James Acaster has revealed the real reason Julie Hesmondhalgh was banished from Celebrity Traitors, claiming the key moment was edited out of the final broadcast.
The actress, known for playing Hayley Cropper in Coronation Street, was the latest victim of the round table in the BBC series after a campaign led by singer James Blunt, and revealed she had been a Faithful the whole time.
What really happened
However, reluctant Traitor James said the real reason the group turned on the Broadchurch actress and voted her out was not shown in the episode.
He told The Times: “In the edit James Blunt’s reason was that Julie was given the first shield. What actually happened is that when they did the shoulder tap for the Traitors’ pick at the beginning, James told Julie who he thought was acting suspiciously around the table.”
James spoke to Julie soon afterwards and told her that at that stage in the game, before the traitors knew who each other were, they would not be sharing theories because they might inadvertently incriminate an ally. He suggested that they should take note of who was not being forthcoming.
Julie's fate sealed
He continued: “Then Julie went into the room where James [Blunt] was, puts this to everyone, and says, ‘Like you, James. You’re not sharing your theories with anyone’, and James is thinking, ‘Well that’s not true, because I just shared mine with you at the table’.”
James said that when Julie was voted out, the You're Beautiful singer presented this as evidence of lying. He added: “That’s why Julie got voted off. Which isn’t in the edit. If I was him, I’d be pretty gutted.”
Behind the scenes
Comedian James also revealed some behind-the-scenes detail about filming, saying contestants stay in a “Travelodge-level hotel about an hour from the castle in the Scottish Highlands, which is a bit of a trek each morning and night”.
They cannot leave the hotel without being chaperoned and have ten minutes each morning to FaceTime a friend or family member. He added: “A member of the production team is there with you, so you can’t have an authentic conversation because you can’t tell them anything that’s happening.
“At one point my partner said, ‘Have you caught the sun?’ I was saying, ‘Oh yeah, we were outside for one of the missions’. I was told I couldn’t even tell her that.”
A spokesperson for The Celebrity Traitors said: “Everyone experiences their own game in their individual way with many differing theories, opinions and multiple discussions throughout the day.
“Naturally, we could never include every minute of a day’s filming in any one episode where we need to focus on the key story moments.
“The round table offers an open forum for all of those theories to be presented and it is there that we see the most salient points come to the fore that succinctly convey how players reach the decision on who to banish in that moment.”
Celebrity Traitors continues on BBC One on Thursday at 8pm.
