Celebrity Traitors Episode 5: Date, Cliffhanger and Preview

Last Updated: 11 October 2026

celebrity traitors episode 5 is the episode every fan of the castle has been counting down to since Friday night’s brutal cliffhanger, and it arrives this week with a murder still unresolved and three famous faces in genuine danger. The Celebrity Traitors has quickly become the biggest reality event of the autumn, with Claudia Winkleman once again presiding over the suspicion, the missions and the most dramatic round table on British television. If you are planning your Thursday evening around celebrity traitors episode 5, here is everything you need to know before the castle doors swing open again.

Spoiler warning: this preview discusses the ending of episode 4, which aired on Friday 9 October, so stop reading here if you have not caught up yet on BBC iPlayer. Below, we explain exactly when the next episode airs, who could be murdered in the hide-and-seek twist, what the official preview promises, and how the rest of series 2 is scheduled — without inventing a single result, because celebrity traitors episode 5 has not been broadcast yet and nobody outside the castle walls knows how the cliffhanger ends.

When is celebrity traitors episode 5 on? Celebrity traitors episode 5 airs on Thursday 15 October 2026 at 8pm on BBC One, and streams live and on catch-up on BBC iPlayer. It is the fifth episode of ten in series 2, resolves episode 4’s murder cliffhanger, and is followed by episode 6 the next night.

Celebrity Traitors Episode 5: When and Where to Watch

Series 2 follows a simple, ruthless rhythm: two episodes a week, on Thursdays and Fridays at 8pm, on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. That pattern means celebrity traitors episode 5 lands on Thursday 15 October at 8pm, in the prime slot the series has made its own. Hosted by Claudia Winkleman from the show’s Scottish castle, each episode drops the 21 celebrities back into a game where one wrong conversation can end everything.

If you want the complete picture of how the series unfolds week by week, Radio Times’ full Celebrity Traitors series 2 release schedule sets out every episode date in one place. Our advice is simple: watch episode 4 first if you have not already, because the new episode is expected to open by resolving its cliffhanger, and arriving unspoiled would mean missing the single most talked-about ending of the series so far. Catch-up on BBC iPlayer makes that easy before celebrity traitors episode 5 begins.

There is barely time to breathe afterwards, either. Episode 6 follows on Friday 16 October at 8pm, so viewers get the resolution and its fallout on consecutive nights. That two-night structure is a big part of why the series dominates conversation every week: a cliffhanger on Thursday is answered within 24 hours, and the arguments at breakfast the next morning are still fresh when the following episode begins. Clear both evenings now — this is the week the series reaches its halfway point, and the game rarely stays polite for long.

What Is The Celebrity Traitors? The Format in Plain English

Here is a plain definition: The Celebrity Traitors is a BBC game show in which celebrity contestants live together in a Scottish castle, where a small, secretly chosen group of Traitors tries to eliminate everyone else — the Faithful — who must work out who is lying, banishing suspects at the Round Table while the Traitors secretly murder one player at a time. Nobody watching at home has to guess, but inside the castle every friendship is evidence and every slip of the tongue can be fatal.

Series 2 is a bigger production than what came before. The run stretches to 10 episodes, one more than the 9 episodes of series 1, and the castle opened its doors to a 21-strong cast of famous faces. That extra episode matters: it gives alliances more time to rot, gives the Traitors more nights to plot, and gives the Faithful more chances to get it spectacularly wrong at the Round Table before celebrity traitors episode 5 pushes the series to its halfway mark.

For context, series 1 was won by Alan Carr as a solo Traitor, a result that proved how completely one charming player can fool an entire castle. That history hangs over celebrity traitors episode 5 and every episode around it. The Faithful know a friendly face can be the most dangerous disguise of all, and the Traitors know that one triumphant precedent exists for going all the way alone. Every accusation this week will be filtered through that memory, which is exactly why the suspicion feels so much sharper second time around.

Episode 4’s Cliffhanger: Three Stars in Danger

Episode 4, which aired on Friday 9 October, ended with the cruellest kind of pause. A hide-and-seek twist left three players exposed, and the episode closed before viewers learned which of them, if any, the Traitors had chosen to murder. If you want the full story of how that night unfolded, our celebrity traitors episode 4 recap covers the episode in detail. The danger list, as the credits rolled, looked like this:

• Romesh Ranganathan: at risk of being murdered after the hide-and-seek twist exposed him.
• Rob Beckett: also in the firing line, waiting to learn whether the Traitors picked his name.
• Ross Kemp: the third player in danger as the episode cut to black.
• Leigh-Anne Pinnock: on the Traitors’ shortlist too — but protected, as explained below.

The twist inside the twist concerns Leigh-Anne Pinnock. She is also on the Traitors’ shortlist, but she is protected by a lock on her crypt door, which means the Traitors’ pick may fail entirely if they choose her. It is a delicious piece of jeopardy: the killers could walk away from the night with nobody murdered at all, their plan undone by a lock they cannot see. When celebrity traitors episode 5 opens, that single decision — three exposed names and one protected door — decides the whole shape of the episode.

Cliffhangers work best when every outcome hurts, and this one qualifies. Lose Romesh, Rob or Ross and the castle loses a big personality at the exact moment the game tightens. Lose nobody, because the Traitors chose the locked door, and the Faithful wake up with unexpected hope — and the Traitors wake up furious, exposed by their own failed plan. Either way, breakfast in celebrity traitors episode 5 promises the kind of stunned silence this programme does better than any other show on television.

