she admitted telling the BBC: “Let’s not do another series because the first series was perfect.” It’s hard to imagine anyone else playing this role with such mischievous charisma.
Winkleman shrugged off her success with self-deprecation and modesty Time: “I’m not just saying this as an idiot, but if I didn’t host the show, it wouldn’t make them any less.”
She’s long joked that her signature hairstyle and tan are the main reasons they keep hiring her. “The producers couldn’t remember the name, so they just said, ‘Get the weird orange one with the fringe.’ I don’t think I would have had a career if I didn’t have some bells and whistles.” She’s clearly not doing herself any favors. She’s damn smart (she’s got a Cambridge master’s degree to prove it) and you can’t spend hours of live entertainment without being able to think on your feet.
Behind that hair, under that cape, Claudia Winkleman is warm, funny and incredibly crazy. A true television favorite. Between Traitors, Strict and Channel 4’s Gem Piano (who returns soon for a second series), La Winkle dominates the airwaves. She will reign for a long time. Where did I put the fingerless gloves?
Source: I News
I am Harvey Rodriguez, an experienced news reporter and author with 24 News Reporters. My main areas of expertise are in entertainment and media. I have a passion for uncovering stories about the people behind the scenes that bring the entertainment world to life. I take pride in providing my readers with timely and accurate information on all aspects of the entertainment industry.