The first series of The Celebrity Traitors hits our screens on Wednesday night, with a star-studded line-up taking part in the spin-off of the popular BBC show
Following the same format as the regular version of the programme, the series will see 19 celebrities become either ‘Faithfuls’ or, in the case of some, ‘Traitors’. It is the job of the Traitors to work together to ‘murder’ their fellow contestants without getting caught, while the Faithfuls are charged with correctly identifying and ‘banishing’ the Traitors by voting them out.
Among the participants is singer-songwriter Cat Burns, television host Jonathan Ross and former Olympic diver Tom Daley. However, one contestant who has been tipped to go all the way and scoop the £100,000 charity prize is BBC Sport legend Clare Balding.
Over her illustrious 30-year career, the presenter has become one of Britain’s most esteemed broadcasters, having fronted coverage of major sporting events such as the Grand National, Olympic Games and Wimbledon for the likes of the BBC and Channel 4.
Balding will be hoping her authority, popularity and affability will carry her far in the show, having also become used to having the spotlight turned on her and her personal life in recent years. From her relationship with another ex-BBC presenter to her recent weight loss, here’s what you need to know.
Ex-BBC presenter wife
Balding first met her wife, broadcaster Alice Arnold, in 1999 while they were both working for the BBC. While they were simply nothing more than good friends at first, romance soon blossomed and they began dating in 2002, after a national newspaper made Balding’s sexuality public.
The pair entered into a civil partnership in 2006 before marrying in an intimate ceremony in 2015, following the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Britain. Their marriage was subsequently back-dated to 2006.
Balding has described Arnold, who worked as a newsreader and continuity announcer at BBC Radio 4 for more than 20 years, as “fiercely loyal” and her “own little guard dog”.
Reflecting on their first meeting, the Wimbledon presenter admitted she was unaware of Arnold’s identity when she first spotted her at a BBC show, but added: “I saw her and thought ‘Oh, she’s really interesting and rather beautiful’. We started chatting and she’s very funny. We were friends for at least two years.”
The broadcaster recently disclosed more about her relationship with Arnold during an interview with Hello! Magazine, as she hailed her wife as the inspiration behind her debut novel ‘Pastures New’, which hit shelves in September.
“One of the things I wanted to write about in my novel was about falling in love because I thought ‘I know that’,” she explained. “I know what real, deep love is and meeting someone I want to grow old with. Lucky, lucky me.”
In the same interview, she revealed that she and Arnold are preparing to leave their long-time home in Chiswick as they look to fill the “canine-shaped hole” in their lives by getting a new dog.
“We’re looking to move out of London in the near future, and one of the main reasons for that is to have a bit more space and protection from the road so that it’s a good environment for a dog,” said Balding. “As soon as we’re settled, it’s definitely our plan – probably next spring. I just smile at the thought of having a dog back in our lives.”
On how she and Arnold spend their time together, she spoke about their love of golf, adding: “I’m not as good as Alice, who’s a seven-handicap golfer, but I’m working on getting better.” She also discussed the couple’s travel plans, explaining: “Alice and I are about to go from New York up to Quebec and back again and we’re going to Japan on a cruise next year. We love being on the water and then ending up in a new place.”
Balding’s romance with Arnold came after she previously dated men, with one of her former partners even proposing to her. However, she rejected him and never regretted the decision, explaining that he went on to “behave appallingly”.
“I had a few boyfriends, not like loads,” she recalled.”But I had one very serious boyfriend for two or three years. He asked me to marry him, and he was in the Army, and he was going off. And I thought, ‘He’s only asking me because he thinks he’s in danger and, according to romantic films, I’m meant to say yes at this point’.
“I knew I didn’t want to. I said, ‘Look, that’s a lovely thing to say but ask me again when you come back’. When he came back he didn’t ask me again, and I thought, ‘Thank God’. I thought, ‘I don’t trust you and I’ll never trust you’ – and funnily enough I was absolutely spot on as his ex-wife told me not that long ago.”
She added: “That relationship ended not very well with him behaving appallingly. I think I was damaged by that, but that doesn’t make you gay. I just think when I first fell in love with a woman, it was completely different.”
The couple have been together for over 20 years (Image: undefined)
Cancer diagnosis
In 2009, Balding revealed she had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, having spotted a lump on her throat while watching herself presenting on television.
Signs of the condition include a lump in the neck, a sore throat and difficulty swallowing that doesn’t improve, and after heeding her family’s advice to consult a doctor, she was told she had cancer and needed an operation.
Balding then underwent surgery to remove a cyst, her thyroid gland and a lymph node, followed by radioactive iodine treatment to halt the disease’s progression.
She later admitted to going through a “dark stage” after her diagnosis, fearing the potential impacts the illness would have on her voice and career. However, she received the all-clear at the end of 2010 and has since seen her career flourish.
During a recent appearance on the Stick to Rugby podcast, she opened up about her diagnosis, explaining: “It was an odd one because I hadn’t noticed feeling any different. I was doing the show jumping at Christmas when it was at Olympia and I recorded an opening link, and I was watching it back on the monitor as we were about to go live.
“I was looking at the mirror and I saw this lump on my neck, a big lump. I thought, ‘Wow, that’s really weird, where has that come from?’ I went home for Christmas and my sister-in-law’s Welsh grandfather was a doctor, and he looked at it. He was still a practising GP and he said that I’d better go to the doctor. He took Alice to one side and said, ‘Make sure she goes’.
“Between Christmas and New Year, when the doctor’s surgery was open, I went and the GP did some tests and he sent me to a specialist. They came back and said, ‘You’ve got thyroid cancer’ and they had to operate.”
Pointing to her neck, she added: “I’ve got a cracking scar there, they had to operate three times. I was most worried about my voice because of where the surgery is. I was thinking, please don’t hit my vocal cords. I came back and was commentating on the tennis for the radio and I couldn’t hit the notes, the vocal cords weren’t meeting properly.
“Anyway, it came back and I was all fine and I got my bass notes back – but that was all I was worried about. I then had radioactive iodine therapy, but that’s all right, because it’s not as bad as chemo.”
Balding is one of the most well-respected broadcasters on TV (Image: Visionhaus, Visionhaus/Getty Images)
Weight loss transformation
Now, Balding is healthier than ever, having shed one-and-a-half stone by eliminating several food and drink items from her diet.
During her Hello! interview, the 54-year-old revealed that she had embraced a low-carb diet, giving up pasta and bread while also restricting her sugar consumption. She also modified her drinking habits, now choosing gin and tonic over red wine.
After overhauling her diet, Balding says she not only “feels better” but has newfound confidence as she is now able to wear what she wants.
“I’ve worked hard at it and feel better,” she said. “I got into my 50s and thought, ‘I’m just going to be fat and happy’, but then a friend talked about a low-carb diet and the late Michael Mosley publicised this form of weight loss, too, and I thought, I’ll give it one more go – as I’ve tried so many diets over the years – and see if it works. And it did!”
Balding added: “If I want a drink, I have a gin and tonic instead of wine, so I don’t feel like I’m depriving myself of things.
“I’m never going to be stick thin – that’s just not me. I’ve got massive bones. But I can now put on a pair of trousers with a belt and my shirt tucked in and I went for years without being able to do that. That feels great.”