Could they not just go backpacking around South East Asia instead of backstabbing around the Scottish Highlands? Perhaps, but their loss of marbles is our gloriously watchable gain. I guess there is the £120,000 up for grabs.

As we saw in the first series, no matter a contestant's intuition or intellect, the game will always follow a course as wildly unpredictable as humans are irrational.

But we've still scoured their profiles to discern who might make good Faithful or Traitor material. So read on for some mission statements that will no doubt prove ludicrously bold.

(If you're wondering what all the fuss is about, find out everything you need to know about The Traitors by reading our ultimate guide.)

Andrew

Age: 45

Occupation: Insurance Broker

Location: Talbot Green

According to doctors, Andrew is a miracle patient, having been pronounced dead on the side of the road 23 years ago before going into a coma for nearly five weeks.

"A lot of people say to me "once seen, never forgotten," he says, "I'm a big guy and I obviously have my scars, so I think people look at me and think I'm quite intimidating until I smile and start talking to people." Sounds like he won't be flying under the radar, then. He adds that he doesn't mind "throwing people under the bus."

Anthony

Age: 45

Occupation: Chess Coach

Location: Birmingham

"This has me written all over it! It's like a real life game of chess," says Chess Coach Anthony, before exhausting the analogy.

You can see what he means—it's a strategic game in which the best players will think moves ahead, and, as he coldly warns, like true Traitor material, "every piece on the board is expendable." But it's not as if you have a finite number of moves, with inanimate objects, around a board with strict limits. Chess is a complex game, but the chaos of The Traitors knows no bounds.

Ash

Age: 45

Occupation: Events Coordinator

Location: London

As with seemingly everyone who signs up to this game, Ash fancies herself a Traitor. Apparently her and her events team get called “The Swans” because of their outward calm, and she has what she sees as an unorthodox winning strategy of simply telling the truth: "because the best lies come from truth, I'm going to be honest about the kind of person that I am."

Profoundly put, but surely by now the personal protestations, topped off with that bankrupt catchphrase, "I'm 100% faithful", will fall on deaf ears.

Aubrey

Age: 67

Occupation: Retired Shop Owner

Location: Loughborough, Leicestershire

Somewhat paradoxically, Aubrey says he'll be bringing both "style" to the series and "lycra" to the challenges.

He also says he'll feel "fabulous" if he's made a Traitor. Why? "Because I love the cloaks." To be fair, it sounds like his poker face recently won him a good deal for a new car, which he puts down in part to his serious-looking moustache.

Brian

Age: 33

Occupation: Photographer

Location: Glasgow

Brian's CV boasts relevant experience, being a regular Werewolves player. Although he clarifies that he plays it every Christmas with his family, which isn't quite the same pressure cooker. And don't we all spend the season backstabbing our families at the dinner table?

His game plan is to be neither too quiet nor too forthcoming, neither a leader nor a follower. Which might be because, he admits, "I'm bossy, but I don't like to be held accountable."

Charlie

Age: 34

Occupation: Mental Health Area Manager

Location: Bristol

The game "literally is my personality" says Charlie. "Everywhere I go I'm constantly thinking, looking at people's body language, trying to work people out. To the point that sometimes I have to switch off my brain!"

Sounds exhausting, but a healthy paranoia will pay off in The Traitors. She's also a self-described bubbly Bristolian, which is giving Amanda Lovett: a warm personality with a stereotypically friendly accent that'll win people over regardless of her official allegiance.

Charlotte

Age: 32

Occupation: Recruitment Manager

Location: Warwickshire

Most contestants, including many in this new batch, seem to overvalue their occupations when it comes to estimating their abilities. But I'm willing to hear Charlotte out on her "cutthroat business" of recruitment.

It's apparently made her a "people person," but also, she says, "if I sit and think about if I've even been caught off guard at work - never." Job seekers and Traitors: beware.

Diane

Age: 63

Occupation: Retired Teacher

Location: Lancashire

Diane says she only applied because "my children said I could never do something like this!" And, well, you'd be a fool to bet against a mother hellbent on proving her kids wrong.

She was also a teacher at a Pupil Referral Unit, where she says she learned "to maintain some level of distance because [the difficult pupils] could act out," as well as "tactics to get control of a classroom." And what is the Round Table if not an unruly playground where adults regress into lying and grassing?

Evie

Age: 29

Occupation: Veterinary Nurse

Location: Inverness

The Traitors is the final thing—after running the Edinburgh marathon, visiting the Scottish islands and a lot of hiking—in Evie's list of 30 she wants to complete before she turns 30.

She'll be at home in the Highlands then, where her gameplan is twofold: to let people believe their preconceptions—"I’m blonde and I’ve got the dimples, I work with animals and I’m sweet"—and to "show up in the missions."

Harry

Age: 22

Occupation: British Army Engineer

Location: Slough

British Army Engineer Harry will be fighting the civvies in a whole new psychological battleground.

He probably does have the team-building and morale-boosting qualities you'd expect from a Corporal, and having gone through army training, he should walk the physical challenges. But let's just see if he has the "strength" he claims to hold if and when he's abandoned in No Man's Land at the Round Table.

Jasmine

Age: 26

Job title: Sales Executive

Location: London

A Sales Executive, says Jasmine, is essentially a "professional truth embezzler," which should stand her in good, deceitful stead.

However, the name of her game is authenticity, as she reckons that "the people that have done well on the show before are people that have their own personality laced within what they’re trying to do."

