Celebrity Traitors producer reveals why paranoia is heightened more than ever

**Warning: The below article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for The Celebrity Traitors season 2 episode 1!**

Paranoia is at an all-time high in the Celebrity Traitors castle, especially where Ross Kemp is concerned.

The new season launched on BBC One tonight (1 October), introducing viewers to the 21 celebrities daring to take on the ultimate game of deception and betrayal.

This year's cohort includes the likes of Richard E Grant and Maya Jama, both of whom were chosen as Traitors by Claudia Winkleman – and who were less paranoid about their identities being unveiled than Ross Kemp was at the idea of being murdered in plain sight.

It's a classic way for the Traitors to target a Faithful – previously seen with Alan Carr wiping Paloma Faith's cheek in season 1, or Miles giving Diane a glass of fizzy rosé in the civilian series.

However, nothing of the sort had actually happened yet – despite Kemp insisting it had.

On two occasions, the EastEnders actor thought he had been murdered in plain sight. Once when Bella Ramsey gave him a captain's hat after the mission, and again when Leigh-Anne Pinnock rubbed his arm in the bar area.

"My guard is very much up," Kemp explained. "Offering me a drink, talking to me in a slightly odd way, it could be me gone! So at the moment, I am feeling paranoid."

With the increased paranoia around the castle, executive producer Sarah Fay shed some light on why some celebrities were second-guessing everything.

"Families, partners, agents, lots of people persuaded them to do it and obviously they want to do it themselves," she said. "I think no one wants to go home first. I think Paloma showed that last year."

Ed Gamble added: "Ross Kemp, I mean, he was phenomenal. The paranoia! It is one of the funniest things I've ever seen on television.

"The moment he gets touched on the arm, having already thought Bella Ramsey putting a captain's hat on him is a murder in plain sight during the first mission, I mean, what a variety of man living within the Ross Kemp sphere.

"He's, you know, [a] big hard man running that mission, and then immediately terrified of a member of Little Mix touching him on the arm. Just incredible.

"But that I think that's something we don't even think about really when we're watching it. The amount of paranoia that must be in there, especially if you've watched the game and you know going in there things could be different this time, but the fact it's Ross Kemp is just perfect."

The Celebrity Traitors continues on Friday 2 October at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

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Authors

Katelyn Mensah is the Senior Entertainment Writer for Radio Times, covering all major entertainment programmes, reality TV shows and the latest hard-hitting documentaries. She previously worked at The Tab, with a focus on reality TV and showbiz news and has obtained a BA (Hons) in Journalism.