Celebrity Traitors 2 cast: Who are this year's 'big dogs' and dark horses?

Celebrity Traitors returns next week for a second round of deception and amateur detective work.

Hosted by Claudia Winkleman, the Traitors castle will welcome 21 new celebrities on Thursday, as a group of famous "faithfuls" attempts to work out which among them are - and perhaps, always have been - "traitors", secretly murdering contestants each night.

Last year's show provided Bafta's most memorable TV moment - an award voted for by the British public - when traitor Alan Carr broke down in tears at the end of the final having bluffed his way to a win by hiding in plain sight.

Let's have a stab in the dark, then, at who might follow in Jonathan Ross's footsteps as this year's "big dog", and who, like singer Cat Burns, could fly under the radar?

If Carr was the star of last year's show, then perhaps his fellow TV funnymen could be the ones to watch this time around.

Naturally good readers of a room and skilled at misdirection, comedians can inject some comic relief into those tense roundtable moments.

It worked for Carr, who was considered to be less of a threat and more out of his depth by the other sleuths.

This time around, stand-up star Joe Lycett, 38,is one of the leading candidates for the role of class clown. Known for his quick wit and political stunts, Lycett told the BBC he asked Carr for advice on "how to spot a rotten little traitor like you".

Last year's winner replied: "Just anyone that's sweating and giggling."

With his brightly coloured outfits, Lycett will bring some glamour to the castle, if and when he's not donning the famous dark cloak.

"There's a lot of variety and silly stuff that I might not get to wear at all if I end up doing a Paloma," he noted, with reference to Paloma Faith, who was brutally killed off early doors last year by her supposed friend, Carr.

If laughing all the way to the winning line is to work again, then it's hard to look beyond James Acaster.

Anyone who has seen his Netflix special Repertoire or heard his podcast Off Menu will know his deadpan, absurdist humour and whimsical flights of fancy could make it difficult to tell whether he is telling the truth or not.

A "huge fan" of the show since the first non-celebrity edition in 2022, Acaster, 41, said he would prefer to be a faithful as he wasn't good at lying - though Carr did previously say something similar...

Romesh Ranganathan's dry humour and wry presenting style saw him succeed Anne Robinson as the host of The Weakest Link revival in 2021. Could it help him to become a more believable traitor or faithful?

The former maths teacher and now comedy podcaster, 48, blamed his youngest son, who was "desperate for me to come on", for his reluctant participation this year.

One of his best friends on the comedy circuit, Parenting Hell podcaster Rob Beckett, is another of this year's funniest contestants.

A decade's worth of friendship with the 8 Out of 10 Cats and Mock the Week panellist could count for nothing in the castle, Ranganathan said. He believes Beckett, 40, is "just as easily going to be on my side as he is going to twist the knife in my back given the opportunity".

One of the nation's other most celebrated comics, Miranda Hart will no doubt be a big personality among the group.

In her self-titled sitcom, she starred as an awkward, accident-prone shopkeeper. Her apparent clumsiness and warm, self-deprecating persona might make her seem more trustworthy (rightly or wrongly).

After a spell of ill-health, Hart, 53, hopes "the joy of mucking about on television again will hopefully outweigh some of the challenges".

Irish comedian Joanne McNally, 43, could also be the joker of the pack this year. Her popular podcast My Therapist Ghosted Me is full of gossip, oversharing and comic bickering - music to the ears of the Traitors producers, no doubt.

Her stand-up is confessional and brutally honest. But honesty gets you nowhere in this game - or does it?

The "Big Dog Theory" was a piece of gameplay logic proposed by ex-rugby union star Joe Marler during roundtable discussions last year.

His reasoning was that one of the most famous contestants, AKA the big dogs, would have been chosen as a traitor to cause mass confusion (and, presumably, strong viewing figures).

Marler wondered out loud whether the big dog traitor in question was Sir Stephen Fry (no) or Jonathan Ross (yes).

For the new series, a glut of huge names and personalities from across the worlds of film, TV, music, modelling and broadcasting have also been selected.

Michael Sheen, the award-winning Welsh actor and campaigner, is perhaps the biggest dog in the fight, so will come under real scrutiny.

Sheen, 57, is acclaimed for his ability to convincingly portray a range of different personalities on screen, from Tony Blair to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor via Brian Clough.

But in real life, he's seen more as a loveable golden retriever than a Rottweiler, despite his success. Which version of him we shall see on the show remains to be seen.

