Traitor
Tim Davie (Director General of the BBC, 2020-present)
The first series of the Traitors had been a great success. There was a great deal of anticipation and speculation as the second series approached.
Tom Daley, Olympic Diver
It was the greatest series of television I’ve ever seen.
Mike Cotton, Exec Producer
We knew after the first series we had a lot to live up to. The decision to do a celebrity version wasn’t taken lightly and, once we made that decision, we needed names.
Kalpna Patel-Knight, Head of Entertainment Commissioning
We thought it would be fun to not reveal that we’d done that for the second series until the last minute.
Camilla Long, Journalist
The entire nation’s jaw dropped as one.
Excerpt from ‘Faithful’ (2025)
“As we approached the house, I poked my head through the sunroof and hollered. As I cried out. The rest of the celebrities in the Land-Rover looked at each other nervously and clutched their suitcases. I let the clean Scottish air fill my lungs. It had been a long time since I’d breathed air as fresh as this. I’d almost forgotten how good it could be. As I looked around, I saw Peter Crouch doing the same thing in the car behind me. We caught our eye, and I saw him laugh and point at the house as if I hadn’t seen it. ‘I know Crouchy! It’s so big!’ I shouted over the roar of the engines. I’m sure he couldn’t hear me, but he did a gesture to look like his head was exploding in response. The whole thing was exhilarating, but I needed to focus. I hadn’t come here to make friends.
Or maybe I had.
I had begun to sit back in the car but stopped myself. I needed to make some allies on this show and Crouchy might be exactly the sort of person it would benefit to get on board.”
John and Edward, TV Personalities and former X-Factor Contestants
John: Noone predicted that!
Edward: We were like “Wow!”
David Starkey, Historian
By every account, the former President of Uganda Idi Amin had died in 2003 and had not been seen in public since his funeral until the first episode of the second series of the Traitors. His reappearance was baffling.
Polly Simmons, PR Manager
I told Idi not to say where he’d been since he died. I thought it would be hard to communicate.
George Dixon, Experimental biologist and Idi Amin superfan.
What can I say? I was just a fan, like everyone else. I was just ahead of the curve and… Very intense about it
Idi Amin, Former President of Uganda
When I was alive, people used to profess their undying loyalty to me as easily as they would say hello, and yet not one of them had tried to undo my death. No one had ever taught themselves advanced kidney and brain surgery. Discovered a method of bringing corpses back to life. Exhumed my body, smuggled it across international borders and then bring me back to life. Until George.
George Dixon
There wasn’t anyone like Idi around anymore. That’s why I knew I had to bring him back. I just liked his… style.
Excerpt from ‘Faithful’ Idi Amin’s 2025 autobiography.
“I’d been enjoying hell. I really had. I liked the company. It was so nice to finally be surrounded by like-minded people. A lot of my concerns on Earth, the fear of being found, the kidney problems, my wives not getting along all ceased to be an issue. I hadn’t felt ill for twenty years. Being dead you don’t, obviously so the feeling of being stiff and nauseous took me by surprise. I went to my room to sleep it off and when I woke up, I was lying in the dark, naked, shivering on an operating table in what looked like an old crypt. I had spent my life first in Uganda, then exiled in Saudi Arabia and then literally in the fires of hell, but as I opened my eyes, I could see my first breath in two decades linger above me. It hung briefly, but before it had the chance to dissipate, was dispersed by a man, who I would later find out was George Dixon.”
Idi Amin
George wanted me to take over the UK. ‘We need someone strong,’ he said. ‘That’s what’s gone wrong with this country. We don’t have anyone who isn’t afraid to stand up to the woke!’
George Dixon
Idi replied that ‘If people are a problem, I have them killed.’ and I thought ‘Exactly! He gets it,’
Polly Simmons
The attempt at ‘soft-launching’ his comeback had not gone well. Noone believed it was the real him.
Idi Amin
I immediately tried to contact my former allies, but not one responded to my attempts at communication.
George Dixon
We found out later that most of those who were still alive were in prison for war crimes. So we tried to promote Idi ourselves. But it didn’t have much of an impact.
Idi Amin
None of my videos got any traction, even when I took part in trends and choreographed dances George promised would go big and wouldn’t be cringe.
