Claudia Winkleman says ‘things have changed’ in The Traitors third series

The Traitors presenter Claudia Winkleman has said “exciting things have changed” in the third series of the reality TV show.

The BBC series will return on New Year’s Day, and see the 52-year-old presenter meet a group of strangers at a castle in the Scottish Highlands to play a game which will test their detection, backstabbing and trust – with the chance of winning up to £120,000.

Speaking about the upcoming series, Winkleman said: “I would love to tell you all about series three, but then I will get fired so I can tell you absolutely nothing.

“What I will tell you is that things are different this year. There are some really exciting things that have changed, which keeps everyone on the toes and feeds into the central premise of trust. I can’t wait for everyone to see.”

The presenter said missions would have a bigger role in the upcoming series.

She also said she felt watching previous series of the show would not help contestants, and added the most important qualities for traitors to have were “charm and nous”.

Winkleman said: “The new contestants can watch previous series, but that doesn’t mean it will necessarily help them, how can it?

“Every series has a whole new bunch of players, with different minds, and different interpretations of the game.

“And like any good murder mystery, the plot is always full of twists and turns. There’s one twist this year which will hopefully have viewers on the edge of their seat.”

In the show, a group of traitors must secretly murder their fellow players without getting caught, while the faithful attempt to banish the traitors from the game.

Those left at the end have a chance of winning a chunk of the prize, but if a traitor survives until the end they can take the full prize.

The London-born star said she could not pinpoint why the show had become so popular.

She added: “I know why I love it, and that’s because the game is so clever, and you can never predict what’s going to happen. Watching people work other people out, is fascinating.

“The other thing that’s so interesting, is that we’re told all our lives to trust our guts, but The Traitors suggests that maybe our guts don’t know as much as we think they do.”

The Traitors starts New Year’s Day at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.