Fellow big screen charmer Richard E. Grant, 69, who starred in films such as Withnail and I, may also leave some of the less well-known celebrities star-struck at first, as might American-British supermodel/actress Jerry Hall.

Hall, 70, shares four children with ex-partner Mick Jagger and has also been married to media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Love Island presenter Maya Jama, 32, and University Challenge host, journalist and YouTuber Amol Rajan are also powerhouses in the world of broadcasting.

Speaking ahead of the show, 43-year-old Rajan, who is in it to win it, said : "I don't want to go in there and at round table number one be Mr Forensic Investigator!

"However, I do interview politicians for a living, and I really have to pursue answers to questions."

He's conscious of putting "a target" on his back too soon, so plans to form alliances.

"To begin with, I want to try and make friends and keep my head down," he added.

EastEnders hardman turned hard-hitting documentarian Ross Kemp, 62, might prove popular once the tasks get physical.

And we don't know yet whether to expect the soppy You're Beautiful balladeer James Blunt, 52,or the prolific (and hilarious) online troll of the same name.

Either way, if the Big Dog Theory holds true, then one of the above will surely find themselves in the traitors' turret before long.

Little Mix and solo singing star Leigh-Anne Pinnock, 34, may be a big dog in the world of pop music, but she comes across as a down-to-earth family woman these days.

Don't be fooled, though, as she has a wealth of experience of managing relationships under intense public pressure from her girl group days.

Meanwhile, another potential dark horse, Bella Ramsey, revealed they had been playing a version of The Traitors since they were 10 years old, even hosting events at home - so should be well-prepared.

Now 22, the Last of Us star, who also featured in Game of Thrones, is the youngest of this year's contestants but should not be underestimated. The Traitors castle should be a cakewalk compared with the apocalypse or the Battle of Winterfell, right?

The plan is to be "instinctive, measured, and perceptive", Ramsey said. "I will be keeping my opinions to myself until I feel it's absolutely the right time to share them."

King Kenny, a member of popular British YouTube collective Beta Squad, is known for pranks, vlogs and more recently (and briefly), boxing.

The 29-year-old will be hoping the class of 2026 has more faith in online influencers than last year, when his Beta Squadmate Niko Omilana was the first player banished from the castle.

Omilana's early exit also sparked a discussion among some critics about non-white contestants being voted off UK/US reality game shows at an early stage, and whether unconscious bias may play a role.

Mathematician and broadcaster, Hannah Fry, who co-hosts The Rest is Science podcast, could fill David Olusoga's intellectual shoes this year.

Historian Olusoga quietly made it to the final last year despite having repeatedly voted out faithfuls thinking they were traitors.

Fry, 42, said she was "here to fulfil the nerd quota" and was taking the responsibility "extremely seriously".

She added: "I would say people tend to think I'm smarter than I actually am, bluntly, and I don't think that's going to serve me particularly well as I may be seen as a bit of a threat."

If the comedians are aiming to be the next Carr, then who could be the new Cat Burns and fly under the radar all the way to the final?

US actress Myha'la, 30, who plays Harper Stern in banking bonkbuster series Industry, may be top pick.

Unlike her ruthless character on the show, she said she was more of a "kill them with kindness kind of girl rather than a blatantly bullish bulldog". She added: "All that said, I want to be a Traitor. Obviously!"

She's deliberately planned her look - clothes, hair and jewellery - to separate herself from Stern and "be seen as me and not that character".

Julie Hesmondhalgh, will be known to audiences Up North especially as Roy Cropper's wife Hayley in the soap Coronation Street, between 1998 and 2014.

Hesmondhalgh, 56, who also appeared in Broadchurch and Mr Bates vs the Post Office, won't struggle to make friends with her warm personality. But they'd be wise not to forget she is, after all, a talented and experienced actress.

Sharon Rooney, star of My Mad Fat Diary and the Barbie film, is another contestant likely to keep a low profile, which, as we've seen, can work well up to a point.

But will it trigger suspicion of the Scottish Lawyer Barbie actress, 37, eventually?

And last but not least, Sebastian Croft, star of the recent Netflix coming-of-age hit Heartstopper, rounds off our list. Younger viewers will know all about Croft, 24, already, but will the older contestants?

Some names are bigger than others right now, but as three of last year's finalists - Burns, Olusoga and Nick Mohammed - discovered, that could change quickly over the coming episodes.

The Celebrity Traitors returns to BBC One and iPlayer on Thursday, 1 October.