Claudia Winkleman has said that "exciting things have changed" for series three of The Traitors.

The BBC programme will return on New Year’s Day and see the 52-year-old presenter once more meet a group of strangers at a Scottish castle for an intense game fraught with detection and backstabbing.

Claudia Winkleman says 'exciting things have changed' for series three of The Traitors

Speaking about the upcoming series, Claudia Winkleman said: “I would love to tell you all about series three, but then I will get fired so I can tell you absolutely nothing.

“What I will tell you is that things are different this year. There are some really exciting things that have changed, which keeps everyone on the toes and feeds into the central premise of trust. I can’t wait for everyone to see.”

She said that missions would play a bigger role in the upcoming series of The Traitors, adding that watching previous episodes of the show would not help the incoming contestants.

Winkleman said: “The new contestants can watch previous series, but that doesn’t mean it will necessarily help them, how can it?

“Every series has a whole new bunch of players, with different minds, and different interpretations of the game.

“And like any good murder mystery, the plot is always full of twists and turns. There’s one twist this year which will hopefully have viewers on the edge of their seat.”

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When asked about the show's success, the London-born presenter said she could not pinpoint why the show had become so popular.

She added: “I know why I love it, and that’s because the game is so clever, and you can never predict what’s going to happen. Watching people work other people out, is fascinating.

“The other thing that’s so interesting, is that we’re told all our lives to trust our guts, but The Traitors suggests that maybe our guts don’t know as much as we think they do.”

The Traitors starts New Year’s Day at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.