The Traitors is coming back soon (Picture: BBC/Studio Lambert Associates/Mark Mainz)
The Traitors season two is coming back, and the biggest teaser so far, which featured Claudia Winkleman, was dropped before BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.
Just before the celebrities took to the dance floor for the Halloween special on Saturday’s episode, a short clip was played of Claudia dressed in an oversized hooded cape with two mystery figures standing behind her in the same outfit that’s synonymous with the series.
In the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it preview, The Traitors and Strictly host Claudia looked directly down at the camera. As the 51-year-old brought one finger to her lips, she said: ‘Shhhhh.’
The words: ‘The Traitors. Coming soon’ flashed up on the screen.
That wasn’t the only easter egg – within the actual Strictly show, a cloaked figure could also be seen standing by Claudia at various points.
The trailer and the cloaked figure’s presence caused much excitement for the show’s fans of which there are many – the Bafta-winning first series had an average audience of 5.4 million, accumulated an incredible 34 million views on BBC iPlayer, and became the biggest new launch by the broadcaster in the last couple of years.
The trailer was played just before Strictly began (Picture: BBC)
A cloaked figure could be seen lurking on Strictly (Picture: BBC)
The highly addictive reality show sees 22 strangers move into a castle in the Scottish Highlands. They compete in daily challenges to build up the cash fund, but there is one huge catch – amongst the Faithfuls are three Traitors.
One by one, the group choose who to eliminate at the nightly roundtable, while the traitors also pick people to go home during a secret meeting with Claudia. If the Faithfuls don’t eliminate the Traitors before the final then all the money is stolen by them.
In the dramatic debut series, Meryl Williams joined Faithfuls Aaron Evans and Hannah Byczkowski in taking home the £101,050 cash prize after banishing the ultimate Traitor Wilfred Webster.
The programme which is based on the Dutch series De Verraders also has a US version, which recently launched with Alan Cumming taking on hosting duties, and it’s already being renewed for a second outing.
22 strangers moved into a castle (Picture: BBC/Studio Lambert Associates/Mark Mainz)
A few eagle-eyed viewers took to social media to share their elation that a new series was on the way.
‘Used to be you knew it was coming up to Christmas when the Coca-Cola ad started playing, now it’s when you see this on BBC One,’ wrote one fan alongside a still from the trailer.
We may have seen Ellie Leach and Vito Cappola, and Layton Williams and Nikita Kuzmin edging closer to a perfect score of 40, but for one fan the caped figure was the star of the episode.
They wrote: ‘A traitor in the claudotorium was my highlight tonight, I can’t wait for #thetraitors to be back #strictly.’
‘OBSESSED WITH THE TRAITOR/STRICTLY CROSSOVER,’ shouted another view. ‘So excited for a new series of @TheTraitorsUK – hopefully we don’t have to wait too long!’
‘Get it in my eyes @BBCOne! #TheTraitors @ClaudiaWinkle,’ demanded another fan.
The Traitors is coming soon to BBC. Strictly Come Dancing airs Saturday and Sunday on BBC One and iPlayer.
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It was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment.