Prince William, the Prince of Wales, came to Ilminster, Somerset, on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, to launch a national emergency preparedness project — and within seconds of meeting the actor Ross Kemp, he gave away how closely he has been following “Celebrity Traitors.” The prince reached out, rubbed Kemp’s arm and laughed.
The joke needed no explanation to anyone watching the BBC series. Kemp, a filmmaker and actor who is an ambassador for the National Emergencies Trust, grew visibly jumpy on screen when fellow contestant Leigh-Anne Pinnock rubbed his arm as the two passed each other during drinks at the castle. He said afterward that he feared she was trying to “murder” him in plain sight — the subtle, public move the traitors use to eliminate a faithful. Kemp has acknowledged on the show that the possibility has left him deeply uneasy.
Why William Touched Kemp’s Arm
William returned to the gag later, posing for photographs with a hand on Kemp’s shoulder. Then he went hunting for information. “Do you watch The Traitors? I’m going to get the answer to what happens and I am going to tell you all later,” William joked to a group of young people in the town. Kemp gave him nothing.
The prince’s enthusiasm is not new, and it is not his alone. The Prince and Princess of Wales are believed to be fans of the celebrity series. In his book “Elizabeth II: In Private. In Public. Her Story,” royal biographer Robert Hardman recounted a member of William’s team describing the prince’s notion of a good night in: settling down with the princess to watch “The Traitors.” William has also told Stephen Lambert, the television executive whose production company makes the show, that his family were looking forward to watching the first series.
Kemp is competing in the second celebrity series alongside 20 other contestants, each playing for a £100,000 prize on behalf of a charity of their choice. The format, presented by Claudia Winkleman, sends contestants chasing the traitors hidden among them while completing challenges that build the pot. If a traitor survives to the final, the faithfuls walk away with nothing and the traitor takes the lot. Audiences have been at record levels, helped by Richard E Grant announcing he was a traitor moments after being handed the role.
What the Ready Together Toolkit Does
The reason for the visit was Ready Together, a toolkit from the National Emergencies Trust designed to help communities across the U.K. prepare for and respond to crises including flooding and wildfires. It is intended to scale to a community of any size, shaped around local risks and needs. A Kensington Palace release framed the project as a way to close a gap: willingness to help a neighbor in a crisis is widespread, while confidence that local structures and plans would actually work is far rarer.
William, 44, has been patron of the trust since 2020. He and Kemp met its chief executive, Mhairi Sharp, during the day. “Being prepared for anything is better than being unprepared,” Kemp told the Press Association ahead of the visit. He pointed to the way communities rallied during the COVID-19 pandemic and asked how much stronger that effort might have been had people known in advance which neighbors could help where.
From a Cafe to the Fire Station
The prince and Kemp joined local volunteers and young people for a hands-on training exercise, working through a sequence of emergency scenarios that tested how neighborhood knowledge, established relationships and existing networks hold up when disruption hits. Ilminster was selected because that kind of cooperation is already happening there, with residents and local organizations working to shield those most at risk.
William met community leaders and business owners at Sweet Surprise, a cafe that provides work opportunities for adults with learning disabilities and that stepped in to help the town during flooding. He heard from the Ilminster Resilience Group, which supported residents through severe flooding. At Ilminster Fire Station he met Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service crews and was shown the mapping and forecasting tools they use against a growing wildfire risk.
The Somerset trip followed visits to flood-hit farming areas in Wales and England, among them Skenfrith in southeast Wales and Herefordshire. As for the spoiler, the prince left Ilminster knowing no more about how the series ends than anyone else watching at home.