BBC’s The Traitors made a triumphant return on Wednesday, 1 January as 25 new contestants arrived in Scotland, with one already standing out as the ‘icon of the series’
The new series of The Traitors kicked off on Wednesday, 1 January, with Claudia Winkleman welcoming 25 contestants to the enchanting Scottish castle to take on the game as a ‘faithful’ or an undercover ‘traitor’. As we were introduced to the new contestants, hoping to walk away with the cash prize, viewers spotted who would be the ‘icon of the series’ just seconds into the show.
One of the first contestants to be introduced was Lisa, an Anglican Priest from Cornwall. In a plot twist, Lisa revealed that she would be removing her clerical collar to hide her identity as a priest during her time on the show.
As Lisa removed her collar while standing on the train platform before anyone else arrived, viewers were left backing the priest just seconds into the new series. Taking to X, formerly Twitter, one fan exclaimed: “The way Lisa whipped that dog collar off! I fear she’s already the icon of the series.”
Noting her strength of character, a second penned: “They should make the priest a traitor.” A third also commented: “Instantly rooting for Lisa the 62 year old Anglican priest.”
Before arriving at the Scottish castle, Lisa shared the reason behind wanting to take part in the BBC show. She said: “My main driving force is that I am completely obsessed with murder mysteries. If there’s a murder mystery on the go, I’m there.
“I’ve watched every episode of Poirot, every Agatha Christie more than once, Midsomer Murders, Inspector Morse, Grantchester, Father Brown, Sister Boniface. I’m just obsessed with murders and the mental aspect of trying to work out who did it.”
When asked if she had a game plan, the priest referenced last year’s faithful contestant Jaz, and replied: “I’d like to be a bit like Jaz. You know, say things but not too much, which is going to be difficult for me, because I can talk quite a bit.
“So, be the person who’s there but doesn’t get noticed much. Because you can get noticed by being too quiet and you can get noticed by being too loud. I think I’ll try and be even, what I’ve noticed is that people tend to really hone onto subtle changes in people’s energy levels or their moods. So just try and keep everything on an even keel. It’s going to be really hard. I have no illusions. And I think going in if I say I’m a priest, I think I’m going to have a target on my back straight away.”