Harry Clark, who won The Traitors in 2024, told Yahoo UK that Jonathan Ross, Alan Carr and Cat Burns have made one big mistake.
As arguably the greatest traitor on the BBC show, the former winner has shared his verdict on the traitors on the celebrity spin-off series.
Speaking to promote his new book Staying Faithful, which details his strategy to winning, he told Yahoo UK: “The only thing about their [the Celebrity Traitors‘ villains] game that I would have changed is just the way that they’re thinking about the game as a whole. Their ruthlessness; you’re not friends when you’re there.
They might be too nice to get the job done
“They would do the same to you. They felt bad after their first murder. I remember celebrating our first murder. That’s a good moment for the traitors, right?
“I hope they would be more ruthless, and I think that’s probably the only weakness, is that they might be too nice to get the job done, which I hope isn’t true but other than that, it’s just the best series I’ve seen.”
Verdict on Jonathan Ross, Alan Carr and Cat Burns
Deceiving and backstabbing his way to the final, Clark had one final lie to tell his faithful friend Mollie Pearce to win the £95,150. Ruthlessly, he did it for his family.
Having donned the traitor cloak for the full three weeks of filming, the TV star could immediately spot the strengths and weaknesses in the Celebrity Traitors’ turret. Clark pinpointed the traitor who has been performing in a similar vein to himself.
He said: “Their biggest strength is that they’re a good team. I don’t see any of them backstabbing each other. In our series, the traitors were ruthless. They were the least trusted, even in the turret, than like everywhere else.
“We had less trust in the turret than we did outside of it, but I think they worked really well as a team and they all take that position where they have Alan Carr [who] is the funny one who brings the banter.
“Jonathan Ross took the forefront as the leader of the group, and then Cat Burns is doing a similar thing [that] I would be doing, taking that middle balance of letting them take the reins, and if they mess up, they mess up. If they don’t, then she’s still got traitors with her.”
Though it should be noted, comedian Carr did joke to Burns about having to throw Ross to the faithful wolves.
Celebrity Traitors cast are closer than you think
Unlike the civilian series, the Celebrity Traitors stars have rubbed shoulders with each other before and it brings a whole different dynamic to the game. The only exception in the civilian series is a secret relationship — whether that’s a real-life couple, a mother and son or siblings among the strangers.
Traitors Carr and Ross likely know the most celebrities taking part in the BBC show, with the comedian choosing to murder his real-life best friend, Paloma Faith, first.
Former winner Clark felt knowing other people would have been a disadvantage for him, especially as his family and his girlfriend Anna Maynard can tell when he is lying.
He said: “For me personally, I would have said it was a disadvantage if I was in there, people knew each other. Just because I think if you’re not the favourite or if people have nothing to go off, they’ll choose their friends over the people they don’t know.
“But again — this is the whole thing with The Traitors — it’s a different twist that we haven’t seen yet and it’s exciting to see how it will work.”
How to win The Traitors
As the only traitor to win the UK series so far, Clark has great insight into the workings of the murder mystery game. His book Staying Faithful maps out how to win the BBC show and the mentality he had that propelled him to win. Clark doesn’t discount that there was an element of luck involved too.
He said: “In that book… It basically shows you the mentality you need to be able to win the traitors, and I think again, one, it’s a lot of luck. My life seems to have a lot of luck in it, and I know people say you create your own luck…
“Obviously, I got really lucky when I was there, and I’ve been lucky ever since. I always count my lucky stars, but I think it is just having that discipline and that true intention to know why you’re there [puts you in a good position to win The Traitors].”
Clark had a bold request for the TV bosses before the game had even started, which set him in good standing for winning.
He added: “Very easily you can go there — not saying anyone had that idea — but nowadays you could go there and think, ‘Oh, I’ve seen Harry do this, this and this, I want to go to the Baftas, that’s why I want to go on The Traitors’. And that’s the complete wrong intention to have.
“I never saw series one, and I went on there to win the money and be a traitor. I actually said, ‘If I’m not a traitor, don’t bother sending me.’ Because I had never seen it, and I’m not like a super fan. So if I’m not a traitor, which is what I want to be, I’m ruining someone else’s chance who’s like a super mega fan, to be faithful if they wanted to go there and be one.
“You might as well choose someone who wants to be one. So I went there with such a true intention. I think that’s what my best advice would be is to go there and know why you want to be there, because once you have that true intention, like me, [whether it’s to] go there to be a faithful and get the job done and to win it.
“Nothing else mattered, so I was so locked in on the game and like I said, the discipline to stay strong. To know why you’re there again and you’re there for a harmless reason to understand that it’s just a game, not take it too seriously, and the people you aren’t actually murdered. You see them after! Having that discipline and that motivation to keep going no matter what.”
Celebrity Traitors airs at 9pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.