Welcome to the castle - When your fears subside, and the shadows still remain…| 2026 Celebrity Traitors Thread 7 [TV Pace]

[CaveMum]

Oh my god, how did you lot fill that last thread up so fast?!

Previous thread: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/5592483-welcome-to-the-castle-we-got-everything-you-wantwe-know-the-names-2026-celebrity-traitors-thread-6-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 at end of episode 9)

Traitors (still active)
Maya Jama
King Kenny (recruited)

Faithful
James Blunt
Leigh-Anne Pinnock
Michael Sheen
Romesh Ranganathan
Sebastian Croft

Murdered
Amol Rajan
Bella Ramsey
Rob Beckett
RossKemp
Miranda Hart

Sharon Rooney

Banished
Richard E Grant (Traitor)
Myha’la
Julie Hesmondhalgh
Professor Hannah Fry (recruited Traitor)
Joe Lycett
Jerry Hall
Joanne McNally
James Acaster (recruited Traitor)

For these that want to keep up with Claudia’s outfits: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/lifestyle/a73628412/celebrity-traitors-claudia-winkleman-outfits/

I agree with all of this.

James A looked so anxious at the round table. It seems that they’ve had to stop filming for him and allow him to bow out.

I feel for the guy. I hear people who say he shouldn’t have gone on it, and perhaps he shouldn’t have. But he did and he clearly struggled. Jonathon Ross spoke about the pressure and how difficult it was to keep lying to people you like. And Alan Carr broke down and wept at the end saying how hard it had been.

I think that’s slightly unfair simply because I’d assume that going into it he thought “I don’t want to be a traitor but if I am one, I’ll go along with it”. Which he did, he killed Ross, he voted for faithfuls, he played in a way that put no suspicion on him. If you didn’t know he wasn’t enjoying it you’d say he played a good game.

I doubt he knew he’d react that badly at the end. And plenty of people have gone into situations where afterwards they’ve thought “oh I didn’t realise that would make me so stressed/upset/angry/emotional/excited”. People are really not great judges of how they are going to react to things. Richard probably didn’t think he’d giddily announce he was a traitor and I didn’t see anyone say “well if he didn’t know for sure that he could get a grip and keep a lid on it he shouldn’t have gone on the show!”

I don't think he played a very good game. He didn't even take off his blindfold in the shields challenge and couldn't stop moaning.

But as always, YMMV.

Richard and Marina (god I sound like a right twit, AS IF I know them 🤣) said the producers will have a very careful look at casting the next series (and of course there will be another one, the ratings for this one have been stellar). They will focus on game players, fans of the show who will play it as it should be done.

All of it is edited! All series, in all countries!

Do you know how television works?

Last year's Celebrity version was entertaining because they were all having fun and not taking it too seriously, especially Alan Carr.

This year they seem to be a bit more serious about the game, with both Faithful and Traitors trying not very well to be tactical, with the louder Faithfuls failing spectacularly (expect, finally, for last night!!)

It all went wonky right from the get go and quickly went full squiggle!!

Kenny has also had a couple of slips of the tongue. Whether increased suspicion of him means anyone will revisit what was said will be interesting to see. Also Kenny switched his votes from Sharon to Joanne and no one seems to have asked him why.

The heads in jars were revolting - in a very macabre way I found myself wondering if the jars were realistically heavy 🤮. Reminded me of The Silence of The Lambs.

I really dont get the Michael bashing from some posters on this thread. He has played a great game, quiet at the beginning and then gradually becoming more dominant. Ok so most of his theories have been wrong but so have most other people's as well. I dont see any of the misogyny or other accusations that people have been flinging around. I'd like Romesh or James B to win as they've been funny and entertaining, but I wouldn't mind if Michael won. Or Kenny for that matter.

I really like Michael and had thought I might not. He's not overbearing. He's been very considered and sensible enough not to put his head above the parapet by being outspoken. Together he and Blunty have finally worked out that almost the only thing resembling anything like evidence was who was in the library when it was likely Ross was murdered.

