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The TV presenter Richard Osman has appeared to accidentally reveal the launch date for series 2 of The Celebrity Traitors.
During a live edition of The Rest Is Entertainment podcast, which he hosts with the journalist Marina Hyde, at London’s Southbank Centre on Saturday, the 55-year-old said the new series of the BBC reality gameshow would begin on 23 September.
The pair were joined by a special guest, the former Celebrity Traitors finalist Joe Marler, who when speaking about the advice he would give new contestants, said: “What is it, September 23, the next series?”
To which Osman confirmed: “By the way, to point out, it’s absolutely embargoed that it starts on September 23 … let’s talk about what we call the events of September 23 this year … the cat’s out of the bag isn’t it? Not to repeat it.”
Osman also said that from what he had heard from those involved, the new series “sounds like it was quite intense”.
Marler added: “I believe it was a slightly different emotion than our experience. Ours was very laugh-led, and everyone was sort of enjoying catching up, you know, pratting about to the point where they went: ‘Guys, we’re trying to play a game.’
“It’s not just for the laughs – ‘Oh, do you remember going to that party, darling?…’
“Whereas this lot really want it from the start, and then I guess they see how well the first series has gone and there’s a little bit of pressure on them to be like: ‘Oh I’d quite like a bit of that.’”
The Celebrity Traitors will return to screens with a new batch of 21 celebrities who will face one another for the chance to win a cash prize of up to £100,000 for a charity of their choice.
Set in a Scottish castle in the Highlands, the game follows the celebrity contestants – the majority of whom are known as faithfuls – as they try to seek out the murderous traitors among them, who kill off players in the middle of the night.
The first series of The Celebrity Traitors aired on the BBC last autumn, with its nail-biting finale hitting a peak of 15.4 million viewers, according to the broadcaster.
It featured a star-studded cast including the actors Celia Imrie and Nick Mohammed, the singer Paloma Faith, the author and actor Stephen Fry, the broadcaster Jonathan Ross and the comedian Alan Carr, who went on to win as a Traitor.
The spin-off series brought in an average audience of 14.9 million people during its run – the biggest TV audience of 2025.
The BBC has been contacted for comment.
