YouGov Survey data crowns Romesh and Miranda as the most famous Traitors cast members
Updated: Oct 13
Peripheral have used YouGov data to find out which members of the Traitors cast are most well-known to the UK public
Series 2 of the BBC Celebrity Traitors is well under way, and at Peripheral we wanted to determine which of the celebrities were the most well-known.
The 2026 line-up includes individuals from a wide array of professional backgrounds, including comedians, actors, models and influencers.
YouGov’s rating survey is a quarterly poll where a representative sample of the UK are asked whether they have heard of a number of famous figures. We used this data to establish a ranking of which cast members are currently the most well-known to a UK audience.
As there is a limitation on the number of celebrities YouGov polled about, some cast members do not have a figure - we have made an assumption that they weren’t popular enough to be in the survey, and are therefore less well-known than the rest.
We have also collected other data on each celebrity. We recorded how many times they are searched on Google per month, and their Instagram following, both before the show aired.
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Romesh and Miranda share top spot
Romesh Ranganathan and Miranda Hart are the most famous celebrities - each known to 90% of the population.
This is probably because of their fame over a long period of time. Both have been in prominent BBC shows for more than 10 years, giving the public ample time to become familiarised with them.
Google Trends data shows that Miranda’s fame peaked initially in 2013, when the third series of her hit show Miranda was airing. This happened at a time before streaming platforms had reached their current popularity, which allowed the show to infiltrate the nation’s culture and reach over 9 million viewers.
Search data that shows Romesh gradually grew to fame. His comedy rose to prominence during the mid-2010s, and subsequently he was given prominent roles, such as host of The Weakest Link since 2021. His podcast The Romesh Ranganathan Show has also attracted sustained audiences on Spotify and YouTube.
Famous actors also play a leading role in the ranks
Richard E. Grant, Ross Kemp and Michael Sheen are all also known to more than 80% of the UK public. Being part of the older cohort of the cast (69, 62, 57), the trio have all had careers long enough to become known by the British public.
Whilst Richard and Michael are famous for a collection of movies, Ross became more recognised during his 1,000-episode stint on EastEnders playing Grant Mitchell. He also became well-known on his show Ross Kemp: Extreme World, where he travelled the world going to dangerous places, visiting gangs and documenting impoverished places.
Instagram followers don’t always translate to wider fame
The two cast members with the biggest online presence, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Maya Jama, are not thoroughly well-known, according to the YouGov survey.
Despite her 9.4 million global followers, Leigh-Anne was not recognised by the public in the survey. Her girl group Little Mix are known by 91% of the public, but the search data shows she has the second least searches of any cast member - suggesting that she is one who the public are not familiar with.
Maya, on the other hand, is the most highly-searched of any cast member. She resonates well with a young audience, having dated rapper Stormzy for a number of years and she is now the host of Love Island. As her main media appearances are on shows primarily watched by younger audiences, she is well-known on social media, but can only be recalled by 58% of the British public overall.
Predictably, age correlates with fame
The most well-known contestants are in general, the older ones. Six of the eight oldest contestants are also in the top eight most famous cast members.
Only Julie Hesmondhalgh (56) and James Blunt (52) are over the age of 50 without having more than 70% of the public know who they are. Just Rob Beckett (40) and Joe Lycett (38) have achieved more than 70% fame whilst still being 40 or under.
It makes sense that most of the older cast have had time to become known to more people, while the only members under 30 (King Kenny, Sebastian Croft, Bella Ramsey) are part of media consumed mostly by a younger audience
The least-known members of the cast
There are eight celebrities who are not notable enough to be asked about in YouGov’s survey.
Most of these are the younger cast members, or those who have risen to fame recently. Sebastian Croft, 24, is a main character in Netflix’s Heartstopper which, while receiving a number of accolades since premiering in 2022, is skewed towards a younger audience.
Myha'la was also not well-known enough for the survey. She is best known for HBO’s Industry, a workplace drama which premiered in 2020. As this has been her defining role since she became known for, an audience who doesn’t watch the show are most likely to come across her on The Traitors for the first time.
How much of a boost does The Traitors give to celebrity careers?
Undoubtedly, appearing on one of the UK’s current most-watched shows is a great boost for the careers of its cast members. Former rugby player Joe Marler appeared on Series 1, and saw his Instagram following increase by 45% after his appearance on the show.
Especially for younger players or those looking to branch their careers out, The Traitors can be a great opportunity to gain fame and show themselves in a new authentic light, which can help their pedigree for panel shows and other opportunities.
Peripheral are planning to run this analysis again after the show has ended to see whose fame has increased the most after their appearance.
Full traitors fame data
Below is a full table of each contestant's UK fame figure, Instagram followers and UK search volume:
Cast member | Fame % | Monthly UK searches | Instagram followers |
Romesh Ranganathan | 90 | 61k | 1.5m |
Miranda Hart | 90 | 33k | 1.4m |
Richard E. Grant | 85 | 33k | 1m |
Ross Kemp | 84 | 33k | 232k |
Joe Lycett | 82 | 35k | 1.5m |
Michael Sheen | 81 | 61k | 88k |
Rob Beckett | 79 | 33k | 234k |
Jerry Hall | 71 | 18k | 62k |
James Blunt | 59 | 33k | 1.4m |
Maya Jama | 58 | 91k | 3.3m |
James Acaster | 58 | 41k | N/A |
Bella Ramsey | 56 | 91k | N/A |
Amol Rajan | 40 | 27k | 152k |
Hannah Fry | <40 | 50k | 2.4m |
Joanne McNally | <40 | 33k | 662k |
Julie Hesmondhalgh | <40 | 22k | 25k |
Sebastian Croft | <40 | 15k | 1.6m |
Myha’la | <40 | 12k | 230k |
Sharon Rooney | <40 | 12k | 187k |
Leigh-Anne Pinnock | <40 | 10k | 9.4m |
King Kenny | <40 | 2k | 777k |
Methodology
Fame. Fame figures come from YouGov Ratings, which surveys a nationally representative sample of UK adults and publishes quarterly averages. Respondents are shown a name and say whether they have heard of the person. Fame is the share who have. We used the Q3 2026 data, collected before Series 2 aired. Results are weighted by gender, race, age, education and politics. Fame measures prompted awareness, not unprompted recall or whether people like the person.
Cast members without a figure. YouGov rates a limited set of public figures, and eight cast members have no figure. We assumed they were not famous enough to have one, and show them as “<40”.
Searches. Monthly UK Google searches for each name, estimated by SEMrush, taken just before the series started.
Instagram. Followers of each cast member’s official account, taken just before the series started. Counts are global, not UK-only. N/A means no official account.
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