George Dixon
After our first hate comment, we hired Polly. On her website she said that she provided all round consultation on how to restore someone’s reputation. She had salvaged the careers of people called Matt Hancock, Nigel Farage and Nadine Dorries before by putting them on reality TV and ‘The Traitors’ was her idea. She thought it was the perfect way to win over the hearts of the British public.
Polly Simmons
It was the biggest show on TV. It surprised me he’d heard of it. Seeing as Series 1 was broadcast while he was still dead.
Idi Amin
We had it on all the time in hell! We enjoyed booing the faithful. Going on it appealed to me. It would suit my skills, competition, ruthless pursuit of a goal and winning elections with 100% of the vote and I loved the Scottish setting, of course, my former dominion.
Polly Simmons
It was just another job to me.
From ‘Faithful’ (2025)
“Polly had told me about how to approach the show when she was briefing me for the show.
‘Idi, the Traitors is still quite a new show, and it’s really unpredictable and chaotic-’
‘Are you saying order must be restored?’
‘And that’s a perfect example of exactly the sort of thing you won’t be saying.’”
Polly Simmons
The producers were so excited to have him they gave him an advance of nearly £2 million.
Minutes from meeting with Polly (P), George (G) and Idi Amin (IA). November 2023.
P - ‘… this is the first UK celebrity version - so it’s even harder to work out how to position yourself. But the producers will want you to be there as long as possible because of the money they’ve paid. It’ll be so good for ratings they won’t kick you off immediately, so you should focus on making the other contestants like you. Build alliances. “Bromances” play well with viewers-’
IA ‘What is a bromance?’
G ‘Like a close relationship with another man-’
IA ‘Are you telling me to be a homosexual?!’
G ‘No I mean-’
IA ‘I will not commit sin Polly.’
P ‘Idi, you killed over a million people.’
IA ‘… Yes but that… I… Hmmm… Touche.’
Idi Amin
Polly told me I under no circumstances was to be homophobic. The other contestants would not take kindly to it and neither would the viewers.
Polly Simmons
I did say if he was ever off mic with Jim Davidson, it could be a good way to get him onside.
Idi Amin
I did not recognise any of the other people who had been in my car. They introduced themselves cheerily at first, as Trinny, Ronan and Naga.
Naga Munchetty, BBC Journalist and Presenter
I didn’t believe my eyes when I saw who was in the car with me, so I asked some questions.
Idi Amin
After I said I was a politician, Naga asked how old I was. When I said I was 98 and her eyes widened, although I could see the others looked impressed. Trinny asked me what my secret was. They were friendly until I had looked through the sunroof where I could see Naga was talking about they were having a conversation,
Naga Munchetty
I did my best to tell the others. I regret not being more subtle with it.
Idi Amin
I decided to focus on bonding with Crouchy. I thought he could be the gay-but-not-gay relationship Polly suggested I have on the show.
From ‘Faithful’ (2025)
“When the Land-Rover came to a stop, I led the others to where the producers had told us to stand then stood to attention. The other ‘celebrities’ posture and attitude was appalling. If they had been subjects of mine, I would have had them killed. They should pray Claudia Winkleman would be merciful.”
Mike Cotton, executive producer
I think he thought Claudia Winkleman ran the entire show. Like we just happened to be filming something that she was doing, anyway.
Idi Amin
Jim Davidson was there, but apart from him and Salt Bae I didn’t recognise anyone.
Mike Cotton, executive producer
We decided to do the start a little differently this series
Idi Amin
Claudia told us each person will write down the person they do not want to enter the house. The person with the most votes would be eliminated.’
Lewis Thurlow, Producer
We were never going to let him be voted off straight away. In the end he got 4 votes.
Idi Amin
All three others in my landrover and Michael Barrymore voted for me.
Naga Munchetty
Noone knew he was.
Idi Amin
As I was the first in the line, I voted for Naga. In the end, her and Jim Davidson were eliminated and got back into one of the cars. As the remaining 28 celebrities entered the house, I began to try and make allies within the group. I assumed it would be an uphill battle because of my reputation. But it was fine.
Basil Brush, UK television personality
I had no idea who Mr Idi was until after the show.
