One star of the recently announced Celebrity Traitors season two has reportedly taken a huge paycut to secure her involvement in the show.
The line-up for the next all-star spin-off was announced this weekend, with Richard E. Grant, James Acaster, Romesh Ranganathan and James Blunt among the big names set to join Claudia Winkleman in Andross Castle.
The cast is also set to include Maya Jama, who is believed to have been the first celebrity to be approached by producers this year.
31-year-old Maya currently pulls in £800,000 for hosting Love Island on rival broadcaster ITV.
The £40k that she’ll be paid for Celebrity Traitors means that she’ll be taking a £760k pay cut, when all is said and done.
However, as a massive fan of the first Celebrity Traitors, this was an opportunity she simply couldn’t refuse.
Of Maya’s appointment to the castle, a source told The Sun: ‘She loved watching the first Celebrity Traitors series at home with boyfriend Rúben and is so excited to get filming. She can’t wait to do some fibbing and be as deceitful as possible to try to win it.
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‘It has worked out perfectly that she can go straight from the Scottish castle to the villa in Majorca to film the summer Love Island series in June’.
Describing her as ‘obsessed’ with Celebrity Traitors, the tabloid’s source added that ‘the money was secondary to taking part.’
Maya is said to have been top of the producers’ wish list for her ability to pull in a younger audience.
Taking over Love Island in 2023, Maya has also hosted Glow Up: Britain’s Next Make-Up Star, The Circle and ITV2 gameshow Don’t Hate The Playaz.
Who’s in the Celebrity Traitors series two?
- Amol Rajan – Broadcaster
- Bella Ramsey – Actor
- James Acaster – Comedian
- James Blunt – Singer and Songwriter
- Jerry Hall – Model and Actress
- Joanne McNally – Comedian
- Joe Lycett – Comedian
- Julie Hesmondhalgh – Actor
- King Kenny – Content Creator
- Leigh-Anne Pinnock – Musician
- Maya Jama – Broadcaster
- Michael Sheen – Actor
- Miranda Hart – Actor
- Myha’la – Actor
- Professor Hannah Fry – Broadcaster and TV scientist
- Richard E. Grant – Actor
- Rob Beckett – Comedian
- Romesh Ranganathan – Comedian
- Ross Kemp – Actor
- Sebastian Croft – Musician
- Sharon Rooney – Actor
Celebrity Traitors season 2 filming begins
With the series set to return this Autumn, all 21 contestants have been revealed by the BBC.
The names were announced in a fun teaser for the show, which depicted actors posing as taxi drivers, each holding signs for the celebrities taking part.
In a nod to some of the atrocious spelling from previous series, a number of names are spelled incorrectly – including comedian Rob Beckett, whose name is incorrectly written as ‘Rob Bucket.’
Richard E. Grant was also spelled as ‘Richardy Grant,’ while Miranda Hart’s last name is written as ‘Heart.’
And, as with filming imminent, several stars have already touched down in Inverness, Scotland.
This includes The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey, who donned a thick puffer jacket as they prepared for filming in the Scottish Highlands.
University Challenge host Amol Rajan was also pictured being escorted to his vehicle at the airport, along with model Jerry Hall.
Inverness airport is approximately 31 miles from the show’s filming location – a journey that takes roughly 45 minutes by car.
Once settled in, the famous faces will compete against one another to win the prize money for a charity of their choice.
Might they replicate the success of last year’s debut series, which enraptured audiences thanks to a villainous turn from comedian Alan Carr?
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