Tom Hiddleston says he would 'absolutely' be up for starring in Strictly Come Dancing after hinting at an appearance on Celebrity Traitors

Tom Hiddleston has revealed that he would 'absolutely' be up for starring in Strictly Come Dancing after he suggested he would be open to an appearance on the next series of The Celebrity Traitors.

The Night Manager star, 44, returned to screens as hotelier–turned-intelligence agent Jonathan Pine in the second series earlier this month.

During a campaign to plug his BBC hit show, he was asked if he would like to take part in Strictly and The Traitors, according to The Sun.

Tom said: 'Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I'm a massive, massive fan of both.'

The first celebrity version of The Traitors pulled in an average of 13 million viewers an episode, becoming one of the biggest commercial successes of the year for the BBC when it aired in October.

And Tom has been open about being eager to appear on The Traitors and previously confirmed the idea of making a rather unlikely appearance at Ardross Castle when the next series begins has a certain appeal.

Discussing The Traitors on BBC Radio 2, he said: 'I mean the celebrity one would be amazing.

'I think the whole show, the format is just the most ingenious thing, isn't it? It's completely compulsive. Maybe the best television I've ever seen.'

The latest series launched on New Year's Day with almost every contestant keen on becoming a traitor, but Tom believes it would be more interesting to stay faithful.

He said: 'I'd like to be a Faithful because then you can play detective, right?

'And you know that your conscience is clean and your heart is pure, and you're just watching and trying to figure people out.

'If you're a Traitor it's more of an acting exercise, right? It's a game, you have to keep deceiving and cloaking and dissembling and basically lying to people.

'It would be interesting though. I don't know, I think being a faithful would be more of a curiosity scratcher somehow.'

The Traitors' fourth series has followed hot on the heels of the hugely popular celebrity spin-off, which was won by comedian Alan Carr in its debut series.

Tom signing for Strictly would be a huge success after the show has been hit with blow after blow over recent years.

Claudia Winkleman, 53, and co-star Tess Daly, 56, who presented the show together from 2014, announced that they were quitting the dance competition in October.

The live final of 2025 saw ex-footballer Karen Carney and her partner Carlos Gu crowned champions after beating George Clarke and Amber Davies.

Despite this year's very glitzy lineup, it wasn't enough to bring in the same level of viewership, and the competition saw its finale ratings dip for the fourth year in a row.

Last year, the show peaked at 9.3million viewers, but this year failed to attract as many viewers as it did, peaking at just 8.4million.

In 2023, it was 9.7million, indicating a consistent decline.

Last year's average audience saw 8.6million tune into the famed show but this year saw 7.6million. In 2023, it was 8.8million.

A BBC spokesperson said: 'On Saturday's overnights alone the Strictly final was the UK's most watched show by far, peaking with 8.4 million viewers for Karen and Carlos being crowned champions - nearly eight million more viewers than anything else on TV at this same time.

'Many more will stream via BBC iPlayer, where Strictly has grown its audience this year.'