The Traitors creator reveals major format change for UK series five and US version

The next series of The Traitors looks set to drop one of its newest twists for season five.

According to an executive producer behind the show, the secret Traitor idea was never meant to stick around long-term, and the format works best without it.

Stephen Lambert, founder of the production company Studio Lambert, shared the update while speaking at an event attended by IGN. Lambert said the original structure of the show is strong enough to keep audiences hooked without adding too many new gimmicks.

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Studio Lambert produces both the US and UK versions of The Traitors, filming them back-to-back each year at the show’s famous Scottish castle. Shooting the series consecutively allows the production team to reuse challenges and format twists across both editions.

The most recent seasons of the US and UK versions introduced a major change to the game: The secret Traitor. The role meant one Traitor’s identity was hidden not only from the Faithful contestants but also from the other Traitors and the people watching at home.

For the first time, audiences were left in the same position as the Faithful, unsure whether certain players were secretly working against them.

The twist received mixed reactions, especially in the US version, where it appeared only briefly.

Now Lambert has confirmed the idea likely won’t be coming back. He explained the twist was originally introduced as a way to make the latest UK series feel distinct from last year’s celebrity spin-off.

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“A good format is something that’s designed in such a way that people feel a sense of familiarity with it, which is why they want to keep coming back to come back and watch it,” Lambert said while speaking at an event at the University of East Anglia.

“After the huge success of the Celebrity Traitors, we introduced the idea of a secret Traitor as a way of doing something that was different,” he continued, “but it wasn’t something we wanted to keep going with. It was a clever way of signalling we were doing something different, but I go back to the pleasure of the show being that the audience doesn’t know who the Traitors are.

“There have been other shows which have done something similar, where the audience didn’t know who ‘the mole’ was,” he concluded, “and the trouble is you’re completely a victim of the edit… and that doesn’t feel very satisfying.”

New seasons of both the US and UK versions of The Traitors are expected in 2027, with filming set to begin again in Scotland later this year.

The US edition will film a new civilian-only season, while the UK version will produce its usual civilian series alongside a second run of its Celebrity edition.

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Featured image credit: BBC