Joe Lycett has opened up following his departure from the Celebrity Traitors castle. The comedian, 38, became the most recent Faithful to be banished from Claudia Winkleman's murder mystery game show.
Despite successfully identifying the Traitors through his investigative work, and even prompting Richard E Grant's candid slip-up after directly asking the actor if he was a Traitor in an infamous exchange, Joe had raised eyebrows around the roundtable after eagerly pleading with the Traitors to recruit him. However, Maya Jama and James Acaster opted to bring King Kenny into their fold instead, following Professor Hannah Fry's departure from the BBC programme.
Farewell message and reflection
Delivering his farewell message to his fellow contestants, Joe stated during the episode on Friday 16 October: "Absolutely loved it, like total dream. I do sort of feel like we're all a family now, and as such, expect to be in all of your wills. Very sad to be going, but what a wonderful group of people. I always wanted to start as a Faithful and end as a Traitor. I started as a Faithful, I did not get my wish. I am a Faithful."
He has since reflected on his elimination, disclosing it has left him with a renewed appreciation for life. He remarked: "It was beyond what I was expecting. It was so much more immersive, and I cared so much more about it than I thought I would. Obviously, when you watch the show and people really get into it and they start crying, you think get over yourselves, it's just a game. But when you're in it, it is your whole life."
Gratitude and connections
"And because I love the show, it was everything I wanted it to be, it was so much fun playing the game, and obviously very frustrating when you didn't find the Traitors. But I was fortunate enough to find two Traitors in my tenure and that's amazing," he continued. "The word that comes to mind for this whole experience is gratitude. It's made me really grateful for my life. I'm really grateful that I am in a position that I get to experience this, because I'm famous enough to be in the mix."
He added: "I loved having my phone taken away from me, and I'm really grateful for the fact that I have a lovely life to miss. It's been full on, but there's been lots of periods where I've been able to pause and reflect and enjoy the company of the other players and the production team. It has been a life changing experience in lots of ways, and made me more grateful and happier about the life that I live."
Audience reaction
He also spoke warmly about the connections formed with his fellow contestants, including Miranda Hart, who was left in tears following Joe's departure. Joe said: "Miranda is someone that I've met briefly in the past and I've always loved. I'm really pleased that I got a chance to play with her, do some sort of an improv, essentially, and kind of mess about. So I got very close with her, and then all the comics, of course."
Audiences confessed to being moved to tears by Joe's departure, with one viewer writing: "I can't believe I've just cried at Joe Lycett being banished, what has this show done to me???" Another commented: "Can't believe they banished national treasure Joe Lycett he was the most Faithful of them all." A third added: "Gutted for Joe, but he unfortunately didn't help himself."
The Celebrity Traitors continues on Thursday at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer, and is available to watch on iPlayer.
