A year ago, I reluctantly watched the first series of Traitors in the UK and was instantly hooked, binge-watching the whole thing in a very short space of time. I, like many others, eagerly awaited the second series which came to a dramatic conclusion yesterday, one finalist walking away with just shy of £100,000.

I found this series harder to watch than the previous one. It was brilliant, don’t get me wrong, but difficult. Firstly, I had to wait week on week for the next batch of updates, which is always tricky as they do so like to leave it on a cliffhanger. But secondly, because it’s been on before, the group knew what they were in for and weren’t afraid to start shouting about it.

I didn’t enjoy the confrontation last series but this year, I really found it difficult to watch the round tables and made liberal use of the +10 seconds button. Even Claudia admitted as much as the series launched:

The players are more ruthless, they are less innocent, and they have no qualms about accusing people… here [in series two], you see the first round table, it explodes. They want to play the game and they are, impatient is not the right word, but they’re more brutal… They’ve watched it, so they think they know how to play. Happily, don’t worry, they don’t.

And the final was just jaw-droppingly tense to watch and devastating in the last few minutes. The right person won, they played the game to perfection, but that in its own way was awful - backstabbing and somehow being proud of it. That’s the game, though, and it was another entertaining series… as long as everyone is looked after as there were some big upsets in that last hour.

It’s been a rollercoaster of a series, but the star of the show, as ever, is Claudia Winkleman. There have been many articles about her fabulous wardrobe, that exceptional moment when she called out the inequality in the traitor’s camp, and those little glimpses and giggles she gives that show she is 100% behind the game, supporting the contestants when needed but equally telling them how poorly they are doing if it calls for it.

Last year I was raving about the show, this year I have mixed feelings, but the love for Claudia is unchanged and that’s enough for now.