Inside the Traitors castle: A wedding venue once owned by an opium trader

Ardross Castle is available to hire for corporate and private events

(BBC)

The Traitors is returning for a whole new game of backstabbing and deception after the huge success of its first-ever celebrity edition.

Comedian Alan Carr emerged as the triumphant Traitor of the all-star series, after weeks of his sweating and conniving antics thrilled a whopping audience of 15 million.

Host Claudia Winkleman is now back with a new series full of twists and fresh players, as 22 people from across the UK descend on the show’s Scottish castle to win up to £120,000.

Ardross Castle is used in both the UK version of the show and the US adaptation hosted by Scottish actor Alan Cumming.

The day’s missions take place on site, while the discussions, action and banishments are filmed among the castle’s lavish interiors.

Ardross Castle estate was purchased by the 1st Duke of Sutherland in the late 1700s, where he built a hunting lodge.

The castle as we recognise it now began to take shape once the estate was sold to Sir Alexander Matheson, an MP and opium trader, in 1845 for £90,000.

‘The Traitors' is filmed at Ardross Castle (BBC)

Aiming to attract tenants to agricultural tenancies, he began developing the land and enlisted the architect Alexander Ross to design the castle building in the Gothic Scottish Baronial style.

Ross added around 30 rooms to the original mansion for £7,000, along with the lawns, pond and fountain.

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Ardross Castle passed between owners in the 19th and 20th centuries, and was broken up and sold in 1937. It was purchased by the current owners, the McTaggart family, in 1983, when they began renovating the property, and added new trees.

Today, the space is used as a wedding and conference venue for corporate and private events, and as a film and TV set.

The setting of BBC game show ‘The Traitors’ (BBC)

The Times reports that prices to hire the castle for a wedding for up to 130 people over two nights begin at £45,000.

However, while the action on The Traitors takes place overnight at the castle, the rooms of Ardross Castle are not available to let individually. During filming, the Traitors and Faithfuls actually stay at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel near to Inverness’s airport.