Many of the celebrities on the Traitors are closer than you may think
The Celebrity Traitors debuted earlier this month on the BBC and although the show is just four episodes in, a lot of backstabbing and murders have happened in a short space of time.
With six Faithfuls already being booted out the game either by death or banishment, there are 13 celebrities left, three of which are treacherous Traitors.
Perhaps the most controversial moment of the series so far was the first brutal murder which saw Traitor Alan Carr “kill” singer Paloma Faith, who is one of his “best friends” in the outside world.
Carr’s savage move proved to his fellow Traitors, Jonathan Ross and Cat Burns, that outside connections do not matter in this ruthless game but Alan and Paloma are not the only pair who knew each other very well before entering the Traitors Castle in the Scottish Highlands.
The series is full of people who are connected in different ways, adding a whole new layer of drama.
However, even the ones who don’t know each other personally are likely to have known of one another, making it much harder to lie.
Here are some of the closest connections between the celebs we’ve found so far..
Jonathan probably knows the most people
Thanks to his long-running Saturday night chat show, Jonathan has interviewed a fair few of his fellow Celebrity Traitors stars and probably knows the most people out of everyone in the group.
He has welcomed Paloma Faith, Sir Stephen Fry, Alan Carr and Tom Daley on The Jonathan Ross Show over the years.
His fellow Traitor Cat Burns also performed on his show last year and Charlotte Church, Clare Balding and Lucy Beaumont have all been guests too.
Of course, we couldn’t forget about the time Joe Marler performed Adele’s Someone Like You on the show as well.
Having been in close contact with so many of the stars before could help Ross “hide out as a traitor,” said TV reporter Siobhan Synnot as he may make them feel wrongly at ease around him, and it could also make it easy for him to form alliances.
However, this could also come as a disadvantage as he knows so many of them on a personal level.
Earlier this week, Ross admitted that he “did not enjoy the duplicity” as the game progressed. He said: “It’s a tougher psychological challenge than I expected”.
Alan Carr
Alan Carr has also interviewed a fair few of his fellow contestants on his Chatty Man show.
He welcomed guests including Sir Stephen Fry and Clare Balding, who were actually on the same episode of the Channel 4 programme, as well as his pal Paloma Faith.
Sir Stephen also appeared on Carr’s podcast, Life’s a Beach, as did Scots actor Mark Bonnar and Cat Burns.
Meanwhile, Kate Garraway has interviewed Alan Carr on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
Three stars in the same film
Paloma Faith referenced her role in the 2007 St Trinian’s film with Celia Imrie and Stephen Fry during an intense funeral scene earlier in the series.
When presented with a school tie as a clue to who belonged in a coffin, the cast picked up that it was to do with the film.
However, when the group started pointing fingers at the singer, Paloma reminded them that Celia and Stephen also starred in the hit comedy movie.
Faith plays a goth schoolgirl in the film, Imrie plays a school matron, while Sir Stephen plays himself, as the school quiz master.
It’s not the firs time Sir Stephen and Imrie have crossed career paths as the pair also starred together in ITV drama Kingdom.
Clare and Tom’s bond
Clare Balding, a staple of British sports, and Olympic diving gold medallist Tom Daley clearly know each other very well.
Balding has interviewed Daley in the past, including on her show – and she also publicly praised him after he came out on YouTube in 2013.
Their connection was clear in episode three, when Balding appeared upset to see Daley murdered by the Traitors.
She said: “I’ve known him since he was about 12 years old”.
Former England rugby union player Joe Marler is also a big character in the world of sports and it wouldn’t be a shock if he had mingled with Balding and Daley at events over the years.
Lucy, Alan, Joe and Nick have all been on the same comedy circuit
Sir Stephen Fry, Lucy Beaumont, Alan Carr, Joe Wilkinson and Nick Mohammed all have one thing in common – they’re all comedians and they are all likely to have rubbed shoulders over the years.
In a Guardian interview last year, Beaumont described recently working with Sir Stephen and she also confessed she had made a faux pas, when she met him, asking him what it was like being in prison for being gay.
She told the publication: “And thank God someone came in and he didn’t hear me say it. I was mixing him up with when he played Oscar Wilde. I could picture him in his cell.”
Beaumont is also a familiar face from Meet the Richardsons, and Carr appeared in an episode of the sitcom alongside her.
