The Traitors season 3 episode 1 spoilers follow.
We're now on our third season of The Traitors on the BBC, and we're pleased to report – if the first episode of the returning show is anything to go by – it's just as good as ever.
We have spoken before about the importance of keeping things fresh when it comes to reality television. When you find a winning new format – and the award-winning BBC show has certainly proven to be that – it could be all too tempting to want to keep things the same for fear of messing with the magic.
The Traitors has so far found the perfect balance, keeping the trademarks we've come to know and love – Claudia's knits, we're mainly looking at you – while upping the ante just enough each time to keep it fresh and unpredictable for contestants and viewers alike.
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This smart sense of balance has already carried over to the third season, with the opening episode delivering a shock twist that saw three contestants packing their bags before they even made it to the castle.
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It was reminiscent of the first season, where Claudia asked them all to line up before banishing one of them, but different enough that nobody saw it coming. There's also been an announcement of a change in the rules for the finale – but as one contestant said, we need to get to that point first.
All of that being said, as much as we're full of praise for the BBC show, we did have one teeny criticism of the second season – and that was the male domination of the traitors' turret tower.
If you recall, it really was a boys club. Harry and Paul shared main-character energy and a string of women faced the murderers' quill.
At the time, even host Claudia Winkleman voiced that the pattern that was emerging as the episodes unfolded was "problematic".
And it's in this way in particular that The Traitors' third season has already got off to a strong start in episode one – seemingly acknowledging the path that the previous season trod and making a conscious effort to change it.
When Claudia made her obligatory selection of her new gang of traitors, doing her laps of the round table with all of the contestants in blindfolds, she made her selection of who would gain their cloak.
One after the other, her selection was entirely female. Talk about making for a Girl Power moment.
Funnily enough, it was also something that one of the faithfuls later mused to the group – perhaps aware of the narrative that surrounded the show last year, or perhaps just because of a little thing called women's intuition. Either way, it was suggested that the traitors might have some strong women in the game this year.
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Of course, the success and watchability of the traitors are completely personality-driven.
Both Paul and Harry made for brilliant television last time around; one became the villain hero of the piece, depending on your perspective, and the other successfully managed to sail his way on through to the end, taking the prize money in a seriously edge-of-your-seat finale.
It remains to be seen who might stand out or make the most impact this time around, but from what we've seen of season three so far we have high hopes for another solid visit to the Scottish castle.
The Traitors season 3 started on January 1 at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The show will air on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights.
TV Editor, Digital Spy Laura has been watching television for over 30 years and professionally writing about entertainment for almost 10 of those. Previously at LOOK and now heading up the TV desk at the UK's biggest TV and movies site Digital Spy, Laura has helped steer conversations around some of the most popular shows on the box. Laura has appeared on Channel 5 News and radio to talk viewing habits and TV recommendations. As well as putting her nerd-level Buffy knowledge to good use during an IRL meet with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Laura also once had afternoon tea with One Direction, has sat around the fire pit of the Love Island villa, spoken to Sir David Attenborough about the world's oceans and even interviewed Rylan from inside the Big Brother house (housemate status, forever pending).
