Woke BBC bosses tried to BAN the words 'murder' and 'kill' on The Traitors amid fears they could upset viewers

Woke BBC bosses tried to strip The Traitors of the words 'murder' and 'kill' amid fears they could upset viewers, the executive who brought the hit show to Britain has revealed.

Instead, the corporation's policy chiefs suggested the less sinister terms 'eliminated' and 'exited' – only for its commissioner to refuse to back down.

Syeda Irtizaali, the entertainment executive behind the UK version of the hit reality show, said she had been determined to make the programme as theatrical as possible.

'Obviously, the themes of The Traitors are murder mystery. I wanted to go even darker,' Syeda said on Insiders: The TV Podcast. 'I wanted to, with a big tongue in cheek, really go to town with the campery of it all.'

But the BBC's editorial policy advisers, she said, were very nervous about the language used to describe contestants being picked off.

Syeda – who left her role at the BBC in March this year after five years at the corporation and is now director of unscripted television at Netflix – recalled being told: 'I don't think we can say the words murder and kill.'

She added: 'They said, can we say eliminated and exited? Because what if there's murder on the same day that the show goes out?'

Syeda was unconvinced that anyone watching Claudia Winkleman preside over the castle's elaborate game of deception would mistake it for a real crime.

She said she fought back, insisting: 'Our audiences are not going to get confused with a real-life news story and this camp old show.

'I said, thank you very much for the advice, but I'm not going to take it. We're just going to do it how we want to do it.'

It was just one of several battles she faced in getting the programme on air for the first time in the UK in 2022.

When Syeda first argued that the BBC needed a reality show to rival the likes of ITV's I'm A Celebrity, she faced pushback from colleagues who believed the genre 'won't work' and was 'not really us'.

But the programme went on to make 'murder' and 'kill' central to its distinctive vocabulary, with the secret Traitors picking off their fellow contestants while the Faithful attempt to uncover them at the round table.

It has since become one of the BBC's biggest hits, spawning a hugely successful celebrity spin-off that attracted more than 15 million viewers last year and returned this autumn.

This year's celebrity contestants include Maya Jama, Michael Sheen, Miranda Hart, Jerry Hall and James Blunt.

Syeda also revealed how close the programme came to looking very different.

The BBC developed its adaptation of a Dutch format in partnership with American broadcaster NBC, which initially wanted both countries' versions to be filmed in Costa Rica.

'They wanted to make it in Costa Rica with sort of bikinis and hot tubs,' Syeda recalled, saying she pushed instead for the Scottish setting that has become central to the show's identity.

'I said, no, we have to make it in the UK. Can we make it in Scotland? Because it's great with castles, right?'

There were also nerves over how far Claudia, then best known to viewers as the co-host of Strictly Come Dancing, could take her stern new role.

Syeda said the presenter was 'really worried' about appearing too cold, particularly when two contestants were abruptly sent home at the beginning of the first series.

'I wanted to signal quite early on that it was a different show. So we sent two people home at the beginning,' she explained.

Now the BBC is airing its second series of The Celebrity Traitors, which has already seen Richard E Grant, 69, spectacularly expose his own secret identity just moments after being chosen as a Traitor.

The actor admitted he was a Traitor to other contestants, apparently believing they would take it as a joke, and was subsequently banished at the first round table.

Syeda, who was involved in the celebrity casting for last year's and this year's series, as well as overseeing the series' twists before leaving the BBC, revealed that Richard's blunder was far from the biggest upheaval the production had to contend with.

'I mean, it was hilarious and ridiculous,' she said of his decision to give the game away. 'What is so brilliant about that show is that it can handle anything.'

She then teased that even greater chaos unfolded during filming. 'By the way, that's not even the biggest chaos that happens this year,' she said. 'I won't say anything more.'

The Daily Mail has contacted the BBC for comment.