The Traitors UK season 5 confirmed to ditch divisive format change from previous episodes

The divisive secret traitor twist will not be making a return to future seasons of the hit reality series, the show's executive has confirmed.

First introduced in season four, which aired earlier this year, viewers and known Traitors were left stumped when Claudia Winkleman revealed she had chosen a secret traitor - a player with more power than anyone.

While the secret traitor knew the identity of the Traitors murdering each night, the villains in the turret had no idea who the hidden figure was, and were forced to choose from the shortlist put together by the secret traitor as to who they should murder next.

It was eventually revealed that Fiona Hughes was the secret Traitor, providing a thrilling reveal that fans won't be forgetting anytime soon.

"Each series is like a murder mystery, we never change the core game, but we always play with the twists around it," said creative director Mike Cotton on the decision to introduce the twist.

However, this twist will not be making a return, with Stephen Lambert, CEO of Studio Lambert who produces The Traitor, recently confirming this to be the case.

During an event, Lambert elaborated (via IGN): "A good format is something that's designed in such a way that people feel a sense of familiarity with it, which is why they want to keep coming back to come back and watch it.

"But intrinsically it's designed so that there's sufficient variation — partly, obviously, through the change of cast, but also you want to make little changes within it... What I like about The Traitors is there's so many ways that story can go, that once you add a different cast and once you think of some additional tweaks here and there."

He explained that after the success of The Celebrity Traitors, the idea of a secret traitor was born "as a way of doing something that was different".

He continued: "But it wasn't something we wanted to keep going with. It was a clever way of signalling we were doing something different, but I go back to the pleasure of the show being that the audience doesn't know who the Traitors are.

"There have been other shows which have done something similar, where the audience didn't know who 'the mole' was, and the trouble is you're completely a victim of the edit... and that doesn't feel very satisfying."

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But fans can be assured that plenty more new twists are on the way, with the BBC recently confirming a new three-year deal that will keep The Traitors and The Celebrity Traitors on BBC One until at least 2030.

The multi award-winning series will continue to provide audiences with even more twists, turns, secrets, epic missions, deceptions, banishments and, of course, murders aplenty.

As confirmed by the BBC, the fifth season of The Traitors will arrive on BBC One and iPlayer in 2027 and will be followed by season 6 in 2028, season 7 in 2029 and season 8 in 2030.

While The Celebrity Traitors season 2 will arrive later in 2026 and will be followed by season 3 in 2027, season 4 in 2028 and season 5 in 2029.

Stephen Lambert, CEO of Studio Lambert, commented: "The Traitors has become a genuine television phenomenon across the world, but especially in the UK, and we’re thrilled to continue the journey with the BBC. It’s hugely exciting that audiences will have many more years of strategy, suspense and shocking twists still to come."

The Traitors season 1-4 and The Celebrity Traitors season 1 are available to watch on BBC iPlayer now.

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