If you’re a woman on The Celebrity Traitors this year, there could be more of a chance that you’ll be banished by your fellow contestants – that’s according to the roundtable statistics so far.
This week will see the final two episodes of the 2026 series air, with viewers set to find out whether comedian Joanne McNally or actor Sharon Rooney will be banished in Thursday night’s episode. Whoever gets the chop at the roundtable will become the fifth woman to be voted off by the remaining cast, in what appears to be part of a wider trend on this series.
Viewers have noticed – and we have also verified – that five out of seven banishments (including the forthcoming one on Thursday) have been of female contestants, with 68 per cent of roundtable votes having been for women so far. Currently, 78 votes have been for women and that number will be 80 by the time King Kenny votes during Thursday’s episode, as he was given the power of his vote counting for two. Meanwhile, 36 votes have been for men across the series.
Over the past four weeks of the competition, we’ve seen Myha’la, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Hannah Fry, Jerry Hall and either McNally or Rooney banished, while the only two men to be kicked off following a roundtable vote are Richard E Grant and Joe Lycett.
One Celebrity Traitors viewer wrote on Reddit: “The only reason for men to have been banished is literally saying ‘I’m a traitor’ and ‘I want to be recruited as a traitor’.”
At the start of the series, Grant infamously told several contestants that he had been made a Traitor, resulting in him becoming the first star to be banished. In episode six, Lycett was banished after admitting the night before that he desperately wanted to be recruited as a Traitor, with some then convinced that he had in fact been invited into the turret by the existing group.
As for why the others were banished, Myha’la was accused of being a Traitor for winking at Grant at the roundtable, Hesmondhalgh was seen to have overreacted to Bella Ramsey’s murder at breakfast, and some contestants noted that Fry’s behaviour had changed and therefore correctly suspected her of being recruited as a Traitor. Hall was banished after McNally called her “a professional pot stirrer”, while last Friday’s episode saw the vote split between Faithfuls McNally and Rooney.
Some had suspected that McNally had accidentally revealed herself to be a Traitor after a roundtable slip-up, while Rooney was accused after speaking out against James Acaster being chosen as one of three contestants to receive a special power during the last challenge, after Acaster had told her that he didn’t want the pressure of the power.
So – does The Traitors have a problem with women? While it seems that a disproportionate number of women have been banished on this series of Celebrity Traitors, that hasn’t been the case on any other UK series.
The first series of Celebrity Traitors in 2025 actually saw more men banished overall (five compared to four women) and by this point in the competition, more men had been booted off at the roundtable. Meanwhile, just 36 per cent of overall roundtable votes were for women that year.
The statistics are similar for series of flagship show The Traitors, with more men being banished than women every year.
The BBC declined to comment when approached by The Independent.
At the moment, out of the women, just Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Maya Jama and either Rooney or McNally are left in the competition – and Jama seems to be flying completely under the radar as a Traitor, with the TV presenter staying fairly quiet at the roundtables. She’s joined in the turret by James Acaster and King Kenny at the moment, and the trio just might make it all the way to the final.
Earlier this month, Celebrity Traitors: Uncloaked host Ed Gamble addressed claims of unconscious racial and cultural bias on the show. Since the UK series began airing in 2022, there has been debate around whether unconscious bias plays a role in banishments, with ethnic minority players deemed to be more “suspicious” than white players.
After leaving the show, Myha’la defended her fellow players when a viewer suggested she had been banished due to racism. The Industry star said that she “understood” why the fan felt like way and “may have agreed” had she not playfully winked at Richard E Grant.
Gamble said: “I certainly wouldn’t like to counteract anyone’s lived experience. I also think Myha’la said that she signed her own death warrant with the wink, but that certainly doesn’t mean it’s not true, and it’s something that needs to be discussed and looked at.”
The Celebrity Traitors returns on Thursday at 8pm on BBC One.
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