‘The Celebrity Traitors’ Ratings Have Never Been Higher. So Why Has This Season Felt Unusually Flat?

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There’s no denying The Celebrity Traitors set a high bar.

Its first season aired in October last year and gave us some of the U.K.’s best reality TV in a long time: A traitorous Alan Carr murdering singer-songwriter Paloma Faith in plain sight, Celia Imrie farting in fear during a particularly spooky challenge, and the introduction of the “Big Dog” theory from sportsman Joe Marler, whose hypothesis — that producers would want at least one high-profile name in the turret — has, as we’ve come to find out, endured.

That finale — in which Nick Mohammed’s expletive-filled reaction and Carr’s breaking down in tears solidified the show’s watercooler reputation — was watched by an average of 11.1 million people in the U.K., 2025’s biggest live audience for a single TV series.

Some may argue that the second season, wrapping up on Friday, boasts an even starrier cast. Twenty-one famous faces were again invited to Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands, where three Traitors are tapped to secretly hunt, lie to, and ultimately murder the Faithful. In between the killings is a series of challenges where participants can contribute to a prize pot for their selected charity, as well as daily roundtables where the group can banish anyone they believe to be a Traitor.

In season two, Bella Ramsey, Michael Sheen, Richard E. Grant and Industry‘s Myha’la have led the acting talent, with household-name comedians such as Joe Lycett, Romesh Ranganathan, Rob Beckett and James Acaster providing the laughs. The younger audience has been catered to with the addition of content creator King Kenny, Love Island U.K. presenter Maya Jama and Heartstopper‘s Sebastian Croft.

And the ratings would certainly suggest the country is in firm agreement on the Celebrity Traitors superiority this season. The BBC confirmed that its debut episode was watched by 15.7 million viewers within seven days, and the second drew 15.2 million. It makes the premiere the U.K.’s most-watched program of 2026, smashing season one records. Season two of The Celebrity Traitors (still produced by Studio Lambert) is now the most popular installment across all of the celebrity and civilian versions, and holds the biggest launch episode of any series across the entire market, scripted or unscripted, since 2022.

Why, then, has much of the consensus on social media been that it’s all felt a bit dull?

“I still think the series has been solid, and that The Traitors is the best reality show on TV, but I do agree that the series hasn’t matched [season] one,” begins Scott Bryan, British TV critic and author, to The Hollywood Reporter.

It didn’t help that Grant — the producer’s “Big Dog” of choice in the turret next to Jama — blurted out that he was a Traitor in only the second episode. The shocking moment immediately led to his banishment (the only Traitor to be caught at the first roundtable in the franchise’s U.K. history) and Jama was stuck with a recruit who made it very clear, from the outset, that the thought of being a Traitor would leave him anxiety-riddled. “I think season two may have fallen a bit flat compared to last year because the turret has lacked a ‘Big Dog’ character throughout,” Bryan concurs.

He adds that while Jama, Acaster and Kenny — who was seduced after the Faithful quickly ousted the turret’s second recruit, mathematician Hannah Fry — are “entertaining in their own ways, their more chilled personalities haven’t created the same drama and humor we saw with the likes of Jonathan Ross and Alan Carr in season one.” Bryan says: “Producers were clearly banking on Richard E. Grant sticking around longer to inject some chaotic and humorous energy; his immediate self-outing on day one not only got him banished first but left the turret without the spark it needed.”

And while reports of offset drama have gained traction, Acaster has blatantly not enjoyed himself in that cloak. He’s been unwilling to lie, admitted he’s “basically playing the game as a Faithful” and, in a moment that caught him some flak last week, left Jama and their third recruit, Kenny, flailing in a challenge that required the Traitors to sneak around the blindfolded Faithful. Acaster refused to take part, blaming his abstention on being wedged between Sheen and Croft — two of the more observant players.

