Claudia Winkleman discusses new show The Traitors

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Claudia Winkleman was left heartbroken when her eldest son Jake flew the nest – but the distress she felt prompted her to move out of her comfort zone. Before she knew it, the Strictly star was suddenly taking risks and “saying yes” to new projects – and that’s what prompted her latest reality TV presenting gig, The Traitors.

The TV host whisked 22 strangers off to a castle in a picturesque yet remote corner of the Scottish Highlands for a twisted psychological game show.

The Traitors, which was filmed over the spring season and debuted this week on BBC One, has its fair share of plot twists.

Claudia kicked off the 12-part show by interviewing each contestant in private and deciding which of them were cut out to be “traitors” who would betray their fellow castle inmates and which were “the faithful” who wouldn’t harm a single soul.

Yet she has now revealed that she may never have said yes to the project, were it not for her son leaving home.

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“But then my eldest left home for university and I was asked to do this show and I just thought, ‘I just can’t say no’.”

She then described filming the Traitors as being similar to “giving birth again”, demonstrating the creative energy she poured into her endeavour. 

Claudia added that she has accepted the ageing process, even if her skin has become “like crepe paper” – and that she now sees her 50s as an opportunity for a new challenge.

“I turned 50 and thought I’d start saying yes to things,” she continued in an interview with The Sun.

“We’re only here for two minutes, so I felt like I wanted to work a bit more and be less risk-averse.”

Just a few years earlier, Claudia had intentionally begun to scale down her projects so that she could spend more time with her children – 19-year-old Jake, who has just flown the nest, 16-year-old Matilda and the baby of the family Arthur, who is 11.

She shares her daughter and two sons with movie producer Thykier, who, like her, has now turned 50.

Yet now that Jake is no longer at home, it has prompted Claudia to become more adventurous again as she enters a new era of life – her sixth decade.

Emulating her mother, a newspaper editor who had kept her professional and private life totally separate, she has tried not to involve her kids in the showbiz world.

“I never saw her on telly, we weren’t allowed to when we were growing up… [and] if I even mentioned it, she’d change the subject,” Claudia mused.

Likewise, Claudia and her two eldest kids don’t watch Strictly while daughter Matilda, who is now involved in GCSE prep, is so nonchalant about her mum’s profession that she even texts her during broadcasts.

She joked that on Saturdays, she gets frantic messages from her quizzing: “Have we run out of jam?”

Claudia’s jokey response was: “I don’t need you to listen to my show, but I do need you to know that I’m live on BBC Radio Two. I can’t be in charge of jam right now, please just ask your dad.”

Hosting Strictly alongside Tess Daly, who is 53, and witnessing other women in their 50s succeed, including 55-year-old Davina McCall, whose exercise plans go down a storm, and 51-year-old BGT host Amanda Holden, has spurred Claudia on.

Now she’s determined to ignore any naysayers and set a great example about how much women in her era of life are capable of achieving.

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