Jaz

Age: 30

Occupation: National Account Manager

Location: Manchester

I'd fancy Jaz as a Faithful because he's the only one who doubts his own liar-spotting abilities. We are notoriously irrational mammals prone to misjudgement, so a healthy dose of self-doubt could actually help the cause. Just remember where magician Tom's hubris landed him in series one.

But Jaz could also make a decent Traitor, given that he's willing to go full Daniel Day Lewis/Method Acting mode when it comes to pulling a poker face: "you just have to think of some really hard things that you’ve done in life... and your mind goes floating away to something totally different."

Jonny

Age: 31

Occupation: Ex-Military

Location: Bedfordshire

Jonny's the second contestant with a military background, which is where he says he learned his favourite saying: "bullshit baffles brains."

"I have lived by that and it's so true. I have done so many different jobs since I left the army and it’s always worked."

Time will tell if "bullshit" will deflect a barrage of aspersions from 100% Faithfuls.

Kyra

Age: 21

Occupation: Apprentice Economist

Location: Kent

Along with Molly, Kyra's the youngest contestant this year, and she says her game plan is to play up her age: "I'm always the little star, the little sister, a little baby, the innocent one that everyone always wants to look after. So, I'm going to try use that to my advantage."

And what's made her a good judge of character? Not just her work, but "being in a household full of women."

Meg

Age: 22

Occupation: Illustrator

Location: Herefordshire

"I feel like nothing can prepare you for what they’re going to throw at you to be honest. They might be like “Meg, you’ve got to jump out of a plane now.” And I'd say “Oh my God, ok! Bring it.”

As for what she'd do with the prize money, among other things, she would "buy a new pair of dungarees because mine have absolutely had it." It seems that Meg is willing to jump out of a plane for a new pair of dungarees, so I'd bet against her at your peril.

Miles

Age: 36

Occupation: Veterinary Nurse

Location: Birmingham (now lives in Worcestershire)

Miles applied to branch out from his "cookie cutter" life, and he's willing to go "all the way" to win the game. That is, without falling at the last hurdle which he sees as "greediness." Although, when it comes to the physical challenges, he's happy to "hold the oranges at the end, the running part is maybe not my forte!"

His mum is just glad it's "not something like Love Island": "I said to her 'Mum, I do not have the body for Love Island'. I am also married with children, so that’s definitely not the show for me!"

Mollie

Age: 21

Occupation: Disability Model

Location: Bristol

Many a 'lone wolf' has boldly declared that they won't be going in the castle to make friends. But Mollie's gameplan is actually to make as many as possible.

Strong Faithful material then, especially when she's had the tutelage of perhaps the greatest of all teachers of treachery: a naughty brother. "I’ve always been able to pick up on when he’s lying and then we go upstairs and I’d be like “You just told Mum and Dad a lie, didn’t you?” and he’d always say yes."

Paul

Age: 36

Occupation: Business Manager

Location: Manchester

Paul's a board game and escape room obsessive, so he's looking forward to the tasks, but also, flabbergastingly, the Round Table. He credits the corporate world with adapting him to that type of environment: "where you’re sat in a room and you're being grilled and you’re defending yourself."

Sounds like he'd relish the betrayal. Indeed, he says, "if Claudia touches my shoulder, I'm never washing that top again."

Ross

Age: 28

Occupation: Video Director

Location: Lancashire

"I'm quite good at the old Among Us game," says Ross. But I'd argue anyone can lie through their teeth when hiding behind a screen; it's another thing entirely to do so in front of 21 pairs of eyes, and several cameras, bearing down on you.

Plus Ross says himself that they're "so used to being behind a camera that it’s actually very nerve-racking for me to be in front of one." What may alleviate his nerves, though, is that "he's not really there to play a game to be honest with you. I’m just in it to have a little bit of fun."

Sonja

Age: 66

Occupation: Volunteer Business Mentor

Location: Lancashire

Sonja will be bringing both an academic approach to the game, being qualified in social science, "the study of how societies interact," but also a particularly crafty one...

"My game plan is to knit my way to the finals. I'm an avid knitter. What I hope to do genuinely is knit while I'm thinking." But don't let the homely implications fool you: Sonja states that she doesn't even view Faithfulness as "the warm, cosy sort of wooly cardigan part of the game at all." "I'll be the most devious Faithful you can be."

Tracey

Age: 58

Occupation: Sonographer and Clairvoyant

Location: Inverness

Yes, you read correctly, there is a clairvoyant in this series. Although, interestingly, Tracey never cites any supernatural abilities in her interview. Perhaps she plans on keeping her cards close to her chest?

Instead, she brings up her Air Force background to prove her challenge-completing and team-building credentials—as well as, poignantly, her ability to emotionally detach: "I used to go on detachment with people in the military, and they'd be like your best friend for two whole weeks, you couldn't possibly ever live without them, and then when you get home, you never contact each other again."

Zack

Age: 27

Occupation: Parliamentary Affairs Advisor

Location: London

Zack admits to having a "massive mouth," so he reckons he'd offer a lot more as a Faithful, especially having mixed with two circles that have taught him how to read people. One being his "small, very tightly-knit, Jewish community, where socially everyone just knows each other's business"; the other being MPs.

"I ultimately find out what MPs are thinking so I feel like I could do it with the average person who hasn’t undergone that scrutiny or the media training before." Having said that, I don't think you could rely on avoiding questions like your average politician.