Amol Rajan has described his exit from the new series of Celebrity Traitors as "absolutely horrible", after giving "lord of chaos" actor Richard E Grant a tough ride. The 43-year-old journalist was eliminated by the traitors — Grant and TV presenter Maya Jama — during Friday's episode of the BBC spin-off reality game show.
His departure followed an impassioned plea alongside fellow contestant and comedian James Acaster, who had secretly been recruited as the series' third traitor.
'It's not like a game'
Appearing on The One Show to discuss his exit from the Scottish castle, Rajan said: "It's absolutely horrible. It was horrible at the time. Just so people know when you are on The Traitors, it is your world. It's not like a game, you are hundreds of miles from your family, you don't have your phone, it's so intense, it's a little bubble."
"So as you walk into that chapel you are absolutely terrified."
'Moment of utter madness'
During the opening episode, which aired on Thursday, Grant sensationally revealed to his fellow contestants that he was a traitor just minutes into the competition. The bombshell declaration left many faithfuls, Rajan included, deeply suspicious of the actor and debating whether he was bluffing or had genuinely exposed himself.
Rajan branded it a "moment of utter madness", admitting that if he had his time again he would "definitely" handle things differently — including going easier on Grant. He said: "The one thing I would say is lots of people were giving him a hard time and I did get quite close to being recruited as a traitor."
He also revealed that, as a journalist, he believes he was targeted due to expectations that he would ask probing questions. Rajan added: "The thing about the celebrity version, and it's amazing TV, it's just fantastic television, but on the celeb version people's reputation walk in before they do."
"So I should have known I was going to be a target but I didn't realise Richard would go quite that mad that quickly."
Record-breaking debut
Thursday's episode made history as the most watched debut of any series of the programme in the UK, drawing an average audience of 8.9 million viewers and peaking at 9.1 million at one point.
In the series, hosted by Claudia Winkleman, 21 celebrity contestants compete, with those assigned as faithfuls attempting to root out those who have been designated as traitors, who "kill off" fellow players in the dead of night. The celebrities are battling it out at Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands, with a charity cash prize of up to £100,000 up for grabs. The Celebrity Traitors returns on BBC One and iPlayer on Thursday at 8pm.
