Claudia Winkleman almost turned down her role hosting 'The Traitors' because of her "innate laziness".
Claudia Winkleman nearly didn't accept the job of hosting The Traitors
The 52-year-old TV presenter joined the BBC series when it launched in 2022 and returned for a second season this year, but Claudia has now admitted she nearly said no to the job because she didn't want to spend almost a month in Scotland and only changed her mind after watching the original Dutch version of the show.
When asked about the role during an appearance on the 'Dish with Waitrose' podcast, Claudia admitted it was her "innate laziness" that almost cost her the job. She explained: "[I almost turned it down] because of my innate laziness ... I was like, 'I'm really sorry I can't go to Scotland for three and a half weeks, but thank you so much for thinking of me. And why don't you ask the following people? Thank you, bye'.
"And they said, 'Just before you say definite no, can we just send you the tapes of the Dutch version?' And I was like, 'Yeah, okay, I really won't get round to [watching it' ... and then four days later, 'Have you watched it yet?' I was like, 'No … I am napping'."
However, when she finally got around to watching the show, she breezed through the whole series in one day. She added: "I watched all twelve In one sitting, which ... was major because I have to be ... I'm asleep at nine.
"So, and I was like, cannot come to bed. And then, yeah, and I texted my boss at the BBC ... and I said, 'I'll book my own train. Yeah, I'm coming. I'm going to Inverness'."
Claudia went on to admit she was "overwhelmed" by the success of the first series, and then dished some details about how they make sure the contestants don't confer once they leave the set.
She explained: "Everybody is man-marked, they have somebody who is looking after them, and when they leave the castle, they don't see each other until they arrive at breakfast."
Claudia also revealed the cast and crew end up working well into the night because it doesn't get dark in Scotland in the summer until quite late.
She added: "[The bell rings at] probably midnight ... Cause it gets dark, we're so far north, it gets dark, incredibly late ... So the star is the game. And the game needs ... so it's not about, 'Oh, I'm quite tired'.
"Mm-mm. Have another bag of beef Hula Hoops, guys ... "
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