Ronan Keating, Former singer
The news was never my thing, and he just said he was an ex-politician
Salt Bae, Celebrity Chef
………..
Polly Simmons
The official story, when the cast of the show got announced, was that I hadn’t actually died, but came out of hiding because I was such a big fan of the show.
David Rogers, TV Critic
Noone was expecting Idi to become as popular as he became. Especially amongst the viewers at home.
Idi Amin
I was friendly to everyone. I didn’t manage to spend that much time with Crouchy, people seemed to be drawn to him, like moths around a lamppost and he seemed to be charming them all. On Day, I decided to make him Chief of Police when I took control.
Becky Winterbury, Traitors superfan
He just had so many classic moments. When he got everyone to vote Gino D’Campo out because he convinced everyone that Italians were shifty? And him and Peter Crouch were so funny together.
Peter Crouch, Former Footballer, Podcast Host and Chief of Police in Idi Amin’s first administration.
Our backgrounds couldn’t have been more different - he’s not normally the sort of person I’d be mates with. But when you’re in that environment you form these bonds. It’s hard to explain... I guess you could say it was a bromance.
Idi Amin
I was ambivalent about the role I was given as part of the show. Polly wanted me to be a faithful. She wanted me to show that I could be honest and truthful and it wouldn’t be the press I needed to be seen to be lying and manipulating people for my own gain. I could see her point, but the thrill of being in charge of people’s fates was an enticing one.
Polly Simmons
I’d wanted him not being one of the Traitors to be part of his contract but that got bartered away as part of the negotiations over merchandising.
Lewis Thurlow, Producer
The temptation to make him a traitor was just too good to pass up.
Idi Amin
I was so back.
Trinny Woodall, Fashion expert and former Host of Trinny and Susannah
He really got stuck in to be fair to him.
David Rogers
Idi Amin shoving Julia Walters off one the turrets when she was about to expose him was one of the most disgusting, vile acts of treachery I’ve ever watched. But it made incredible viewing. The decision to make it a cliffhanger whether the air ambulance made it to the hospital in time was one of the greatest bits of TV ever broadcast.
Ronan Keating
You can obviously say what you like about Idi, but he really got us through some of the tasks during the day. The prize pot at the end would definitely not have been as big as it was without him.
Lewis Thurlow, Producer
We obviously wanted him to last for a while, but we didn’t expect him to win. Let alone have the career success he had after. I suppose he came along at the right time; the BBC needed to be seen to be hiring right of centre voices on their poli-tainment programmes anyway and, let’s be real, he was an incredible ratings draw.
Becky Winterbury
Him guest-hosting ‘Good Morning Britain’ was one if the funniest things I’ve ever seen. When he did a blood sacrifice in front of the Heather McCartney live on air. You never knew what he would do next.
George Dixon
Idi seemed to be able to do no wrong. I hadn’t dared dream it had gone this way.
Liz Truss, Former British PM
Finally, we had a popular voice in the media who didn’t seem to be embarrassed to be anti-woke. There was some in the party who thought we shouldn’t allow him to become a member but personally, I was thrilled when he announced he wanted to stand in the Clacton by-election.
Naga Munchetty
It was one of the fastest ascendencies British Politics had ever seen.
Polly Simmons
Questions were asked about his past which we knew would happen.
Jeremy Paxman, Former TV Host and inmate at HMP Broadmoor
I just planned to ask him whether he intended to run Britain in the same way he had run Uganda in the 1970s.
Naga Munchetty
It was when he shot Jeremy Paxman live on air I think the tide changed.
Polly Simmons
He was polling better than every candidate. The cries for an early election were growing too loud for the government to ignore.
Idi Amin
650 seats.
Naga Munchetty
There’s absolutely no way in hell that REDACTED got REDACTED without some serious skulduggery and REDACTED-rigging.
Idi Amin
It’s just the start for a glorious new era for the UK.
Tim Davie (Director General of the BBC, 2020-present)
I have no idea who we’re going to get for the next series. We’re in talks with Osama Bin Laden’s people, but it’s going to have to be spectacular.
From “Traitors: an oral history of Idi Amin’s resurrection and the end of the Westminster Model” by Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein, Oxford University Press USA (2025)
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