Claire Foy and Zoe Ball back Claudia Winkleman over Traitors sexism row

Claire Foy and Zoe Ball have thrown their support behind Claudia Winkleman for calling out the apparent sexism on The Traitors.

In last week's episodes, Winkleman who hosts the BBC One reality contest addressed the Traitors' ongoing tactic of "murdering" female contestants and only recruiting male contestants to join their secret group.

As original Traitor Harry and recent recruit Andrew told Winkleman that they had decided to recruit Ross to their ranks, she shot back: "Another man. Good, it's like the olden days."

Harry and Andrew laughed uncomfortably as they justified their decision by saying they had to think about the tactics of the game.

But plenty of viewers had also picked up on the same issue - including, it seems, famous fans Claire Foy and Zoe Ball.

Foy appeared on Ball's BBC Radio 2 breakfast show on Wednesday, where she said that she thought Harry had "got a bit too big for his boots" and added: "I did love what Claudia said the other day when she said it was like the olden days."

Ball enthusiastically agreed with her as Foy continued: "When men [are] just taking out all the women and just thinking they're going to take over and win all the money."

Original Traitors Harry and Paul turned on their teammate Ash early on with their first recruit Miles, pushing her out of the game.

Miles and Paul have also since been banished, but all recruits this series have been male with Ash still the only female Traitor as Andrew and Ross were recruited. On the other hand, five of the six murdered contestants were female.

Winkleman also addressed the issue on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour last week, where host Emma Barnett read out a question from a listener called Harriet.

She read: "Why is it that all the people that get murdered by the Traitors are all women bar one? And secondly, why are the Traitors so ageist? One of them (Traitors) was a woman and a bit older, so they murdered her straight away."

TV star Winkleman replied: "Well, I mean, correct, Harriet. And I would like to sit down with Harriet and have quite a few conversations about it. I don't want to say anything, because what if people haven't watched? So I'm not going to say any names.

"But yeah, it's problematic. But then you'll carry on watching and you'll see, and that is all I can say."

The Traitors continues tonight at 9pm on BBC One.

Read more: The Traitors

• The Traitors UK just got renewed for season 3 and applications are open now (Cosmopolitan, 3 min read)

• Who will win The Traitors? It's obvious (The Telegraph, 4 min read)

• The Traitors cast all reuniting for special Uncloaked episode after final (Bang Showbiz, 2 min read)