The Celebrity Traitors cast is preparing to become the first group ever to catch a Traitor at their first roundtable, with Richard E Grant now firmly in their sights. After the actor declared he was a Traitor minutes after becoming one, the group were gearing up to banish him, as it emerged the next player to be murdered will be either model Jerry Hall or mathematician Hannah Fry.
Faithfuls aim for historic banishment
Comedian Joe Lycett declared: “A Traitor has never been banished at the first round table. If we could do that we’d be the best Faithful that have ever played this game.”
Former Corrie star Julie Hesmondhalgh agreed: “I think we are at risk of being the most idiotic group of Faithfuls in the world if we go for someone else tonight based on nothing at all - when somebody has come into the room and said ‘I am a Traitor’.”
The others getting heat - from those who felt Richard’s outburst was part of his natural eccentricity, including Jerry, actress Myha’la and comedian Joanne McNally - were Ross Kemp, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Julie.
Richard's fate appears sealed
By the end of the roundtable, Richard’s fate appeared to have been sealed. His fellow original Traitor, Maya Jama, could only wonder: “How to I get my right-hand man out of this? I want to save him. Even though he’s dug himself the biggest hole imaginable.”
Viewers know that Richard simply made an almighty slip-up. But some were still convinced he was innocent, with Joanne saying she would “eat my own bonnet” if he was a Traitor.
Richard, 69, was hoping that reluctant new recruit James Acaster would make suggestions to “calm the waters and deflect” suspicion away from him. “He’s the man for my survival,” he said. But James, correctly, said in a confessional that if he suddenly changed his tune the other comedians, who know him well, would immediately suspect something was up. “I’m not going to clear his name at the expense of my name - or go down with him,” he insisted.
Richard's fighting talk and Amol's exit
Just before the roundtable, Richard admitted to being “resigned” to his fate even while offering some fighting talk: “I’m hoping that I do get away with it. I’m not going down like some broken-winged old duck - I’m going to give it some welly.”
But, like Julie, Romesh Ranganathan said that they would be foolish not to put Richard’s name forward when he’d admitted to being a Traitor. Miranda Hart was convinced at the roundtable, based on the “joy and excitement” she’d felt from him when he took off his mask after being chosen as a Traitor by Claudia Winkleman.
Defending himself, the actor pretended that he’d made his mistake because he was hopeful there was still time to become a Traitor at some point in the game. “I suppose it’s like wish fulfilment,” he argued.
Earlier, murdered Faithful Amol Rajan compared his harrowing death experience in the Traitors chapel to an epic pilgrimage - which only happens once every 12 years. And he said that James Acaster, who beat him to stay in the game as a Traitor, would do a great job. “I think the Faithful have got a real challenge now with Acaster in the mix. I think he is going to be brilliant.”
“Last year I went to a pilgrimage in India for a BBC1 documentary, travelling to the River Ganges. It’s called the Kumbh Mela, and it's just once every 12 years. It's the biggest religious gathering in the world, and it's about the alignment of Jupiter, the Moon, the Earth, and the Sun. Millions of people attend and it felt very heightened. I haven't felt that same intensity until last night in the chapel.”
Having started off by declaring he was taking part “because I want to win”, Amol said he hadn’t been sure what tactic to take. “Journalists are meant to be people who ask all the good questions,” he explained afterwards. “I was a little self-conscious about whether I should try and play that up to my advantage or whether that might arouse suspicion.”
The University Challenge presenter said he knew it would be hard to beat James - one of the few celebrities who only wanted to be a Faithful. “Walking into that beautiful chapel I saw one of the greatest comedians of his generation in James Acaster, a legend, wonderful human being who has become my mate. It suddenly dawned on me that there were a couple of open coffins and I thought, ‘here we go’.”
Having gunned for Richard, he doesn’t think the Withnail and I star will last long in the game. “We have to acknowledge it's a game of information, and right now, we don't have much. The one thing we do know is that Richard is either a Traitor, as he said, or a bad Faithful.”
Hannah and Jerry up for murder
Hannah and Jerry were selected for murder after Ross Kemp led the mission in which every other celebrity was dug out of their shallow grave. But Jerry, 70, uttered the panic word “haggis”, meaning both she and partner Hannah were out of the game - and up to be murdered. The Celebrity Traitors returns to BBC1 on Thursday 8 October.
