Claudia Winkleman on using her 18-year-old daughter Matilda’s tactics to avoid giving away The Traitors spoilers

Claudia Winkleman revealed how her 18-year-old daughter Matilda helps her to avoid giving away The Traitors spoilers ahead of the upcoming third series, which returns to BBC One on New Year’s Day. 

Speaking to HELLO! and other press at the preview of the new season, Claudia shared that her daughter Matilda’s favourite way of eluding questions is to respond with “cool” – something the presenter channelled when being quizzed about the show. 

Claudia also spoke about sourcing bespoke knitwear, being terrified about how viewers will react to the new episodes. Read the full report below. 

The Electric Cinema on London’s Portobello Road is humming with anticipation when HELLO! arrives for a preview of the new series of The Traitors alongside the show’s presenter Claudia Winkleman, who has shed her Strictly Come Dancing sequins to make way for her castle-dwelling, knitwear-loving alter ego in the BBC’s reality TV sensation.

It is the third time that Claudia, 52, has ventured to Ardross Castle in the Highlands to film the show. And the presenter, who has three children – Jake, 21, Matilda, 18, and 12-year-old Arthur – with her film producer husband Kris Thykier, is in equal parts proud and terrified when it comes to the new series’ release. “Is it all right? Don’t answer,” she asks us after we’ve had a sneak preview of the show.

Sporting a special knitted sweater-vest bearing the Traitors logo for the occasion, she adds: “There’s a woman called Rowan Walker. She’s a one-woman business and she knits, and I found her and said: ‘Please can you make this?’ She said: ‘I’ve never watched it, but sure.'”

Claudia’s exuberant personality is muted in the programme as she plays the role of a shadowy host, often the bearer of bad news to a group of contestants who are hoping to win the £120,000 prize.

© Pascal Le Segretain, Getty

The game is simple: some of the contestants are dubbed Traitors, while the others are Faithfuls. The Faithfuls must root out the Traitors, while the Traitors must try to convince the Faithfuls of their loyalty. If all of the Traitors have been banished by the end, the Faithfuls win. If not, the remaining Traitors take home the prize money.

“I’m completely terrified,” Claudia says. “Even though on Saturday I was talking about people’s cha-cha-chas [on Strictly], in my head I’m thinking: ‘Will they like The Traitors?'” she quips. “That’s not true. I was focused on Strictly!

© BBC

“We’re totally terrified because the success of the first one blew our socks off; we didn’t expect it. Wearing leather gloves, talking to an owl.

“Will anybody like it? I love making it so much. It’s such an honour to be in that round table and see how it unfolds.”

Despite attempting to remain serious in her presenting duties, Claudia reveals that she adores the contestants, all of whom have given her affectionate nicknames. “They’re like my children who I’m incredibly mean to,” she says. “I consider them my children – they call me Auntie Claud or Mummy Claud by the end.”

© BBC / Studio Lambert / Cody Burridge

The star is so invested in the show that she admits things often take an emotional turn. Touching on this series, she says: “There is somebody this year, and you can’t see it, but I really cried when they were banished, in a way that was probably a bit unhealthy.

“The camera people are all completely hidden in the round table and two of them came out and they were also crying. The three of us cried together. We go in deep.”

Despite the show’s success, Claudia says that her children have remained indifferent to her presenting gig. When asked if, after filming, she takes home the portrait of herself that sits in the Scottish castle, she says: “Can you imagine?

© Studio Lambert/Llara Plaza/BBC

“My children don’t even know that I’m part of this show, so they would find it weird. No, I absolutely don’t.”

She adds: “At first, they didn’t tell me [about the portrait]. I just happened to sit there and I yelped when I saw it – it was bizarre.”

Claudia also reveals that her daughter Matilda’s favourite way of evading questions is to answer “cool” – something the presenter channelled when being asked questions that could have resulted in spoilers for the show.

© Dave Benett, Getty

When quizzed about her ideal guests for the celebrity version of the show, which is due to be broadcast later this year, she says: “Cool. By the way, that’s my favourite thing – my 18-year-old says it all the time.

“If I say: ‘I’ve got your favourite cereal,’ or if she doesn’t want to answer me, she says: ‘Cool.'” But really – who would be her perfect celebrity contestant? “I can’t answer that. I’m grateful for anyone who comes. We’re very grateful to the people who have taken part who want to come and play. Plus Barack Obama!”

INTERVIEW: EMMY GRIFFITHS

The Traitors is on BBC1 on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights and on BBC iPlayer.