When the second series of The Celebrity Traitors launched on BBC One, one of the most recognisable names in the castle was a journalist who has spent his career asking tough questions. The show was scheduled to air from 1 October 2026, and Amol Rajan, 42, was listed among the contestants as a journalist and broadcaster.
Rajan was the first celebrity murdered, by Traitors Maya Jama and Richard E Grant. He later admitted he had gone in with a plan: as the journalist known for awkward questions, he told himself to keep a low profile to avoid being murdered or banished. It did not work. He also said he played the wrong game and wished he had been chosen as a Traitor.
Rajan was born in Kolkata in 1983, and his family moved to England when he was three. Following Tamil naming customs, he was born V. Amol. The name was changed to Amol Varadarajan in England, and the family later adopted the surname Rajan.
He rose quickly in British media. In 2013, aged 29, he became editor of The Independent. He later moved into broadcasting, and in 2023 took over as presenter of University Challenge. Later, he himself appeared on Christmas University Challenge in 2020, representing Downing College, Cambridge.
Following the exit from celebrity Traitors, he is launching a YouTube show called the Amol Rajan Connection and has spoken of unleashing his inner entrepreneur in 2026.
The series began with 21 celebrities, including Michael Sheen, Bella Ramsey, James Blunt, Ross Kemp, Miranda Hart, Joe Lycett, Romesh Ranganathan, Rob Beckett and Leigh-Anne Pinnock. Professor Hannah Fry, who is no stranger to studying human behaviour, is also in the castle. Claudia Winkleman presents the ten-episode series. The format is simple and brutal. Traitors secretly choose a Faithful to murder each night, while the Faithful try to identify and banish the Traitors. If the Faithful remove every Traitor, they share the prize.