Celebrity Traitors Episode 5 Preview: Face to Face With Death

So what can viewers actually expect? The official description for the episode says the players face a mission that brings them face to face with death, followed by the Round Table. That is all the programme-makers are giving away, and it is plenty: a mission with a mortal theme, played by a group still reeling from the murder reveal, and then a banishment vote where grief and suspicion collide. Expect the mission’s mood to hang over every conversation that follows it back at the castle.

The running order of celebrity traitors episode 5 almost writes its own drama. First comes the answer everyone has waited a week for: who, if anyone, was murdered in the hide-and-seek twist. Then comes the mission, where the surviving players must work together while quietly reordering their suspicions. Finally, the Round Table, where the day’s nerves become accusations. For a handy overview of which days the show airs each week, Capital FM’s guide to the Celebrity Traitors episode days is worth bookmarking for the rest of the run.

The Round Table questions practically ask themselves. Will the players connect the hide-and-seek twist to anyone’s behaviour the next morning, or will the mission sweep the suspicion away? Will Leigh-Anne Pinnock’s protected status stay secret, or has someone already guessed why she feels untouchable? And if the murder failed, will the Traitors play it cool over breakfast — or will one flicker of frustration give the whole game away to the Faithful watching them?

One honest note before Thursday: this is a preview, not a result. The episode has not aired, so any website claiming to know who is banished is guessing. What we can say is that the ingredients are unusually strong — an unresolved murder, a protected player the Traitors may waste their night on, a mission built around death itself, and a Round Table waiting at the end of it. However the votes fall, celebrity traitors episode 5 is set up to be the episode that redraws every alliance in the castle.

Full Series 2 Schedule: All 10 Episodes

Series 2 runs for 10 episodes in total, one more than series 1, airing two per week on Thursdays and Fridays. Here is the complete schedule in one place, with celebrity traitors episode 5 highlighted in the middle of the run:

Episode	Date	Time and channel
Episode 1	Thursday 1 October 2026	8pm, BBC One and BBC iPlayer
Episode 2	Friday 2 October 2026	8pm, BBC One and BBC iPlayer
Episode 3	Thursday 8 October 2026	8pm, BBC One and BBC iPlayer
Episode 4	Friday 9 October 2026	8pm, BBC One and BBC iPlayer
Episode 5	Thursday 15 October 2026	8pm, BBC One and BBC iPlayer
Episode 6	Friday 16 October 2026	8pm, BBC One and BBC iPlayer
Episode 7	Thursday 22 October 2026	8pm, BBC One and BBC iPlayer
Episode 8	Friday 23 October 2026	8pm, BBC One and BBC iPlayer
Episode 9	Thursday 29 October 2026	8pm, BBC One and BBC iPlayer
Episode 10 (final)	Friday 30 October 2026	8pm, BBC One and BBC iPlayer

The shape of the run is worth noting. After this week, the castle barely pauses: episodes 7 and 8 arrive on 22 and 23 October, episode 9 follows on Thursday 29 October, and the final, episode 10, lands on Friday 30 October. In other words, the whole second half of the series plays out in a fortnight. Every banishment from Thursday onwards removes a bigger share of the remaining players, so the Round Table in celebrity traitors episode 5 is not just dramatic — it is mathematically one of the most important votes of the series.

The Cast, Claudia’s Castle and Uncloaked

The 21-strong cast is a big reason this series feels unmissable. Among those who entered the castle are Amol Rajan, Bella Ramsey, James Acaster, James Blunt, Jerry Hall, Joanne McNally, Joe Lycett, Julie Hesmondhalgh, King Kenny, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Maya Jama, Michael Sheen, Miranda Hart, Myha’la, Professor Hannah Fry, Richard E Grant, Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan. Comedians, actors, singers and broadcasters are all playing the same paranoid game, and the mix of quick wits and famous faces makes every mission briefing feel like an awards show that has gone quietly wrong.

Presiding over all of it is Claudia Winkleman, whose deadpan delivery from the Scottish castle has become as much a part of the format as the cloaks themselves. If you want every player profiled in one place before Thursday, our full Celebrity Traitors cast guide introduces the whole line-up. Reading it before celebrity traitors episode 5 is a genuinely useful ritual: when the murder is revealed, knowing exactly who trusted whom — and who has been acting strangely since day one — makes the fallout twice as satisfying.

And the night does not end with the banishment. The companion show The Celebrity Traitors: Uncloaked follows each episode, hosted by Ed Gamble, and hears directly from the murdered and banished players about what really happened inside the castle. It has become essential viewing for fans who want the unfiltered version: the relief, the betrayal and the moment each player learned the truth. After celebrity traitors episode 5, with a failed-or-successful murder and a fresh banishment to unpack, Uncloaked might be the most revealing edition of the series so far.

There is also something to be said for watching it live, in the old-fashioned way, as the nation watches with you. Few programmes still create that shared Thursday-night moment, when group chats light up at every gasp and nobody dares check their phone during the Round Table for fear of blinking at the wrong second. This series, with this cast, in that candlelit castle, has earned its place as the week’s great communal television event — and the halfway episode is exactly when communal viewing pays off most.

Conclusion: Thursday Night Cannot Come Soon Enough

Conclusion: a locked crypt door, three stars in danger and a mission steeped in death — Thursday night is unmissable.

Everything is in place for a classic. celebrity traitors episode 5 airs on Thursday 15 October at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, opening with the answer to Friday’s hide-and-seek cliffhanger before a death-themed mission and a Round Table that could redraw the whole game. Catch up on episode 4 on BBC iPlayer, browse our cast guide so every face at breakfast means something, and then settle in — because whatever the Traitors decided in the dark, celebrity traitors episode 5 is where series 2 stops being polite and starts being unforgettable.