Celebrity Traitors season 2 is just around the corner, with a fresh cohort of famous faces ready to battle it out for victory.
But this is no game of physical strength, but rather of sharp wit and plenty of savvy to root out the Traitors. Or if you’re a Traitor, fool the Faithful.
Last year, Alan Carr played a blinder in the record-breaking opening season of the celebrity version after managing to survive as the last-standing Traitor and secure the charity prize money.
Now, the season two cast will be hoping to repeat the sky-high success of the first season. But all that will have to wait until the start of October, when the new season premieres with an extra-long opener.
Here we’ll see the celebrities arrive at the now-iconic Highlands castle, where Claudia is waiting to pick out her new group of Traitors to cause havoc and send our Faithful scrambling.
However, before we’ve even seen who will play who and how the series will pan out, fans are already fearing for the life of one player… Welsh actor Michael Sheen.
The Good Omens star, 57, has a lot of advantages going for him as he enters the fray. First off, he’s a longtime Traitors fan, with civilian Traitors icon Diane even sending him a birthday message a few years ago.
As he declares in the newly-released trailer: ‘I am huge fan of this game… now it’s my turn’.
Next, he’s had a long history of playing duplicitous characters on screen, like Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Emperor Nero and Twilight vampire Aro, so his acting skills will no doubt offer a helping hand no matter which role he lands in.
Last but not least, if his appearance on shows like The Assembly, his powerful interviews from day-to-day, and his new role as House of Games presenter are anything to go by, he’s a smart guy with his wits about him.
All in all, it could be a recipe for disaster, considering those who have a reputation for intelligence are often quickly voted out in a panic (lest we forget Faithful Stephen Fry’s premature exit last year).
And fans are already expressing their concern at Michael not being long for the Traitors’ castle, with many already rooting for him to win.
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‘If Michael Sheen dies in the first episode, I’m protesting,’ darkwarriors wrote on YouTube.
‘I hope Michael Sheen will win this,’ ineffableleadballoon shared.
‘If he doesn’t win it, there’ll be a hammer flying through my TV and a very stern letter going to the Beeb!!’ Louciferflump echoed.
In fact, these concerns have been floating about since he was first announced to be joining the show.
‘Clever people tend to be murdered first,’ Bennythefish wrote on Reddit.
‘He’s guaranteed to be picked as a traitor by Claudia and will be so obvious he will be voted out on first night,’ Cute_sun3943 added.
‘Do you think he’d dominate as a Traitor or get targeted early for being “too smart”‘ Illscientist_4645 questioned.
His fate remains to be seen but for now, audiences aren’t feeling hopeful about the screenstar’s prospects.
Celebrity Traitors returns to BBC One and BBC iPlayer on October 1 at 8pm.