BBC confirms star-packed Celebrity Traitors cast for autumn 2026 series

The BBC has assembled a 21-strong cast for the second series of The Celebrity Traitors, bringing together Miranda Hart, Maya Jama, Ross Kemp and a slate of names that stretches from Bella Ramsey and Michael Sheen to James Blunt, Jerry Hall and King Kenny. Claudia Winkleman will return to host as filming gets under way at Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands.

The line-up also includes Joanne McNally, Joe Lycett, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Amol Rajan, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Professor Hannah Fry, Richard E Grant, Rob Beckett, Romesh Ranganathan, Sebastian Croft, Sharon Rooney and Myha’la. The BBC has described it as its biggest celebrity cast to date, and the mix is designed to pull in viewers across comedy, drama, music, broadcasting and social media.

That breadth points to the broadcaster’s wider strategy. Celebrity competition shows have become one of public television’s most reliable ways of creating a shared national moment, and The Celebrity Traitors is being built as a return visit to that formula: familiar faces, high-stakes gameplay and a charity prize that gives the suspense a public-service edge. The contestants will compete for up to £100,000 for a charity of their choice, a structure that turns entertainment into a cause-led contest and helps the show cut across age groups.

The first celebrity series showed why the format matters so much in a fragmented market. It averaged 14.9 million viewers across its run and peaked at 15.4 million for the finale, an extraordinary reach for any programme in the current TV landscape. Alan Carr won that series and donated his £87,500 prize to Neuroblastoma UK, giving the final a payoff that went beyond the game itself.

That combination of prestige casting and reality-TV tension is now central to the BBC’s playbook. Winkleman’s presence keeps the tone consistent with the flagship format, while the new cast adds social-media reach through figures such as Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Bella Ramsey and Maya Jama, alongside established mainstream names like Ross Kemp, Michael Sheen and James Blunt. With the series due on BBC One and iPlayer in autumn 2026, the broadcaster is betting that celebrity paranoia, charity stakes and a carefully balanced cast can deliver another ratings event strong enough to cut through the noise of streaming and short-form video.