# The Traitors (British TV series) series 1
**The Traitors series 1** was the first British series of the reality competition *The Traitors*, broadcast on [BBC One](https://www.edgepedia.org/bbc-one) from 29 November to 22 December 2022 and won by Faithfuls Hannah Byczkowski, Aaron Evans, and Meryl Williams.[15](https://www.thetraitors.tv/c/uk/s/1) Hosted by [Claudia Winkleman](https://www.edgepedia.org/claudia-winkleman) and produced by Studio Lambert, it placed 22 strangers in a Scottish castle where a secret minority of "Traitors" eliminated the other contestants, the "Faithfuls", through nightly "murders" and daily banishments.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/nov/29/the-traitors-review-claudia-winkleman-bbc-one-reality-show) The series was a ratings and critical success for the BBC and won the BAFTA TV Award for Reality & Constructed Factual in 2023.[2](https://tollbit.radiotimes.com/tv/entertainment/reality-tv/claudia-winkleman-the-traitors-ending-season-1-newsupdate/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Host | Claudia Winkleman[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/nov/29/the-traitors-review-claudia-winkleman-bbc-one-reality-show) |
| Contestants | 22 members of the public; three secretly designated Traitors at the start[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/nov/29/the-traitors-review-claudia-winkleman-bbc-one-reality-show) |
| Prize fund | Up to £120,000; £101,050 was actually in the pot at the final[3](https://tollbit.radiotimes.com/tv/entertainment/reality-tv/the-traitors-season-1-recap/) |
| Winners | Hannah Byczkowski, Aaron Evans, and Meryl Williams as Faithfuls; Wilfred "Wilf" Webster was the runner-up Traitor[4](https://profilbaru.com/en/The_Traitors_%28British_TV_series%29_series_1) |
| Filming location | Ardross Castle, about a 30-minute drive north of Inverness, Scotland[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23743442/trivia/) |
| Reception | First episode won 4 million viewers; the series averaged 3 million viewers per episode and won a BAFTA TV Award in 2023[6](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/dec/09/the-traitors-how-highland-hunger-games-became-the-bbc-new-hit-claudia-winkleman) • [2](https://tollbit.radiotimes.com/tv/entertainment/reality-tv/claudia-winkleman-the-traitors-ending-season-1-newsupdate/) |
## Format and gameplay
The series adapted the Dutch format *De Verraders*. Contestants lived together in a castle and took part in team missions to build a prize fund of up to £120,000, which would be split among the winners.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/nov/29/the-traitors-review-claudia-winkleman-bbc-one-reality-show) • [7](https://bbctodays.pages.dev/programmes/articles/6c9af19a-cf0d-45f5-9612-9275ad747194) At the start, Winkleman secretly designated three contestants as Traitors. Each night the Traitors met in secret and chose one Faithful to "murder", removing them from the game; the victim's absence was revealed at the next morning's breakfast.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/nov/29/the-traitors-review-claudia-winkleman-bbc-one-reality-show)
By day, the group gathered at the [Round Table](https://www.edgepedia.org/round-table) to debate suspicions and vote to "banish" one contestant they believed was a Traitor.[7](https://bbctodays.pages.dev/programmes/articles/6c9af19a-cf0d-45f5-9612-9275ad747194) A banished person's true role was revealed on departure, so a wrongly banished Faithful could tell the group they had been wrong. If a Traitor survived to the end, they would take the whole prize fund; if the Faithfuls eliminated every Traitor, they shared the money.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/nov/29/the-traitors-review-claudia-winkleman-bbc-one-reality-show) The British and American versions end with contestants banishing until they unanimously decide to stop the game, a structure the format's Dutch original does not use.[8](https://thetraitors.fandom.com/wiki/End_Game)
Series 1 included twists that later series refined. In Episode 8 there was no meeting at the Traitor's Tower, in a segment called "Murder in Plain Sight".[9](https://thetraitorsuk.fandom.com/wiki/Series_1) By the end of Episode 11 only one original Traitor, Wilf Webster, remained, and he faced an ultimatum.[9](https://thetraitorsuk.fandom.com/wiki/Series_1)
## Production
Studio Lambert, the production company behind *Gogglebox*, *The Circle*, and *Race Across the World*, optioned the rights to the Dutch format and made both the UK and US versions.[6](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/dec/09/the-traitors-how-highland-hunger-games-became-the-bbc-new-hit-claudia-winkleman) Producer Stephen Lambert said his team spotted the potential of the original, created by TV producer Marc Pos, and shot the two shows sequentially at Ardross Castle.[6](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/dec/09/the-traitors-how-highland-hunger-games-became-the-bbc-new-hit-claudia-winkleman) The castle, a Scottish Baronial building previously a hunting lodge for the 1st Duke of Sutherland and privately owned by the McTaggart family since 1983, sits roughly 25 miles north of [Inverness](https://www.edgepedia.org/inverness).[10](https://www.gallowglass.com/our-projects/studio-lambert-the-traitors/) Producers Mike Cotton and Tim Harcourt chose it because the Dutch version had used a castle, the BBC wanted to film in Scotland, and Ardross had "a great hall for the round table", which Cotton called the "heart of the show".[6](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/dec/09/the-traitors-how-highland-hunger-games-became-the-bbc-new-hit-claudia-winkleman)
The commissioning of a US version gave the producers more budget, and the NBC edition went into production just before the British one.[11](https://rts.org.uk/article/wink-murder-steroids-behind-scenes-traitors) [The Traitors](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-traitors) met late at night in a "Traitor's Tower" segment; Webster later said the Traitors were constantly tired because of how late those scenes were filmed.[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23743442/trivia/)
