Twenty-one celebrities were given the chance this year to take part in Celebrity Traitors, the BBC’s biggest reality TV sensation.
As audiences remain hooked on the plotting, suspicion and betrayals unfolding on screen, a second game appears to have begun since filming ended — and it is proving highly profitable.
Several contestants seem to have moved quickly to capitalise on their appearances, apparently breaching the BBC’s strict rules banning celebrities from using its programmes or brands in advertising and promotional campaigns.
Last week, singer James Blunt, best known for his 2004 hit ‘You’re Beautiful’, became the first contestant reprimanded by the BBC after promoting the £1,695 tweed suit he wore in the opening episode on his personal X account.
He was instructed to delete a post advertising Barrington Ayre, the Cotswolds-based tailor that supplied the outfit.
However, the suit promotion was not his only apparent breach. The singer has also been using his appearance on the hit series to promote tickets for his 2027 Airplane Mode Tour across the UK and Europe, with face-value prices ranging from £50 to £135.
In an Instagram post that has since been deleted, Blunt shared footage of his first appearance on the show, as he entered the chapel, before declaring: ‘I’ve been a Traitor all my life. I’m the guy who tells everyone that they are beautiful when really they are not.’
The clip then switched to a new recording in which he told viewers: ‘That is not true, guys. I categorically want to say I do genuinely think you are all beautiful. Tickets on sale for my tour now.’
Last week, singer James Blunt — best known for his 2004 hit ‘You’re Beautiful’ — became the first contestant reprimanded by the BBC after promoting the £1,695 tweed suit he wore in the opening episode on his personal X account
The BBC’s strict rules prevent stars from using its programmes or brands in advertisements and promotional activity
A psychologist believes comedian James Acaster may have an in-built advantage over his fellow Traitors contestants
He added in the caption: ‘Tickets for my tour in February are on sale now! #thecelebritytraitors’
One industry source said: ‘This year’s cast know how popular the show is and how much success can come off the back of it, but they have to be wary not to cross the line.
‘The rules have been explained to them, and BBC bosses expect the contestants to stick to them.’
Yet for many of the celebrities, the opportunity appears to have been difficult to resist. A string of stars are openly making the most of their time on the reality show.
‘It’s easy money for the celebrities,’ one industry source told Our News Outlet.
Beloved comedian Miranda Hart, 53, has been largely absent from television for more than 10 years. She continues, however, to run an online store, The Miranda Shop, which sells clothing and homeware, including a £16.99 tea towel and £14.99 mugs featuring some of her best-known catchphrases.
The shop gives a portion of its revenue — though not the entire amount — to two charities: Astriid, which supports people living with long-term chronic illness, and Spear, which helps young people facing barriers enter employment or education.
On October 1, the day the first episode of Traitors aired, The Miranda Shop promoted its mugs on Instagram, writing: ‘Cosying up in front of The Traitors this evening? Well add some such fun to your sofa snuggles with a mug (or two) from The Miranda Shop!’
The following day, the brand posted: ‘Oh what a delight to see @realmirandahart sashay around a shipwreck and canter around the castle! But has she been trotting around the turret? Well, no spoilers here! Gallop over to themirandashop.com today!’
The Celebrity Traitors and Traitors hashtags have also been used fruitfully in The Miranda Shop’s Instagram posts since the series began to air.
Other contestants have been more careful to stay within the rules – but the timing of their career moves has been impeccable.
Traitors unlikely heartthrob James Acaster is set to release his debut album with his band, The Wow! Scenario, next week.
Traitors unlikely heartthrob James Acaster is set to release his debut album with his band, The Wow! Scenario, next week. It is called Stand in the Star. A Verse and a Chorus
Much-loved comedian Miranda Hart, 53, has an online store, The Miranda Shop, which sells clothes and homeware items including a tea towel for £16.99 and mugs for £14.99
On October 1, when the first episode of Traitors aired, The Miranda Shop posted on Instagram promoting its mugs: ‘Cosying up in front of The Traitors this evening? Well add some such fun to your sofa snuggles with a mug (or two) from The Miranda Shop!’
