Welcome to the castle - we take it day by day | 2026 Celebrity Traitors Thread 3 [TV Pace]

[CaveMum]

Previous thread: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/5584899-welcome-to-the-castle-we-got-fun-and-games-2026-celebrity-traitors-thread-2-tv-pace?page=1

This is a tv pace thread so make sure you’re up to date with the live broadcast and yes, previous series (regular and celeb) will be discussed.

Please no spoilers if you read them online!

The story so far (as of end of episode 3)

Traitors (still active)
Maya Jama
James Acaster (recruited)
Professor Hannah Fry (recruited)

Faithful

Jerry Hall
Joanne McNally
Joe Lycett
Julie Hesmondhalgh
King Kenny
Leigh-Anne Pinnock
Michael Sheen
Miranda Hart
Rob Beckett
Romesh Ranganathan
Ross Kemp
Sharon Rooney

Up for Murder
Bella Ramsey
James Blunt
Sebastian Croft

Murdered
Amol Rajan

Banished
Richard E Grant (Traitor)
Myha’la

I think when the traitors are recruiting they should be told who didn’t want to be one as it makes it difficult for that player. James seems to be struggling in that role.

I agree with everyone who says reluctant traitors will be less fun to watch, they may well also be worse players no matter how clever they may be in theory, if they dislike the game they are playing that is hard to hide. Hannah may improve if she has time, as I think she could get caught up in the theory and tactics and forget about the dislike for lying and manipulation. James though he seems like it will be particularly hard for him and will not come to terms with it. Amol would have been a far more obvious recruit, but also a much better one. Rather than Hannah I would have recruited Blunt.

Miranda is on The Lycett Arms tonight so hopefully that doesn't mean she is murdered tonight.

Blunt would be a great traitor. He seems good fun and he has the personality type that wants to succeed.

Maybe on the timeline thing, they have to bring both yesterday's and today's clothes each day, so that they can do different shots to make it look like different times/days.

I am still not sure how the breakfast thing works. I get that they have to do different combinations to stop anyone working out who the 'last two' in are, but surely it means that none of their breakfast reactions are real, as they'll all have worked out long before who is missing?! Like when the first arrive or something, they must see each other and be told to get into all the different groupings, so they know full well who is or isn't there. or maybe I'm missing something about how that all works. They arrive in cars in groups too, don't they? So while they don't all know who isn't there right away, they certainly do know who IS there. the producers can't keep the potentially murdered ones in a car together as well, or people would cotton on to that soon too in the way they did with the breakfast arrival orders in the first series.

I actually think the opposite I think it’s much better than Series 1 it’s far more lively. Alan Carr carried Series 1 on his back.

She's not on the short list, is she? They seem to decide on a short list that is made clear to the audience - one of these three will be murdered. She might be on the short list for tonight though, but we won't find out who gets chopped until next week. She could be banished tonight though, but there doesn't seem to be enough suspicion of her for that, unless she does something very out of character tonight or the rumour mill goes in a strange direction! I suspect appearances in other shows on relevant nights are just coincidence.

No idea how it works but not sure they do all arrive in groups ... probably arrive singly and you'll see a shot of say Miranda and Joe "alone" at breakfast when they've also filmed Miranda and Bella, Miranda and Sharon and so on. It takes a looong time.

BTW I like Sharon and tip her for a winner

It was filmed in May and it’s all filmed in two to three weeks.

I read when they arrive in the morning, they are kept separated in their groups and then told when to knock on the door so the reactions are genuine (obv exaggerated).

I'm sure I've read that the breakfast scenes are filmed lots of times and in different groups, but I have no idea how they manage the reactions and working out who is missing - I was thinking they use the reactions from the first time they work out who is missing or something, but that wouldn't really work still. So all the stuff about Hannah looking nervous when she came in and they started discussing it etc, that must have been the umpteenth time they finally all got to the table, rather than her first time facing them. So her expressions could mean anything. But Miranda was convinced she was very nervous.

Loved last night but I can't see Hannah lasting too long as a traitor, she's clearly very uncomfortable with it.

Everyone is uneasy over what happened over the shield so they will probably banish Hannah to be safe. Any kind of conflict like that means everyone has to go. Like with that Seer shite.

'Amol would have been a far more obvious recruit, but also a much better one. Rather than Hannah I would have recruited Blunt.'

Agree on both counts. Hannah is obviously very smart and can do all the strategizing and probability, but she's struggling with performing the role of a Traitor who is pretending to be a Faithful. She may settle into it, we'll see

I read somewhere that each of them go into the velvet chair room in the morning before breakfast, and obviously one or maybe two of them are given an envelope at that point - and the rest of them just do some diary room chat. Then they’re sorted into the groups they’re pushed into the breakfast room in. I’m not sure how they are stopped from realising who’s not going in.

