Coronation Street favourite Julie Hesmondhalgh has spoken candidly about her stint on The Celebrity Traitors, confessing she wasn't shocked when fellow contestants voted her out of the castle.
Julie became the third celebrity to face banishment from the current series, following in the footsteps of actors Richard E Grant and Myha'la. Yet she's disclosed that she "would have banished myself to be honest" and expressed relief at departing via the Round Table discussion rather than being murdered, as it allowed her to have her final say before leaving.
Leigh-Anne Pinnock prediction
The actress discussed her experience on the programme during an appearance on BBC Breakfast on Monday, October 12. She also shared her astonishment at discovering, once filming wrapped, that fellow contestant Leigh-Anne Pinnock is expecting a baby. And she believes that while viewers may not have seen much of the Little Mix star yet, she "could go a long way".
While identifying Michael Sheen and Romesh Ranganathan as among the quietest participants so far, presenter Jon Kay suggested adding Leigh-Anne to that list.
Julie responded: "Leigh-Anne's quiet, Leigh-Anne's gorgeous, she's such a beautiful person. I think Leigh-Anne will come into her own actually," reports Wales Online.
"I'm sure she was pregnant while we were doing it as well. I just couldn't believe that when I heard afterwards. None of us knew. I mean how she did it I have no idea," she added, describing the gruelling schedule with minimal rest during filming.
She went on: "I think Leigh-Anne might go quite a long way actually." As co-presenter Sally Nugent interjected: "Oh, ok." The actress hastily clarified: "That's not inside info. That's pure vibes."
No game plan and WhatsApp group exit
During their conversation, Julie, 56, - who confessed she had "no game plan whatsoever" - acknowledged feeling overwhelmed during her stint alongside stars like Sheen and Jerry Hall, while also disclosing she had left The Celebrity Traitors' WhatsApp group.
She said: "I couldn't believe I was in there with those people." She added "Every time someone said Julie I was like 'oohhh'." She proceeded to describe their "crazy whatsApp group" saying: "People were sharing who'd won at one point and me and a couple of other people removed ourselves because we just don't want to know."
Historic banishment moment
After her departure last Friday, Julie reflected on the historic moment when the Faithfuls successfully eliminated Richard E Grant during the initial banishment - marking the first occasion a Traitor had been voted out at the Round Table on their first attempt.
She described the moment as 'the best feeling'. She commented, "I cannot begin to tell you how incredible that feeling is. Right up there with marriage and childbirth, haha!"
"And then for Claudia to come in and say that that has never happened in any series of the Traitors ever! But of course, it created this atmosphere of such cockiness and such blood thirstiness; it was a bit of a poisoned chalice ultimately."
The Celebrity Traitors is on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
