The green cloaks have been cleaned and pressed. A new set of portraits is hanging in the breakfast room. And Claudia Winkleman has a fresh spray tan to mark the occasion. It’s time for a new season of The Celebrity Traitors, with a fresh cohort of stars heading up to Scotland to engage in low-level psychological warfare with one another, in the hope of winning prize money for their charity of choice.
But if the contestants really want to go the distance at Ardross Castle, they would do well to remember that, in a competition like The Traitors, whip-smart intelligence or tactical nous can only get you so far. It’s a game of social dynamics as much as strategy – and being liked by your fellow players can end up becoming a secret superpower that will catapult you to the final.
