James Acaster has claimed that Celebrity Traitors bosses edited out the real reason Julie Hesmondhalgh was banished from the castle. The comedian says the crucial moment that led to Julie's exit was left out of the final broadcast.
Acaster reveals edited-out moment
Julie, known for playing Coronation Street's Hayley Cropper, was the most recent victim evicted from the round table in the BBC series after receiving the most votes. Julie had revealed that she had been a Faithful all along, with other contestants stressing their frustrations towards co-star James Blunt as he hosted the campaign.
Yet, Traitor James Acaster seemed rather hesitant and disclosed the reason why the group turned on Julie and voted her out. Speaking to The Times, he said: "In the edit 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 time Julie who he thought was acting suspiciously around the table."
Julie's exit explained
James then explained that after Julie's elimination, he told her at that point of the competition, before the traitors had known each other's identities, the traitors wouldn't be sharing their theories as they could risk outing a fellow traitor.
He said: "Then Julie went into the room where James Blunt was, put this to everyone and said, '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'."
When Julie's elimination was being discussed, Blunt used this as evidence of Julie lying. "That's why Julie got voted off. Which isn't in the edit," James added. "If I was him, I'd be pretty gutted." He suggests that Blunt should probably be frustrated because the edit makes him look unreasonable for wanting to eliminate Julie.
Behind the scenes details
James also revealed behind-the-scenes information about contestants staying during the filming of the BBC show. He stated: "Travelodge-level hotel about an hour from the castle in the Scottish highland, which is a bit of a trek each morning and night."
He disclosed the rules celebs are under during their stay, including having around ten minutes to FaceTime family or friends in the morning and when leaving the hotel they always need to be chaperoned otherwise they are not allowed to leave.
James 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." There is zero sense of privacy for the contestant as they are always with a member from the production. "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."
The producers of Celebrity Traitors are really strict about what contestants discuss with the outside world and do not want to disclose any information with what goes on inside.
"Everyone experiences their own game in their own individual way with many differing theories, opinions and multiple discussions throughout the day," said a spokesperson for The Celebrity Traitors. They added: "Naturally, we could never include every minute of the 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 at that moment."
