James Acaster has revealed that Richard E. Grant's fate on Celebrity Traitors was sealed before he made his infamous mistake. The Withnail and I actor became the first star of season two to be banished at the roundtable after telling Joe Lycett he was a traitor moments after Claudia Winkleman tapped him on the shoulder.
However, Off Menu host James has revealed the Oscar-nominated star's time in the castle was always going to end at the first roundtable, whether he outed himself so quickly or not.
What happened outside the room
The comedian appeared on Ireland's The Late Late Show on Friday night, where he told host Patrick Kielty what was happening outside the room in which Richard made his gaffe. Patrick asked: 'Strategy-wise, where does saying you're a trait when you are a traitor fall into strategy. What did you think of all that?'
'I don't know if that falls under strategy, does it?' James joked. 'I was in another room when it happened. If they'd been able to show you what's going on all the rooms, in all the other rooms in the castle was just all of us going, "it's clearly Richard" as he was telling them in that room so if that hadn't happened it would have gone the exact same way.'
Richard's earlier slip-up
Even after leaving Celebrity Traitors in such explosive fashion, Richard's mouth has been getting him into even more trouble. According to The Daily Mail, Richard broke the rules ahead of the show's broadcast by all but revealing he was a Traitor during an interview in June, which was then edited to avoid spoilers.
According to the publication, a BBC insider then said: 'Players have once again been reminded about keeping the outcome of the game to themselves following a number of incidents.' It comes after BBC Radio 6 presenters Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie shared that Richard had accidentally blabbed about being a Traitor to them four months ago, forcing their 'brilliant producers' to cut parts of the interview to avoid his slip-up.
On a recent episode of their Radio 6 Music show, they revealed: 'People were saying when Joe Lycett said to him on Traitors, "What are you?" and he says "Traitor" that was his downfall, but if they had been listening in June, you would have heard that he revealed it earlier, so we took this out because we didn't want to spoil your enjoyment.'
With his fate on the show now confirmed, the presenters played the original clip in full from their chat with Richard, where they asked him if actors have an advantage on the show. He responded: 'You would think so, but the very nature of being an actor is that you rely entirely on the camaraderie of the people that you are working with and to trust them, and when you are a Traitor it's far more challenging than you might anticipate.'
Latest developments
Professor Hannah Fry became the second traitor to be banished from the castle this week and has subsequently been replaced by YouTuber King Kenny. The traitors have never been stronger this series but everything could be about to fall apart with the latest murder, which took place in plain sight. The trio had to convince a Faithful to yawn and then asked them: 'Am I boring you?'
Fans are convinced James and Maya have already been caught, predicting Ross spotted them both constantly preparing to yawn and it about to call them out – if he survives. Celebrity Traitors continues Thursday at 8pm on BBC One.
