Claudia Winkleman breaks her silence as she crowns three female traitors in series first after sexism row

CLAUDIA Winkleman crowned three female Traitors tonight after branding last series’ all-male gang “like the olden days”.

After the problematic trend developed last series, a group of women were instead chosen to kick off the hit BBC show’s third run.

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Financial investigator Armani, 27, retired opera singer Linda, 70 and call centre manager Minah, 29, were handpicked by Claudia and show bosses.

Claudia, 52, commented: “We talk to all of them in the library, and I’m just the smallest voice in the room but we decide, having had those chats, who it’s going to be.

“And I loved picking these three.”

Asked if it felt like “a statement” after series two’s male domination, Claudia said: “There is a bit of that yes… I had faith.

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"They felt like the right three. Whatever happens, it was the right thing to do.”

Claudia ruffled feathers when she interjected after Traitors Harry Clark and Paul Gorton added three men to their pack in quick succession.

She told them: “Another man, good, it’s like the olden days.”
Claudia later commented: “Maybe I shouldn’t have done but I just had to say it.

“I was like ‘Come on, boys, what you need here is a really smart woman’, but they were threatened by them.”

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In another boost for the sisterhood, Armani and another player Maia reveal to the group that they are sisters.

Unlike previous years where partners Alex and Tom and mum and son Diane and Ross Carson kept their relationships under wraps, the girls confessed from the off because they knew they’d be unable to hide their likeness.

The launch episode opened with a savage twist, which saw three of the 25-strong cast kicked off the train to Ardross Castle, Inverness before the game had even begun.

It meant Jack, former British diplomat Alexander and community worker Fozia lost out within minutes.

Claudia said: “When they turn up, they assume they know the way the game is going to go and it’s our job to show them that they don’t.

“You can’t repeat. You want to give the people playing and the people watching something new.”

The Traitors continues tomorrow at 8pm on BBC One.

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