Faithful to Defender: How Celebrity Traitors has sent Land Rover interest through the roof

The Celebrity Traitors final airs this evening, with Britain on the edge of our sofas as we wait to see who is crowned winner.

The iconic moments – from Clare Balding pulling the lever to Kate Garraway’s ‘useless’ repetition – have mounted up as thick and fast as the line of faithfuls wrongly banished from the castle.

Yet whoever comes out on top tonight there’s already one winner, of the series: Land Rover. 

The British brand’s Defender has emerged as the true ‘big dog’ of the series – forget Stephen Fry, Jonathan Ross or even Claudia’s heritage-chic style.

Thanks to the convoys of JLR’s matt-black 4x4s dropping the celebrities to and from the Scottish castle, delivering them between death’s door and survivor breakfast, from challenge to roundtable, the popularity of the British marque’s luxury off-roader has never been higher.

In fact, search results for ‘Land Rover’ have spiked so high – up 35 per cent since the series premiered compared to earlier in the year – that they likely sit somewhere between Gaviscon’s own search results after that Celia Imrie fart moment and the pitch of Alan Carr’s bridge-crossing screams. 

The Celebrity Traitors’ true star: The Land Rover Defender. Search results for ‘Land Rover’ are up 35% since the series premiered compared to earlier in the year thanks to the show’s roaring success

In convoy across the mesmerizing Highlands and lined up outside the imposing Ardross Castle, the Defender 110 is showed off at its most rugged, most glamorous and most intimidating to drivers across the nation.

The first episode of the BBC hit show alone pulled in 11.7 million viewers and has since overtaken Strictly Come Dancing as the Beeb’s number one show. 

Unsurprisingly then as people watch BBC One they also tap up Google to find out more about Land Rover’s best-seller – the four-wheeled star of the show.

Google Trends data shows the period from October 12 to 18 – the days after the opening two shows aired – saw the second highest spike in people searching for the famous SUV over the past five years.

Graham Conway, managing director at Select Car Leasing, is not surprised the historic vehicle has made its mark on the nation.

‘Television shows and movies have a long history of influencing consumer behaviour, and The Celebrity Traitors is no exception,’ he explained.

‘The Land Rover Defender’s prominent role in the series has reignited interest in this iconic vehicle, demonstrating the power of media in shaping market trends.’

The base 110 starts from £62,795 and has up to 425hp and 700Nm of torque. Even used versions of the 110s used for Celebrity Traitors can fetch up to £80,000. 

A convoy of the new 110 Defenders ferry the celebrities back and forth between the breakfast table in the morning, challenges, the roundtable and their beds

The first episode of the BBC hit show alone pulled in 11.7 million viewers and has since overtaken Strictly Come Dancing as the Beeb’s number one show. These nearly 12m people are therefore exposed to JLR’s Defender placement

The Scottish Highlands is the perfect scenery to show off JLR’s best-seller – with the 4×4’s ruggedness and stylishness highlighted by the dramatic outdoors

The base 110 starts from £62,795 and has up to 425hp and 700Nm of torque. Even used versions of the 110s used for Celebrity Traitors can fetch up to £80,000 on the second-hand market

Last year, 115,400 Defenders were sold globally, dwarfing the sales figures for the Range Rover (77,000) and Range Rover Sport (79,800)

Google Trends data shows the period from October 12 to 18 – the days after the opening two shows aired – saw the second highest spike in people Googling the famous SUV over the past five years

The new Defender was first released in 2019 as a reinvention of the old-style Defender which ended production in 2016.

Even without Celebrity Traitors it has been a runaway success for JLR (formerly Jaguar Land Rover) becoming the brand’s biggest seller.

Last year, 115,400 Defenders were sold globally, dwarfing the sales figures for the Range Rover (77,000) and Range Rover Sport (79,800).

And so a mid-life facelift was called for after being on sale in Britain for five years. 

As such JLR, not known for its seismic design changes, took its traditional ‘less is more’ approach to its ’26MY’ (model year) updates with no change to the familiar boxy silhouette and only minor exterior tweaks.

These came in the form of a new headlight design, fog lights as standard, smoke-tinted rear-light clusters and a gloss black grille bar.

The main changes arrived inside, with a larger 13.1-inch screen and improved safety features helping to cocoon the Celebrity Traitors stars in the utmost comfort.

Side-by-side with a 2020 model (left), it’s difficult to tell the new JLR Defender 26MY version (right)

Land Rover has also added a new safety feature in the cabin as well as a larger 13.1-inch touchscreen – an increase in display size over the outgoing 11.4-inch unit

Is this kind of surge in search normal for automotive brands that star on the screen? 

Conway confirms it is, saying: ‘Viral cultural moments often influence consumer behaviour – we see this a lot in films like James Bond and Fast & Furious.

‘We even saw a rise in people searching for pink cars after the Barbie movie came out in 2023.

So, with 15 million people expected to tune in for the Celebrity Traitors final, we might expect plenty to become Defender faithfuls.