Don't be so patronising. Obviously people know how TV works, but also obviously a show can be edited in many different ways.
This season feels very different from the previous one.
The poster you're talking down to clearly gives as an example cutaways to people's expressions from a different occasion.
Many of us have also noticed and said on here that there has been very little airtime given to general chatting and larking about, which is why things like Miranda's sadness at Joe going came as a surprise; we're not seeing enough of their relationships developing.

He talked over Maya more than once last night. He also tried to talk over Miranda, but she just raised her voice and kept going 💪
He was self-congratulatory when Romesh said he couldn't believe he (Michael) was still in when he's so smart, when actually he's been kept in because he's always been wrong!

Yes. Nothing ableist about that. Anyone fragile or with poor MH for whatever reason should not be cast.
It beggars belief that 2 out of 5 Traitors outed themselves!

I’d be surprised if Maya and Kenny survive given the JA reveal. They were considered the 3 most trusted faithfuls recently so I think a few will take a punt on them actually being the traitor trio (that has a nice ring 😂).
Plus the library theory is not going away.
Maya is definitely toast whether or not they murder Michael although I think it’s likely to be Bash.

Well yes that was a bad challenge all round.

But I think three traitors getting to the penultimate evening without anyone really suspecting them (and actually being chosen as the most faithful the day before) at all is a pretty decent job from all of them.

For the regular and celeb version they do do psychological and physical health screening.

I don’t know the form this takes but the physical ones seem fairly involved. The police officer woman from the last series spoke about how they’d done a CT scan on her which found that a heart issue which she knew she had had worsened considerably since her last NHS scan. Obviously they were happy to have her on the show with the right medication and medical sign off etc.

Leigh Anne has a girl crush on Maya, a bit like wotserface with Harry in S2 of civilians, and clearly wants them to stay friends outside the castle and do nothing to rock that boat. It'll be interesting to see if she can get away from that thinking

Clearly not thorough enough.

I expect next year they will cast hardened reality show stars, like the US version. Winners of Big Brother and Survivor. Such a pity!

I would be happy with a traitor win for Maya or a faithful win for Romesh. I haven’t loved the series as much as the first one.

I felt for James A, I was actually getting frustrated with him for now speaking up, however he clearly looked like he was struggling with the process and being neurodiverse probably played a part in that. We can say he knew what he was getting into when he signed up but that doesn’t mean it will be easy. I actually really enjoyed this episode, from Romesh being unable to contain his giggles, Claudia struggling to stay composed and and ending with James we never saw coming. At the end of the day it’s a gameshow, it’s edited for entertainment but I really hope James is ok.

@CaveMum yes just listened to the rest is entertainment and the producers will have to be more mindful when choosing contestants next series, I think. Easy make sure when choosing that they are happy in either role. If not don’t pick them.

And last night on Uncloaked as always, when the winner Leanne is on tv, I get the rage, I know, as I haven’t got over it yet. Dh just rolls his eyes at me. I should really accept it. But she was so mean to the lovely Alexander and I actually wanted Minah to win.

Leanne was such a bully.

She really was.

Don’t worry. I have never forgiven Leanne either ;-) Loved Minah so much; she just made one silly error.

Leanne was horrible, I haven't forgiven her either.

I revisited the RT scene and Michael was quite scary when he pointed the finger at JA who visibly paled. Up to that point JA was offering theories about MS and JB.

It must have been very uncomfortable for everyone thereafter.

I also noticed how in departing JA said he had told Claudia from the outset that he only wanted to be a faithful so perhaps highlighting that he was put in a very conflicted position (although he could have declined).

Then Claudia announced ‘faithfuls, you’ve caught another traitor!’ to which they all cheer.

All very contrived but probably the best they could do to deal with a struggling cast member and continue with the show.