With a second series of The Traitors on the way, it’s fair to say expectations from fans are high – but how does a second series live up to the first?
Well, bosses have a plan for overcoming the “difficult second album” problem, and it will stun viewers and contestants alike.
The first series of the BBC reality show, which aired last year, was praised for casting an everyday group of people, who had to play the game to work out who were the secret “traitors” in the group trying to steal the £100,000 prize.
Being the first series, the contestants obviously had no idea what to expect, but those concerned that the second run will lose its innocence need not worry.
When asked about the upcoming series at Tuesday’s Wales Screen Summit, Toni Ireland, executive producer at the show’s production company Studio Lambert, said: “The difficult second album (is what) we’re calling it.
“We’re really excited about doing series two, we can’t give too much away at the moment, obviously, but we’re really looking forward to it.
“I’m excited because the game’s going to be different, people have watched the show now.
“When this cast came to us, they had never seen the show, they were just playing with their gut instinct and just going: ‘This is how I’m going to play this game’.
“Now, I imagine a (new) cast will have seen it, they’re going to come to us with pre-planned ideas of the way they think it’s going to go, and obviously it’s our job to make sure that they’re always kept on their toes and they don’t know what’s around every corner.”
On Sunday, the series took home the TV Bafta award for the reality and constructed factual category along with an entertainment performance gong that went to the show’s host Claudia Winkleman.
When asked about how many people applied to take part in the show originally, Sarah Fay, executive producer at Studio Lambert, said: “(For) series one we had about 1,500 applications, so okay for a first series, quite modest.
“I checked in with our casting producers this morning…(we’ll) look at 40,000.”
She added: “We’re still (going to) be going out there and looking and targeting and finding people who wouldn’t necessarily have you know (thought to) apply.
“We’re always looking at different ways to make sure we’ve got the very best people coming to the series.”
Syeda Irtizaali, the editor of unscripted at the BBC, also confirmed that Strictly Come Dancing presenter Claudia would be returning for a second series.
She added: “I’ll tell you the tagline for series two, which is ‘You think you know how to play the game, you don’t know anything’. That’s all we’re (going to) say.”
Casting for the show is currently open and filming is expected to begin later in the year.