Prince William reveals huge BBC TV show that's 'big treat' for Kate Middleton and kids

Prince William has revealed the runawayhit TV show that his family is “very much looking forward" as it returns to screens tonight.

The Prince of Wales said that The Celebrity Traitors is going to be a "big treat" for him, wife Kate, and their children as he presented TV executive Stephen Lambert with an honour at Windsor Castle. Mr Lambert, the founder and chief executive of Studio Lambert – the production company behind The Traitors, was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) this morning. The Celebrity Traitors launches tonight, with a cast of 19 famous faces, including comedian Alan Carr, retired Olympic diver Tom Daley and actor and TV host Sir Stephen Fry.

The show, presented by Claudia Winkleman, sees contestants try to detect the traitors in the group while completing a series of challenges to win funds to contribute towards the prize pot.

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If, at the end of the series, a traitor is left among the finalists, the faithfuls – those who are not traitors – lose out on the money and the traitor wins the full prize.

Mr Lambert, 66, said: “My award is for services to television, and we started talking about Celebrity Traitors, which launches tonight. He said he and the family were very much looking forward to watching it. It was going to be a big treat for them and probably for the nation, he expected.

“And I told him about the fact that our celebrities have entered into the game with great seriousness. So, they’re not just doing it because it’s a chance for them to be celebrities on television, but because they actually love the game, but also because they are the talented people they are, so they’re also very funny, and I think it’s extremely entertaining television.”

Lambert added he and his team were “blown away by the quality of the people that were interested in doing the first season of Celebrity Traitors”.

He said: “Quite often when a show is announced as a celebrity version of something, many people haven’t actually heard of the celebrities that take part. In this case, nearly everybody who took part is well known.

“I mean people like Stephen Fry and Alan Carr and Celia Imrie, and list goes on, Clare Balding, Tom Daley, it’s extraordinary. They’re all people that everybody knows about. And so, I think, that if the show is as popular as we hope it is, and people like it as much as we hope they do, then there’s a good chance we’ll get equally good, if not even more famous, people the next time.”

Asked why he thinks The Traitors has been such a hit, he said: “I think it’s a game that people love watching and playing. I think that the players like it because it gives them licence, if they’re the traitors, to lie.

“Quite often in reality game shows, people end up being good and bad, and the bad ones are the ones that sort of lie and are sort of devious, here, they’re given licence to do that, it’s a bit like playing poker.

“You know, you’re allowed to lie, and so people don’t judge you badly for being a treacherous traitor in not telling the truth. And I think the audience partly love it, because it’s a classic case of dramatic irony. We know what’s going on better than the players.”

Studio Lambert is also behind Gogglebox, Race Across The World and Squid Game: The Challenge. Mr Lambert began his career at the BBC in the early 1980s, producing documentaries from around the world, including many filmed in conflict zones.

In 1994, he became the founding editor of the BBC Two documentary strand Modern Times, before joining RDF Media in 1998 as its first director of programmes, where he was responsible for factual entertainment series such as Faking It, Wife Swap and The Secret Millionaire.

He founded Studio Lambert in 2008 with backing from All3Media. Undercover Boss became the company’s first success, running for 11 seasons on CBS and earning multiple Primetime Emmy Awards.

In 2013, Studio Lambert launched Gogglebox for Channel 4, now one of the network’s most beloved and enduring series and, more recently, The Traitors and Race Across The World, which have become two of BBC One’s highest-rated shows, while Squid Game: The Challenge found global success on Netflix.