New series of The Traitors sees massive number of hopefuls applying for the show… and bosses expect even more
THE upcoming series of The Traitors has had a whopping 250,000 entries, with the final tally expected to top 300,000.
Since invitations to take part in the third season of the hit BBC1 whodunnit competition were sent out, producers have been swamped with people wanting to take part.
But it’s a real headache for the creators of the show, hosted by Claudia Winkleman, because they now have to whittle down the huge number of entries to 22 contestants within a matter of months.
A TV insider said: “They knew that after the success of the first two series they would get a large number of people throwing their hats in the ring, but they didn’t anticipate this.
“The trouble is they now face a race against time because they have to pick out 22 people from over 300,000 before filming begins.
“And that has to start in the spring because during the summer months the hours of daylight in the far north of Scotland are far too long.
“Which is a big problem because, as anyone who’s watched the show will know, a lot of it has to take place at night.
“So if they miss their window of opportunity to film, it causes problems.
“But they’re still thrilled with how many people have applied and they’re confident everything will be in place when the time comes.
“They also realise it’s a nice problem to have.”
The first series of The Traitors, which aired in 2022 barely got 5,000 entering as the public were yet to fully grasp what the concept of the show was.
Then the second series, which aired earlier this year, had tens of thousands applying.
Part of the reason why there have been so many applying for the third outing is because the BBC announced at an early stage that there would be another series.
Plus viewers could see just how much fame came with appearing in the show, with the likes of Harry Clark getting swamped with TV offers after winning.
During The Brit Awards on Saturday, hosts Maya Jama, Clara Amfo and Roman Kemp donned hooded cloaks to do a spoof of The Traitors with mother and son Dianne and Ross taking part.