The Traitors series three: First murder victim revealed in New Year episode

Communication scientist Yin has become the first murder victim of The Traitors series three.

Presenter Claudia Winkleman welcomed a batch of new contestants to the game of “detection, backstabbing and trust”, on Wednesday evening, for the hit BBC programme, where the aim is to win up to £120,000.

While journeying to the Traitors’ castle in the Scottish Highlands, the host of new faces were told that three passengers would need to disembark the train to whittle down the contestants from 25 to 22.

Last year, all of the contestants made it to the castle, while series one saw them line up from least to most likely to win, with the two at the “least likely” end being told to leave.

In another twist in format, Winkleman said that winning the money this year would “require even more smarts than ever” as finalists would no longer be able to reveal whether they are a traitor or faithful after being voted out.

“You will need to rely solely on your instincts as to whether any traitors are left in the game”, she told the contestants.

The episode also saw Winkleman, 52, choose the traitors, opting for 70-year-old retired opera singer Linda, 29-year-old call centre manager Minah and 27-year-old financial investigator Armani.

After deliberating for the very first time, the traitors chose to murder 34-year-old Yin from Berkshire, who Armani said “was very intellectual” and could become “a threat later on”.

The tense game show sees the contestants attempt to identify who among them are “faithfuls” and “traitors”, with the traitors plotting to murder the faithfuls and the faithfuls trying to identify and banish the traitors.

Finalists have a chance of winning a chunk of the prize, but if a traitor survives until the very end, unidentified, they take home the full prize pot, while any faithfuls left go home with nothing.

At breakfast, Winkleman dropped Yin’s photo to the floor after revealing she had become the first contestant to be murdered.

“It’s brutal here isn’t it? You need to get used to that,” she said.

The episode ended with a roundtable as the contestants deliberated on who they think is a traitor and should be banished.

The second episode of The Traitors will air on January 2 at 8pm on BBC One, while the rest of the episodes, airing Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights, will begin at 9pm.

Comedian Ed Gamble has returned as host of the Traitors Uncloaked visualised podcast, which is available after every episode of the main show on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.