Miranda was so overjoyed by the catch of a traitor that she recreated her famous BBC character’s gallop as she left the roundtable trotting
While few people who are new to the charms of the 41-year-old comedian actually realised he was also a musician, the timing is lost on no one.
His band will release their debut album, Stand in the Star. A Verse and a Chorus, which is said to have been 22 years in the making.
The timing could hardly be more striking: a project that has been worked on for more than two decades is arriving just as Acaster finds himself at the centre of the TV phenomenon.
While he insisted in an interview last weekend that the release was a complete coincidence he was, he admitted, totally ‘here for it’.
Comedian Joanne McNally has also been promoting her Dublin stand-up tour, with tickets for a fourth and final date at the 3Arena going on sale last week.
Priced between €42.40 to €72.40 at face value, the tickets are almost sold out.
McNally has already made history as the first Irish comedian to sell out the 3Arena and the first female Irish comedian to headline the venue.
And she appears to have her sights set on America, too, with an appearance on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon scheduled for October 19, alongside Hollywood actor Chris Pratt and television personality Andy Cohen.
Meanwhile, maths Professor Hannah Fry announced her 2027 tour, Come Fry With Me, which is said to be an evening of ‘chance, chaos and questionable decisions’.
Tickets went on sale on September 25, just days before the Celebrity Traitors launch, costing £30.
While some fans originally thought her tour announcement meant she would get far on the show, Professor Fry was banished during Thursday’s episode.
Actor and singer Sebastian Croft has also decided to release his latest single in a timely fashion, with his new song Good Light released on Friday.
His most recent single Pretty People was also conveniently released during the same week that he arrived in the castle.
‘I feel the same about music as I do about Traitors,’ he said. ‘They have been this thing on the horizon for so long, and it’s so weird that both are starting to be put out into the world at the same time.’
Comedian Joanne McNally has also been promoting her Dublin stand-up tour, with tickets for a fourth and final date at the 3Arena going on sale last week
This year’s celebrity contestants include Maya Jama, Michael Sheen, Miranda Hart, Jerry Hall, James Blunt and James Acaster
The 24-year-old is one of the lesser-known stars on this year’s series and perhaps thought that his opportunistic music promotion might go unnoticed.
Then there’s former Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock, who released a new single on Friday just hours before episode six aired.
Not to mention, the stars who are cashing in through TikTok and Instagram videos, taken on the show.
Love Island host Maya Jama, for example, who has 1.2million followers on Instagram, will earn hundreds in ‘pocket money’ every time one of her videos is viewed more than a million times.
A clip of her, in the back of a Land Rover on October 2, was viewed 1.8million times – not against the BBC rules, but a nice little earner nonetheless.
Even Channel 4 is cashing in on the popularity of the BBC’s hit show The Celebrity Traitors.
The broadcaster has introduced a new category on its homepage dedicated to the show, with individual sections for contestants highlighting every Channel 4 programme they have appeared in.
The category features this year’s stars, alongside series one contestants Alan Carr and Jonathan Ross, as well as a dedicated section for The Celebrity Traitors host Claudia Winkleman.
But this is far from Channel 4’s only foray into the world of the BBC hit.
In September, Joe Lycett opened the doors of his pub, The Lycett Arms, for one hour a week as part of his new Channel 4 show, which aims to get people back into pubs.
Across six episodes, Lycett welcomed a host of guests, including his Celebrity Traitors co-stars Miranda Hart, Michael Sheen and Joanne McNally, as well as Stephen Libby, winner of the fourth series of The Traitors.
Despite the show’s contestants being bound by airtight NDAs, references to the series were everywhere. From jokes about the strict secrecy rules to nods to Ross Kemp’s now-iconic reaction to the banishment of fellow Traitor Richard E Grant, The Traitors was never far from the conversation.
Lycett promoted the show on Instagram with a video clipping the celebrities as guests in the pub on Instagram, titled ‘The Celebrity Traitors cast meet at The Lycett Arms’.
The promotion is in burgundy and gold, conveniently the colour scheme for both The Lycett Arms and The Celebrity Traitors.
The Lycett Arms Instagram posts have also been littered with Celebrity Traitors hashtags.
With Channel 4 finding new ways to tap into the phenomenon, it seems everyone wants a piece of The Traitors – and the lucrative attention that comes with it.
