Celebrity Traitors bosses reportedly had to abandon their original plans after a shocking incident during filming, with the "epic" moment expected to thrill viewers. The second series of the star-studded Traitors spin-off began airing last week and has already delivered unforgettable moments, including Richard E Grant's blunder where he appeared to reveal his Traitor status to co-stars.
Plans scrapped after unexpected event
It is understood the incident was so "unbelievable" that bosses scrapped an entire cliffhanger from the series to accommodate it. A source told The Sun: "Cliffhangers on The Traitors have become legendary so bosses never want to disappoint and hope to have the nation on tenterhooks all week, waiting for Thursdays to come around – that’s part of the reason the format being fed out twice a week works."
The source added: "So they plot out likely moments in gameplay that will be the Friday cliffs. But during filming, something so unbelievable happened even execs didn’t see it coming. It forced them to throw plans out the window to accommodate the epic moment – which should make great TV."
Viewers await round table banishment
Fans are desperate to see if Richard E Grant has evaded suspicion at the round table banishment on Thursday (October 8), after declaring he was a Traitor in a rogue first for the series. Traitors Maya Jama and Richard recruited a reluctant James Acaster in the latest episode of the BBC hit.
Previous cliffhangers from earlier series included retired schoolteacher Diane drinking from the poisoned chalice, which led into a morbid funeral teaser after she secretly revealed to viewers that fellow contestant Ross was her son.
Producer on reactive format
Speaking at the launch of this series, executive producer Sarah Fay admitted: "We always have an idea before going into pre-production what might be cliffhangers but we have to be so reactive because who knows what the story is going to be."
She added: "Last year we went to deadlock [at the Round Table] when it was down to David [Olusoga] and Mark [Bonner] where it was a tie. We never knew that that was going to happen until obviously, it was happening right before our eyes. I think the beauty of this game as well is every episode we've probably got about three options of what the cliffhanger could be because it's so nail-biting."
The Celebrity Traitors will return to BBC One on Thursday at 8pm.
