The Traitors viewers are outraged as host Claudia Winkleman ends the first episode with a HUGE cliffhanger as the show opens with several shocking twists

BBC’s highly anticipated series The Traitors returned to screens on Wednesday evening with Claudia Winkleman hosting for a second series.

Fans were already in an uproar after having to choose what to watch between The Traitors and the World Darts Championship final.

And if that wasn’t enough, the show ended on a huge cliffhanger, leaving fans waiting 24 hours for the next episode – or did it?

One of the changes to the show’s format is that episodes two and three are currently available to watch on BBC iplayer.

During Wednesday’s launch show, Claudia, 51, announced Harry, Ash and Paul as the three chosen Traitors.

The other 19 contestants will remain as Faithfuls and will have to try to find out who they think could be a traitor before they are killed – cut from the show.

However, the Traitors took on a completely different light this season and were tasked with choosing a fourth Traitor to join their clan – but their identities were not revealed as it ended on a dramatic cliffhanger.

Although the trio has narrowed down the choice of Andrew, Diane, Miles or Sonja to join them, viewers will have to wait until Thursday night’s episode to find out.

Fans ran to X, formerly known as Twitter, in anger after the episode ended right on a high note.

Viewers wrote: ‘Don’t leave us on a cliffhanger, say we can watch the next episode on @BBCiplayer and still not have the episode on @BBCiplayer!!!’

“I forgot how much this show loves a cliffhanger.”

“I hate the cliffhanger because I wanted to try and watch them air but now I can’t believe I have to wait a day.”

“Okay, I’ll give in and watch the next episode. That cliffhanger was too evil to leave on.”

Another notable change was Claudia asking participants to line up outside Ardross Castle near Inverness in the order of who they think is most likely to win.

This also happened at the start of the 2022 show and two people at the end of the line were sent home straight away.

But in a new twist, Claudia revealed this year that she was just mocking the contestants as she welcomed them all in.

She then asked each participant if they would rather be a traitor or a believer in a one-on-one chat.

22 strangers play the ultimate game of detection, backstabbing and trust, in the hope of winning up to £120,000.

In the show, most of the contestants are ‘Faithfuls’ and must figure out who among them are ‘Traitors’ – who have the ability to ‘kill’ a fellow contestant every night.

The group has daily ‘bans’ in which they must vote to kick out someone they believe is a traitor, while working together on challenges to raise money for the prize fund.

In addition, the participants compete in various ‘missions’, the aim of which so far has been to increase the prize pool.

But while addressing the castmates for the 2024 season as they stood in line next to a lake, Claudia revealed that this year’s missions have arrived with a new twist.

As well as offering the opportunity to raise £15,000 towards the prize pool, Claudia added a surprising new layer to the challenges.