BACK IN SCOTLAND AS QUEEN OF THE CASTLE

As she returns to front The Traitors, Claudia Winkleman tells us about sourcing bespoke knitwear, using her daughter's tactics to avoid spoilers and being terrified about how viewers will react

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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.

WINNING FORMULA