Alexander Dragonetti first rose to fame in 2025 when he appeared on the third season of the hit BBC gameshow The Traitors.
Dubbed "The People's Princess" by his fans online, the former foreign diplomat and Mencap ambassador quickly established himself as one of the most beloved members of the Faithful and managed to make it to the finale before being beaten by winners Leanne and Jake.
As the fourth instalment of The Traitors continues with yet another thrilling season of clever twists, delivered expertly by the wonderful Claudia Winkleman, HELLO! caught up with Alexander to get his thoughts on the new series.
What did Alexander say about The Traitors season 4?
Giving his verdict on the new season, Alexander, 39, said: "What I love about this season is the intensity. I think it's just gone up – I was going to say a notch, but, like, several notches, right?
"Not only are they completely into the game, they're fully immersed, but also they've got the benefit of three seasons before in terms of learning how the game works. And you can see the level of gameplay that each of the players has brought to this theory is on another level."
Reflecting on what makes the show so brilliant, Alexander believes this year's cohort have become more sophisticated in their approach. "If you look back to series one, they were just having the time of their lives. In this series, in Claudia's words, it's just so brutal."
Along with the impressively steely gameplay, we chat about this year's line-up of contestants, whose careers range from crime writer and secret barrister Harriet to MET police officer Amanda and head of communications Rachel, who revealed she'd undergone training from an FBI agent before entering the castle.
When I ask Alexander if he thinks a previous career makes a difference when it comes to The Traitors, he said: "I'm very careful about saying that your job makes a difference, because you see people who are incredibly talented in their own field really struggle with the game."
Referencing Harriet and Amanda, who were both "incredibly capable people with real Traitor-hunting skills", Alexander believes what can be a strength in real life can become a weakness in the game.
"For me, I was always pretty careful about saying, 'Because I'm a diplomat, I'll be able to do X,' because you just know that there will be a split screen of you saying, 'Oh, I'm really good at this, really good with people. And on the next screen will just be you falling out with a whole group of people and you're an idiot. So you just know it'll happen."
The one thing he does believe a job like this can help with, however, is adaptability. "That's the key thing, definitely."
The one thing viewers overlook
Now watching The Traitors as a viewer himself – and yes, Alexander confirms the group chat with his season's contestants is very much still alive – he discusses the one part of the series that often gets overlooked.
"I think one of the things that there was a bit of sort of commentary about, even in season one, is that people could sometimes fast forward through the missions and say they don't really matter to the game. They're just sort of separate, get back to the round table.
"And actually, what you've seen in sort of series three, and increasingly in series four, is the mission is now central to the game. If you miss the mission, you miss a big part of the plot, because whoever has a shield is then protected."
We talk about the latest episode, when Faithful James secretly picked up a shield for himself without his team knowing. "If you didn't watch that mission, that's a major or medium-sized plot point, so the missions are now integral."
What is Alexander Dragonetti doing now?
A year on from his iconic rendition of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and viral fall into the Traitors bushes, Alexander is continuing his work in current affairs and is a dedicated activist for causes surrounding education, disability and health.
He also shares regular bite-sized videos explaining current affairs to his 231k followers on Instagram and has interviewed the Prime Minister multiple times.
"I care about the decisions that these people make and it's really important, therefore, to me, to ask the people who make those decisions about them.
"I want to be able to share that with people, because people ask me questions on social media, and they want to know the answers. If I can be a sort of channel to bring those people, I think that's really good. I want to make things that are going on in the world, make them translate, or make them easy to understand for people who may not follow them, or lack time." The Traitors returns to BBC One and iPlayer on Thursday at 8pm.