Richard Osman appears to have let slip when Celebrity Traitors season two could return, despite the BBC keeping the launch date firmly under wraps.
The apparent blunder happened during a live recording of The Rest Is Entertainment at London’s Southbank Centre.
Richard and co host Marina Hyde were joined by former England rugby player and series one finalist Joe Marler.
During the event, Joe was asked what advice he would give the celebrity contestants heading into the castle.
His response then sparked an exchange which appeared to reveal the closely guarded launch schedule.
Celebrity Traitors start date ‘revealed’ by Richard Osman
While chatting to Richard, Joe discussed what he had heard about filming for The Celebrity Traitors 2026. He said the first series “was very laugh-led”, with contestants enjoying themselves between the more serious moments.
He suggested the latest cast had taken a rather different approach, reportedly throwing themselves into the competition from the very beginning.
Joe said: “I believe it was a slightly different emotion than our experience. Ours was very laugh-led, and everyone was sort of enjoying catching up, you know, pratting about to the point where they went, ‘Guys, we’re trying to play a game’.
“Whereas this lot really want it from the start, and then I guess they see how well the first series has gone and there’s a little bit of pressure on them to be like, ‘Oh I’d quite like a bit of that’.
That was when Richard appeared to have his own Traitors moment.
Joe asked: “What is it, September 23, the next series?”
Richard replied: “By the way, to point out, it’s absolutely embargoed that it starts on September 23.”
He then added: “The cat’s out of the bag, isn’t it? Not to repeat it.”
However, the BBC has since responded to Richard’s apparent start date slip.
BBC reacts to Richard Osmon’s Traitors start date ‘slip’
A BBC spokesperson told TVGuide that the broadcaster “does not comment on speculation”. We were also directed to an Instagram post from Richard Osman’s account.
In the post, Richard denied that he had revealed the highly anticipated launch date.
He wrote: “We had the BEST time at the #TheRestIsEntertainment live show at the Royal Festival Hall last night. Here we are afterwards with our amazing special guest @joemarler17 and our brilliant producers Joey McCarthy and Imee Marriott.
“Thank you to the incredible crowd, it was such a treat for us. And, contrary to newspaper reports, we didn’t ACTUALLY reveal the launch date for the new Celeb Traitors, mainly because WE DON’T KNOW IT.”
So, just like most things in Ardross Castle, the mystery continues!
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