Lucy and Tom were on Bake Off together
Some of the Celebrity Traitors players have also competed against each other before in a very different competition.
Tom Daley and Lucy Beaumont went head to head on The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer in 2023.
The pair tackled a savoury quiche, a technical teatime biscuit and a showstopping day off in cake form – though neither was crowned star baker at the end.
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Nick and Celia were both in Bridget Jones’ Baby
Iconic British actress Celia Imrie starred in the Bridget Jones film series, as Una Alconbury, Bridget’s mother’s friend.
She was joined in one of the films, Bridget Jones’s Baby in 2016, by Ted Lasso star Nick Mohammed.
Perhaps it was this prior connection that made Mohammed leap to Imrie’s aid at the graveyard in episode one, helping her find a shield to stop her from being murdered on the first night.
He explained: “My aim was to try and get Celia a shield, because I love her.”
But this aroused suspicion, with Imrie saying later: “Nick selflessly came to help me in my grave before even looking for his shield. And I’m thinking, he’s absolutely adorable or he is up to something.”
However, by the time the latest episode rolled around, they now both seem to be questioning each other’s motives.
Imrie warned she’s “got her eye” on Mohammed, while he told the group that she’d make a brilliant traitor.
Cat and Paloma share a record label
Paloma Faith made this revelation after she was the first celebrity to be murdered in episode two.
Speaking on the Uncloaked podcast, the singer said she felt ‘betrayed’ by Cat Burns, who is one of the three Traitors that killed her off.
Paloma jokingly said: “She’s on the same record label as me and should have some loyalty”.
Sadly for her, that’s not quite how the game works.
The singer later explained that even though they share a record label, they had never spent time together beforehand and that she’d enjoyed getting to know Burns during her brief stint on the show.
Alan and Paloma are or WERE close friends
Paloma Faith may have been disappointed with Cat Burns but it seems her real beef is with Alan Carr, her real life close pal, who is a part of the Traitors trio that murdered her.
Faith told the Uncloaked podcast: “I don’t think he should’ve done that to me, and I’m surprised that he did.”
The pair are so close that he has even met her kids but it turns out they’re not best pleased with him now.
Speaking on the One show, the singer said her four-year-old woke her up and said: “Mama, I don’t like Alan anymore. He can’t come to our house.”
In a video shared online, Carr poked fun at their row. It showed him looking at a drinks menu before saying: “I could murder a Paloma.”
He captioned the post: “Anyone thirsty? Love you @palomafaith #forgiveme.”
Paloma also suggested she had been mates with Jonathan Ross – who is also a traitor – before the show
After finding out his identity, she told Uncloaked: “I’m happy to lose him as a friend. I hope [Carr and Ross] never call me again, and I mean that.”
Many of them have done 8 out of 10 Cats including Claudia
Some of the Celebrity Traitors star have even crossed paths with host Claudia Winkleman in the outside world.
Ahead of the BBC series starting, she said she knew “some of them”, adding: “They’re all equally lovely.”
Winkleman previously appeared on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown with Joe Wilkinson and Nick Mohammed.
She also co-hosts Strictly Come Dancing, so would’ve crossed paths with Tameka Empson when she was a contestant.
She told journalist Natalie Jamieson: “Honestly, the layers to this are fascinating.
“Whether the celebs know each other, or have worked with each other before appearing on screen here is one thing, but they’ll already have made an assumption of the others’ personalities, based on their known public personas, like we all do.”
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Niko had the least connections
However, there were some stars who went into the castle with no allies at all.
As one of the younger stars, YouTuber Niko Omilana, 27, had fewer connections with the other celebrities who were better known public figures.
And it appears to have been part of his downfall.
After he was banished on Wednesday, a theory spread on social media that the real reason he was voted out was because the other celebrities didn’t know him very well.
One wrote on X: “Niko has been voted because he’s an outsider and he’s not in their celebrity world. Nothing to do with the game.”
In a TikTok video posted later, Omilana seemed to address the speculation by showing him being shunned and spat on by groups of friends.
He captioned it: “POV: You try and make friends in the Traitors.”
Earlier this week, actress Ruth Codd, 29, who was also murdered by the Traitors admitted she too, “didn’t know anyone” in the castle.