But part of our enjoyment, as an audience, is watching some of Britain’s most recognizable names turn into bloodthirsty killing machines. Strategy has been nonexistent in that turret — another problem — but Jama has been visibly exasperated by Acaster’s guilty conscience.

Sam Ramsden runs The Traitors HQ on X and Instagram, a fan account that has amassed over 120,000 followers and posts live coverage of each episode. “The first series of The Celebrity Traitors was practically perfect television — so it was never going to be easy for this series to even match [it],” Ramsden tells THR. “Yet, while there have been enjoyable moments, there feels like something is missing with this current run.”

Ramsden’s suspicion is that the trouble also lies in the turret’s recruitment failures. “With the exception of Kenny, the Traitors have been recruiting the wrong people. Both James Acaster and Hannah Fry were reluctant Traitors, and if they’re not fully embracing the villainous role, it doesn’t really make for great TV,” Ramsden added, citing Fry’s swift exit and Acaster’s unwillingness to take part in high-stakes challenges.

It seems to shine an even more glaring light on a long-running format issue for The Traitors: Banishing a Traitor early in the game might boost morale, but all it really does is lull the Faithful into a false sense of security. With Grant and Fry, the clues were right in front of them (or quite literally presented to them). Now, as we reach the endgame, the group only knows how to find evidence in the obvious. In doing so, they’re making the mistake we see time and time again and ignoring the fact that the best Traitors fly completely under the radar.

Premature Traitor banishment also leaves the Faithful vulnerable to what might be this cohort’s undoing on Friday, as established mega-faithfuls (such as Kenny, who, as a Faithful, led the charge against Fry) are seduced late on when the celebrities have already decided to place their bets on certain “100 percent Faithfuls.”

Case in point: Last week, in a jaw-dropping (and odds-defying) moment, all three Traitors were selected as the most trustworthy in a scarecrow-themed challenge and awarded the coveted dagger. They opted to bestow the power upon Kenny, which gave him a double vote at the next roundtable. A fan theory swiftly gained traction online that suggested producers were forced to step in and introduce the dagger, instead of the originally planned Power of the Pardon, when all three Traitors were selected. (Recently seen in the U.S. version, the Pardon would have given a selected Faithful the opportunity to reverse a banishment). Just a theory it will continue to be, but it would explain why host Claudia Winkleman was really heightening anticipation with mention of a “game-changing power” before the challenge. We’ve seen the dagger before, in last year’s civilian version.

Some viewers have complained that the game doesn’t feel as tense as usual, saying a couple of celebrities have contributed to a lacklustre few episodes. This seemed to be the case as comedian Joanne McNally and Barbie star Sharon Rooney fought for their place in the game at Friday’s roundtable. Both of them effectively said, “I’m a Faithful, but you do you.” Naturally, Celebrity Traitors doesn’t involve the same life-changing promise of hundreds of thousands of pounds that can often make participants quite emotionally erratic in the civilian version.

Audiences have been assured that two big final episodes lie ahead, including by season one competitor Mohammed, who caught up with THR this week. Whether the format is finally tiring remains to be seen — and we’ll absolutely be watching all upcoming installments — but turret chemistry has proven to be a real issue this year. Maybe it’s a lesson learned for producers. But Jama and Acaster simply haven’t measured up to the entertainment factor of Carr, Ross and singer Cat Burns, who were tactical, lethal and, crucially, blatantly had the time of their lives plotting against fellow celebs. It’s been hard not to fantasize about the juicy television we could have had if Lycett, Sheen, Ranganathan or even someone like Miranda Hart received the Winkleman shoulder-pat at the Traitors selection.

“Perhaps it has been that Traitors who were recruited did not want to be Traitors, or that some of the entertaining players left early. Or just that, even though all the ingredients were there, stars never aligned,” says Ramsden. “U.K. shows like Big Brother, even in its heyday, had seasons that were stronger than others. Perhaps The Celebrity Traitors is no different.”