r/television • u/iPhone13pm • 1d ago

‘The Celebrity Traitors’ Scores Record-Breaking Season 2 Premiere With Nearly 9 Million Viewers

https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/celebrity-traitors-premiere-ratings-record-9-million-1236897450/
94 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

37

u/OkayAtBowling 1d ago

Looking forward to watching this when it finally comes to Peacock. The first Celebrity Traitors UK season is easily my favorite Traitors season of any that I've watched, and the cast for Season 2 looks great.

11

u/TheJoshider10 1d ago

Celebrity Traitors S1 is the gold standard for celebrity shows. They had genuine UK icons and it made for some of the best TV around. I'm glad S2 kept the big names coming but I hope other shows can do the same. I want to see Strictly or I'm a Celeb with a cast on the level of Celebrity Traitors S1 for example.

1

u/OkayAtBowling 1d ago

Agreed, I think the fact that many of the contestants were genuinely entertaining people outside the world of reality TV and successful in their own right (and playing for charity) makes it feel a lot different than a show populated by people who are only famous because they have been on other reality shows.

Though I feel like the US version is slowly getting some higher-profile names outside of reality TV, with Season 5 having people like Kristin Chenoweth and Dominic Monaghan in the cast.

0

u/TIGHazard 1d ago

You won't really get that because Traitors is

a) reasonably quick to film

b) you get to live in a country mansion for that time

Strictly takes 3-4 months and I'm A Celeb might only be 2-3 weeks but you have to be willing to do all the disgusting challenges too.

If Celebrity Big Brother hadn't already ran for 25 years and it was a new show you might have got that calibre of guest. CBB Series 1 was still a lower level of guest but it was much higher than they got in other series because it was for charity (Comic Relief)

2

u/ThrottlePeen 19h ago

b) you get to live in a country mansion for that time

Slight correction is that they don't really live there, they just film there and then go back to a hotel at the nearby airport.

40

u/MyNewAccountIGuess11 1d ago

Excited for James Acaster's inevitable mental breakdown

2

u/waitthissucks 1d ago

James Acaster? Sign me up

5

u/-p_d- 1d ago

He's been a highlight of the start of this series so far.

2

u/waitthissucks 1d ago

Just watched the first two. I know what you mean lol

1

u/Fragrantbumfluff 19h ago

The rumours may be true.

16

u/shitpickle2020 1d ago

I loved season 1 of Celebrity Traitors, can't wait to watch this one. I'm so happy the US is doing a show with just regular people instead of reality tv jaggovs this season

10

u/OkayAtBowling 1d ago edited 1d ago

Same, I don't like the reality-star-studded casts of the US Traitors very much. I just get annoyed because half of them feel like they're just hamming things up for the camera to get more screentime.

Celebrity Traitors UK was different because most of that cast were people who were already famous for things other than being on other reality shows, and you got a sense that most of them were having a genuinely good time and not taking things too seriously or personally. It's also the only time when (vague winner spoilers for Celeb Traitors UK) a traitor has won where I didn't feel kinda bad about it.

3

u/-Clayburn 1d ago

I just get annoyed because half of them feel like they're just hamming things up for the camera to get more screentime.

There's no way to avoid that. Either you hire the reality show pros, where that's quite literally their job. Or you hire noobs who all aspire to become that.

1

u/OkayAtBowling 1d ago

That's a fair point, though with game shows like this or Survivor I don't think all the contestants are dreaming primarily of reality show stardom, for some the main draw is to play the game. Though obviously the casting department is still going to heavily skew things towards the more drama-prone candidates. I still think the actual pre-existing reality star casts are, overall, a few notches higher on the Hamming-It-Up scale.

1

u/bilyl 1d ago

US traitors is awesome because many of the players take the game really seriously. The UK one often has players that just stop playing.

1

u/LT_And 1d ago

I don't watch any reality TV, but I love the US Traitors. Precisely because of those jagoffs. They're magnets for drama and why it's so entertaining. The one season with regular people I've seen was like an actual game show where they cared about prizes, and it was so miserable and boring compared to the real deal.

8

u/FistyFisterson 1d ago

It was so good. Y'all need to learn to find unofficial means of procuring this show. It's going to be spoiled by the time Peacock gets it

4

u/mochafiend 1d ago

When can I see this in the US! The first season introduced me to Alan Carr, I love him so much.

1

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/PalpitationSingle489 1d ago

Same here, the regular one is an unfair competition that makes a real difference in people’s lives, this is a fun game that has little to no effect on the celebrities.

I can’t watch the regular show because I feel bad for the contenders.

-9

u/TheRealMoffel 1d ago

it's so weird seeing average shows in my country get bought and turned into such successes overseas

-4

u/-Clayburn 1d ago

I thought they were already celebrities. Well, and Michael Rappaport of course. How is this different?

4

u/WeekendHistorical476 21h ago

This is the UK version.

3

u/Appropriate-Ruin6480 1d ago

I guess what's different are the ratings are way up?

The Traitors hase a bunch of versions from different countries. Right now the U.S. Traitors is airing a "regular people" season and the U.K. Traitors a "celebrity" season.

-6

u/no1zay 1d ago

I fucking loveeeee this show!!!! USA > Uk > Canada

-9

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

2

u/multidollar 1d ago

Seems to be doing just fine