The finale of “The Celebrity Traitors” airs tonight, closing out “what has felt like a timely national bonding experience”, said Phil Harrison in The Guardian. While Elon Musk may be “adamant that civil war in the UK is inevitable”, we know it’s not as “we’re all too busy watching Celia Imrie screech into a well”.
The hit reality game show has swerved from its “civilian iteration” to cast everyone from Stephen Fry and Clare Balding to Cat Burns and Jonathan Ross in the UK’s first star-studded version. And although the celebrity Faithfuls have struggled – taking a long time to root out even one of the Traitors – it’s been fun watching the big names take part.
The first four episodes had an average audience of 12.6 million, making it the UK’s most-watched TV show of the year even before the finale. The celebrity version has confirmed what the “civilian series” suggested: “this is one of the most immaculate small-screen entertainment formats ever devised”.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
‘Staggering’ ineptitude
When rumours first started to swirl about a celebrity version, “we had some massive reservations”, said Laura Jane Turner in the Digital Spy. But “we’re prepared to admit when we are wrong”. Does the allure of the format hold when celebrities get involved? “Thank goodness, yes!”
The celebrities bring something previous contestants couldn’t: “prior knowledge about their fellow game-players”. So, familiarity from outside the show can “make or break alliances” and “pre-conceived ideas could influence the hunt” at the nightly Round Tables.
“The sheer ineptitude on display has been staggering – and oddly endearing”, said Harrison in The Guardian. From David Olusoga’s “torturous circular monologues” to Kate Garraway – “a literal news journalist, lest we forget” – blundering around “like someone trying to burst a birthday piñata during a bomb disposal operation”, the Faithfuls haven’t exactly mastered the art of Traitor-spotting.
But everything from the Banishments to the daily team challenges has improved with the addition of star power, said Emily Baker in The i Paper. “While it’s boring to watch Sally from Southampton” attempt physical challenges, “it is altogether thrilling to watch Fry and his fellow famouses get stuck in”. The idea of celebrities taking over the game “ruffled my feathers at first” but I have “never been more glad to be wrong”.
‘Manna from TV scheduling heaven’
The “cloak-swishing” game of deception quickly became “the ultimate watercooler series”, said Barbara Ellen in The Observer. And the celebrity season is “the ultimate broadcasting unicorn: ‘appointment telly’”, with viewers “obediently sitting down to watch episodes on the night” each one is dropped.
Perhaps the show’s inherent “isolation and paranoia” resonates with our “post-Covid generation”? Perhaps it has a particular appeal for the “‘cosy crime’ home nation of Agatha Christie”? Or maybe it’s simply because it’s “a televisual microscope-slide of human nature at its worst, and suggestibility at its strongest”?
So many little moments have made it into “TV folklore”. From Alan Carr’s mounting glee at being a Traitor to Paloma Faith’s “fury at being killed first” and Celia Imrie’s unforgettable fart, the season has been “manna from autumn TV scheduling heaven”.
In tonight’s final episode, we should see a Round Table and then a firepit “outdoor extravaganza, as we whittle” the last five players down, said Tim Glanfield in The Times. At least, that is the “standard” format “but this is ‘The Traitors’, so we should expect the unexpected”. Host Claudia Winkleman could easily throw a spanner in the works and, if she does, “all bets are off and anything could happen”.
-
The most anticipated movies of 2026The Week Recommends If the trailers are anything to go by, film buffs are in for a treat
-
The biggest viral moments of 2025In the Spotlight From the Coldplay concert kiss cam to a celebrity space mission, these are some of the craziest, and most unexpected, things to happen this year
-
Environment breakthroughs of 2025In Depth Progress was made this year on carbon dioxide tracking, food waste upcycling, sodium batteries, microplastic monitoring and green concrete
-
The best drama TV series of 2025the week recommends From the horrors of death to the hive-mind apocalypse, TV is far from out of great ideas
-
The 8 best comedy series of 2025the week recommends From quarterlife crises to Hollywood satires, these were the funniest shows of 2025
-
A postapocalyptic trip to Sin City, a peek inside Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras’ tour, and an explicit hockey romance in December TVthe week recommends This month’s new television releases include ‘Fallout,’ ‘Taylor Swift: The End Of An Era’ and ‘Heated Rivalry’
-
Daddy Pig: an unlikely flashpoint in the gender warsTalking Point David Gandy calls out Peppa Pig’s dad as an example of how TV portrays men as ‘useless’ fools
-
The 8 best sci-fi series of all timethe week recommends Imagining — and fearing — the future continues to give us compelling and thoughtful television
-
The 9 best dark comedy TV shows of all timeThe Week Recommends From workplace satire to family dysfunction, nothing is sacred for these renowned, boundary-pushing comedies
-
A 34-year-old plane is at the center of the UPS crashIn the Spotlight Many air cargo companies use planes that are this old
-
Gen Z in Los Angeles, the end of ‘Stranger Things’ and a new mystery from the creator of ‘Breaking Bad’ in November TVthe week recommends This month's new television releases include ‘I Love L.A.,’ ‘Stranger Things’ and ‘Pluribus’
