By Vicky Jessop

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Give a raise to whoever thought to release Celebrity Traitors in autumn.

The show’s glam, camp, gothic sensibilities fit in perfectly with the Hallowe’en season – amped up a thousand-fold by the famous cast members who will soon be arriving in the castle for several episodes of feuding and backstabbing.

We are a nation of Traitors-lovers: a record-breaking 9.2m of us watched the season three premiere. But this upcoming season promises something even more delicious – the chance to watch celebrities backstab each other in a bid for glory (we assume not money, as they already have plenty).

Which celebs? Surprisingly highbrow ones: Stephen Fry, for instance, as well as Paloma Faith, Alan Carr, Tom Daley, Jonathan Ross and Celia Imrie. Charlotte Church will be there, for heaven’s sake, as will rising pop star Cat Burns; clearly, the BBC got to pick and choose contestants from among the show’s legions of celebrity fans.

These aren’t your run of the mill reality TV stars, which begs the interesting question: how exactly will they fare in a high-pressure reality TV environment like the castle?

This isn’t a polished press event, or one where the celebs are in control of what’s happening. The cameras will be rolling pretty much 24/7, which doesn’t leave a lot of room for mistakes.

And people are bound to make them, because things at the round table regularly get messy. Contestants get brutally betrayed, and rumours about who’s a Faithful and who’s a Traitor can, at times, turn quite nasty, especially as the show heads into its supercharged end game.

While there’s no suggestion that any of the celebrity contestants are planning on turning full Paul, it does beg the question – will any of them want to take risks, when their personal brands are at stake?

The show’s American spinoff offers some clues as to what might happen. The Traitors’ second US season was entirely stacked with D-list celebs cribbed from shows like Dancing With the Stars, Love Island (Ekin-Su, in case you’re wondering), and, um, The House of Commons (in the case of former speaker John Bercow).

“I can understand why the producers might have stacked the debut season’s cast with famous names, to draw in existing fans (or hatewatchers),” Time wrote in its review of the US show.

“But the show’s initial success should have convinced them to drop that crutch, not lean harder on it, in Season 2. The problem isn’t just that reality lifers are slick, media-savvy performers, always polishing their personal brands in pursuit of the next booking. It’s that they’re known quantities. If viewers know them by reputation, then so do even the castmates they’ve never met before.” The US series even had pre-show beef in the form of a longstanding grudge between contestants Parvati Shallow and Sandra Diaz-Twine.

The same could prove relevant here. The genius about casting complete unknowns is that they can pick and choose which bits of their backstory to keep. Take Charlotte’s completely inexplicable decision to cosplay as a Welsh person, for instance (joyous), or mother-and-son Diane and Ross’ decision not to reveal that they were, in fact, related.

Come to think of it, what about Tom’s declaration at the breakfast table that Alex “isn’t a Traitor, she’s my girlfriend” in season one? Jaws dropped over the coffee – and at home.

These reveals, when they happen, are what makes a show go viral. Will there be that same tension here? We already know Stephen Fry’s backstory, and Kate Garraway’s – contestants will certainly come to the table with preconceived ideas about each other that could get in the way of some excellent drama.

There is also the little matter of branding. Celebrities these days aren’t glorious anarchists; they’re carefully calibrated media machines, and that factors into everything they do. Let’s face it: Jonathan Ross isn’t going to start gossiping about other contestants, and Charlotte Church isn’t going to viciously backstab somebody at the round table.

What are the odds that the big-ticket names remain Faithful (to avoid them having to backstab anybody and tarnish their image) and our Traitors end up being the series’ resident comedians (Lucy Beaumont, Joe Wilkinson) et al? This is all conjecture, of course. After all, the series hasn’t even started yet, and there are surely many surprises still in store for both us and the constants.

Still, it’s worth bearing in mind. After all, the celebs will draw in the viewers; whether they can eclipse the heights of Harry, Paul and Diane remains to be seen.

Celebrity Traitors starts on October 8 on BBC One