The game hadn’t even properly begun before Claudia Winkleman already eradicated two contestants from new BBC One show The Traitors.

The murder mystery reality show looks to be terrifying, nail-biting and already has us hooked, as 22 contestants move into a Scottish castle, and take on challenges to try and win £120,000.

The catch? Half of the contestants are actually Traitors, who will try and kill off one of the other group, The Faithful, but no one is sure who is who.

Before their challenges even begun in the first episode tonight, Claudia already dropped two contestants, meaning only 20 remain to fight for the prize money.

Having trained up to the Scottish Highlands together and met for the first time, all the contestants arrived at a scenic castle and were tasked with their first challenge.

Claudia asked them all to place themselves in a line, ranked from most likely to win to least likely to win.

Claudia fronts the new show (Picture: BBC)

On one end, stood 23-year-old Imran, the youngest person in the world to achieve a PhD for his discipline, and 72-year-old Andrea, who had been escorted to the front of the line by Amos.

But Amos, 30, placed himself at the bottom of the bunch, alongside Kieran, 42, who walked to the end and said: ‘I thought I don’t want to be the c**ky, confident one at the end thinking you’ve got this, you’ll win hands down, so I thought I’d rock up at the end space.’

Which of the 20 are The Traitors? (Picture: BBC/Studio Lambert Associates/Mark Mainz)

Their first challenge was to rank themselves (Picture: BBC)

But none of the contestants saw the twist which followed.

‘Every decision you make, every single one, has a consequence, so you two, you think you’re going to lose,’ Claudia began to Amos and Kieran.

‘I am going to take you at your word, so I’m afraid it’s goodbye. I’d like you to leave the grounds immediately.’

The other contestants were left beyond stunned, as Claudie joked to them: ‘It’s called The Traitors.’

Amos (L) and Kieran (R) were dropped before it even begun (Picture: BBC)

‘Complete and utter devastation,’ Kieran told the camera later.

Fellow contestant Theo added: ‘Claudia is a savage, I know she’s an icon and all but she is not playing!’

Meanwhile Andrea joked she thought to ‘throw Claudia over the banister’ after hearing the news.

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Viewers were just as stunned.

‘Claudia Winkleman went from zero to hero, savage,’ one person wrote.

Another penned: ‘That was savage. Is there a doctor in the house? Not anymore.’

The Traitors is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

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Her brutal decision means only 20 contestants remain.