## Contestants and outcome
The cast was drawn from the general public across a broad range of ages, a casting choice critics singled out: contestants included 54-year-old Amanda from Swansea, 72-year-old retired Andrea, a secretly coupled pair Alex and Tom, and 25-year-old BMX athlete Aaron.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/nov/29/the-traitors-review-claudia-winkleman-bbc-one-reality-show) For most of the run it appeared that Traitor Wilfred Webster would win, but at the final roundtable the remaining Faithfuls turned on him and Kieran was banished.[3](https://tollbit.radiotimes.com/tv/entertainment/reality-tv/the-traitors-season-1-recap/) The series concluded on 22 December 2022 with Hannah Byczkowski, Aaron Evans, and Meryl Williams winning £101,050 as Faithfuls, while Webster placed as runner-up.[4](https://profilbaru.com/en/The_Traitors_%28British_TV_series%29_series_1) • [3](https://tollbit.radiotimes.com/tv/entertainment/reality-tv/the-traitors-season-1-recap/)
## Reception and impact
The first episode, broadcast on 29 November 2022, won 4 million viewers and drew comparisons with "Nasty Nick" Bateman's gameplay in the first series of *Big Brother*.[6](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/dec/09/the-traitors-how-highland-hunger-games-became-the-bbc-new-hit-claudia-winkleman) The series averaged 3 million viewers per episode and was described as a runaway hit for the BBC.[12](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/jan/23/the-traitors-some-of-the-most-addictive-electrifying-tv-in-years) All ratings were provided by BARB, and the series reached first place in the weekly BBC One rankings on 29 November 2022 with 3.88 million viewers.[9](https://thetraitorsuk.fandom.com/wiki/Series_1)
Critics responded strongly. Lucy Mangan's Guardian review called it "the Highlands Hunger Games" and praised Winkleman's marshalling of the cast, while a later Guardian piece named it the most exquisite reality TV of the year and noted the round tables as "a terrifying display of groupthink".[1](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/nov/29/the-traitors-review-claudia-winkleman-bbc-one-reality-show) • [13](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/dec/19/the-traitors-bbc-most-exquisite-reality-tv) Michael Hogan of *The Telegraph* rated the finale five stars out of five, calling it "dramatic, deliciously dark and just camp enough, this was old-fashioned event TV".[4](https://profilbaru.com/en/The_Traitors_%28British_TV_series%29_series_1) At the 2023 BAFTA TV Awards the series won Reality & Constructed Factual, and Winkleman said of the win, "Nobody's more shocked than us".[2](https://tollbit.radiotimes.com/tv/entertainment/reality-tv/claudia-winkleman-the-traitors-ending-season-1-newsupdate/)
The series established the template its successors followed. Webster's late collapse at the final hurdle became a reference point for the format's unpredictability, and the show's later seasons, a celebrity edition, and international spin-offs built on the audience the first series created.[14](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/jan/21/how-the-traitors-revolutionised-reality-tv-for-the-secretly-evil)
## References
1. [The Traitors review – Claudia Winkleman's new show is sick, twisted … and totally addictive, The Guardian (29 November 2022)](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/nov/29/the-traitors-review-claudia-winkleman-bbc-one-reality-show)
2. [Claudia Winkleman suggested The Traitors should end after season 1, Radio Times (15 May 2023)](https://tollbit.radiotimes.com/tv/entertainment/reality-tv/claudia-winkleman-the-traitors-ending-season-1-newsupdate/)
3. [The Traitors season 1 finale recap – who won?, Radio Times](https://tollbit.radiotimes.com/tv/entertainment/reality-tv/the-traitors-season-1-recap/)
4. [The Traitors (British TV series) series 1, Profilbaru](https://profilbaru.com/en/The_Traitors_%28British_TV_series%29_series_1)
5. [The Traitors UK (TV Series 2022– ) – Trivia, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23743442/trivia/)
6. [The Traitors: how 'Highland Hunger Games' became the BBC's new hit, The Guardian (9 December 2022)](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/dec/09/the-traitors-how-highland-hunger-games-became-the-bbc-new-hit-claudia-winkleman)
7. [The Traitors: How the Show Works, BBC One](https://bbctodays.pages.dev/programmes/articles/6c9af19a-cf0d-45f5-9612-9275ad747194)
8. [End Game, The Traitors Wiki](https://thetraitors.fandom.com/wiki/End_Game)
9. [Series 1, The Traitors UK Wiki](https://thetraitorsuk.fandom.com/wiki/Series_1)
10. [Studio Lambert – The Traitors, Gallowglass](https://www.gallowglass.com/our-projects/studio-lambert-the-traitors/)
11. [Wink Murder on steroids: behind the scenes of The Traitors, Royal Television Society](https://rts.org.uk/article/wink-murder-steroids-behind-scenes-traitors)
12. [The Traitors: some of the most addictive, electrifying TV in years, The Guardian (23 January 2024)](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/jan/23/the-traitors-some-of-the-most-addictive-electrifying-tv-in-years)
13. [I'm 100% faithful: The Traitors is the most exquisite reality TV of the year, The Guardian (19 December 2022)](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/dec/19/the-traitors-bbc-most-exquisite-reality-tv)
14. ['Oh my god, I'm a psychopath!' How The Traitors revolutionised reality TV, The Guardian (21 January 2025)](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/jan/21/how-the-traitors-revolutionised-reality-tv-for-the-secretly-evil)
15. [The Traitors (United Kingdom) - Season 1, The Traitors official site](https://www.thetraitors.tv/c/uk/s/1)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Reality and competition franchise editions › Taskmaster, The Traitors, and puzzle/deception game franchises*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license