The Traitors will be a fixture on the BBC until at least 2030.
The British broadcaster has signed a three-year deal for the Claudia Winkleman-hosted shows, cementing the format’s status as one of the biggest on UK television.
The agreement was announced by Tim Davie, the outgoing BBC director-general, during a valedictory speech to The Royal Television Society on Thursday morning.
Sat in the audience were Stephen Lambert, The Traitors‘ producer, and his boss Jane Turton, who runs All3Media, which was last week acquired by Banijay.
Studio Lambert CEO Lambert said: “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.”
The BBC’s new deal will begin with Season 5 early next year, with a further three seasons planned up until 2030, meaning the show will reach at least Season 8.
The Celebrity Traitors‘ second season will premiere later this year, with a further three seasons planned all the way to late 2029.
The three-year deals are usually reserved for the biggest entertainment shows on British television. ITV tends to make similar commitments to Britain’s Got Talent, for example.
The Celebrity Traitors was the highest-rated show in the UK last year, averaging nearly 15M viewers. The finale’s audience of 15.4M made it the best-performing entertainment episode in Britain in nearly a decade, according to the BBC.
The Traitors deal was overseen by Kalpna Patel-Knight, head of entertainment commissioning for the BBC. The executive producers for Studio Lambert Scotland are Mike Cotton, Sarah Fay, Lewis Thurlow, and Darrell Olsen. The commissioning editors for the BBC are Neil McCallum and Michael Jochnowitz.
Created in the Netherlands by IDTV, an All3Media company, The Traitors format was further developed with the RTL Creative Unit and originally produced by IDTV for RTL4. All3Media International is global partner for The Traitors and handles format and tape sales worldwide.