Hannah posted this on her socials last night.

I was gutted when they booted out Richard, he was fabulous, I know that’s their job, and it was obvious, but I’d have kept him till closer to the end just for the fun,

Hannah will be banished, and I suspect they will murder Julie and Bella, I would. They are the biggest risk,

It was early days, her time as a faithful, but in that role I can’t recall any of Hannah’s theories or guesses being sensible. The Leigh-Ann lipstick theory was shite.

Miranda is proving much more clued up. Being able to read people is probably more useful than a maths degree in this castle 🤔

I actually prefer this year's Celebrity Traitors over last year's as it's more serious. I think it adds to the tension. I found it a bit annoying last year when they were doing things like sharing out the shields in a 'I had one yesterday so today it's your turn' sort of way.

I am really pleased Hannah is a traitor but fear she won't last long, she looked so uncomfortable and nervous last night. The conversation she had with Joe Lycett about 'different universes' was interesting and I've watched her YouTube video where she explains it. I wonder if she will keep this up, or indeed if we will see it.

About it feeling flat to some people, particularly now a big personality is gone - these type of shows often feel this way, and then others step up to fill the void, I find. For example, I noticed Martin Sheen (in a teaser?) seeming more vocal.

Those we've barely seen, I agree, will probably make it much further - Romesh, Rob, Miranda, Kenny.

As for Bella - I'd be sorry to see her (has said she doesn't care what pronouns) go - she's seen as intelligent by the rest because she's a gamer, and has played Traitor-type games for several years, so is thought to know the strategies.

I just caught up.
Hannah was my favourite last week. After the way she throw Myhalla under the bus that completely changed. It was needlessly dishonest/ unpleasant and more importantly not smart - as picked up by some faithfuls already - as raises suspicions. Overall, the bits we saw with Hannah last night all showed bad game play imo, to be honest. She looked so strong as a faithful! Shame.

Joe and Miranda are very perceptive. I do hope they play strategically (and are lucky) so don’t get murdered in the next few episodes.

I think Kenny (is that the name) will go to the end as basically hasn’t been shown on screen at all so far. Expecting an anticlimactic end already…

When Bella and Seb were lying on the floor because of the ‘adrenaline’ after the round table, I felt a bit sorry for Gen Z. They just don’t have much lived experience off screens, bless them, do they.

I like James A. He is a good traitor albeit reluctant. I like an ‘honest’ (as much as possible without ruining the game) traitor. He is objective and looks at the full picture and understands the game.

My favourites are Miranda and Blunt. The longer they stay the happier I’ll be.

I really hope they murder Bella - I don’t know why but I find her quite annoying!!!

They can’t murder James Blunt…. They just can’t!!!

And although he’s too young for me, Sebastian is quite pleasing on the eye so I don’t want him murdered either.

Plus, I think murdering Bella will shake everyone up, it will unnerve people more if she’s killed than it would so if James or Sebastian were murdered.

I hope they murder Julie at some point because she is driving me mad! She thinks she’s so clever when she really, really isn’t.

I don’t think Hannah is going to be a good Traitor, and with James A not being a particularly good one either I do feel sorry for Maya. I love her fun, cut throat attitude to it all.

Hannah was my favourite last week. After the way she throw Myhalla under the bus that completely changed. It was needlessly dishonest/ unpleasant and more importantly not smart - as picked up by some faithfuls already - as raises suspicions. Overall, the bits we saw with Hannah last night all showed bad game play imo, to be honest. She looked so strong as a faithful! Shame.

I thought Hannah played an absolute blinder to not go out at the next round table and take the obvious heat off herself after not being murdered at breakfast. And as for "throwing Myha’la under the bus", that's what she's meant to do as a Traitor. Don't take it personally.

They probably will become suspicious of her again as she is clever and would be a dangerous faithful for the Traitors to keep in, so it will get harder as it goes, and she may not have shaken off that heat completely yet about either she or Jerry being recruited instead of murdered.

the traitors don’t seem very strategic so far, making lots of obvious choices (maybe it only comes across like that due to the editing) and talking about risk taking and how it wouldn’t be fun without it.
This got me thinking, how in non celebrity versions staying in the game is taking much more serious. After all, the celebs don’t win anything. I’m sure they care about their charities, but if if someone else‘s charity gets the money in the end, does it really matter? The non-celebrities seem much more invested, which is a better watch.

Maybe the letter was on a fancy chair in the hotel and not in the castle at all.

Alan was amazing. I loved Nick too though, and Celia and Claire were good value.

I think as a traitor, Rob would stumble his way through like Alan did.

For season 3 they need to recruit celebs who will all be, at least mildly, okay with being a traitor. Its a game, James doing the whole woe is me thing is pretty awful. Reluctance is one thing but given the strength of his discomfort with the very idea, one has to ask why did he agree to participate in the show?