It was a nail-biting semi-final challenge for the group on last night’s episode of The Traitors – but eage-eyed fans noticed a suspicious audio edit during the trial
16:53, 23 Jan 2026Updated 18:25, 23 Jan 2026
Fans noticed the audio edit and wondered what was covered up(Image: BBC)
Traitors fans were left furious after last night’s episode after they noticed an obvious editing cover up during the gruelling Gold Rocks mission.
The challenge saw the group lug rucksacks filled with “gold nuggets”, which were rocks, up the 1,478ft Fyrish Hill in the Scottish Highlands and fans called it “one of the most dramatic moments in Traitors”.
However eagle-eyed viewers noticed a quick edit after host Claudia Winkleman’s audio sounded different when explaining the rules. The host is explaining the mission where she tells the group they can “retrieve gold rocks” from the top of the hill, with 45 minutes to collect as much gold as they could.
READ MORE: BBC The Traitors final could be ruined as fans spot major issue
But as she was explaining the rules, it was noticed that the audio sounded like it had been re-recorded – which left fans puzzled about what the producers were covering up.
Taking to Reddit, one fan wrote: “Anyone catch that editing cover up? I wonder what Claudia said for it to be changed?” Followed by a puzzled emoji. It prompted a few suggestions as one Reddit user replied: “Might have just been the sound got disrupted by background noise or something.
“Or she just said ‘gold’ originally so they had to re-record to make clear it’s gold rocks,” and added: “Happened a lot more in past seasons and was always really noticeable.”
While a second noted: “Seriously though it was probably a microphone failure or too much wind noise or something,” and a third said: “I commented about this to the wife.
“She couldn’t tell the difference at first. I said it sounded like the ‘gold rocks’ had been recorded in a studio with soundproofing, rather than outside. After the wife heard it for the third time, she said she could hear a difference.”
The mission saw the group once at the top of the hill having to place their gold rocks onto a shield in order to block the Traitors from carrying out the final murder of the series. Along the route, contestants could smash urns with their gold rocks to collect more which was a twist that left many viewers confused.
James rushed back down the hill to gather extra gold, but after pushing himself too far he began vomiting and collapsed on the grassy verge, creating even more drama in the nail-biting mission. Faraaz ran to collect the gold, while Jack and Stephen stayed with James to make sure he was fine.
Despite the drama, the group completed the mission successfully, meaning Rachel and Stephen were unable to murder that night.
While this initially appeared to benefit the Faithfuls, it also prevented the Traitors from making a final decisive move in the game – something fans weren’t happy when it came to the BBC producers’ decision.