Coronation Street star Julie Hesmondhalgh has opened up about her time on The Celebrity Traitors, revealing she "would have banished myself to be honest" and expressing disbelief upon learning that Faithful Leigh-Anne Pinnock was pregnant during filming.
Julie was the third person to be banished from the current series, following actors Richard E Grant and Myha'la. She said she was pleased to have exited via the Round Table rather than being murdered, as it gave her a chance to address her co-stars before leaving.
Surprise pregnancy revelation
Speaking as a guest on BBC Breakfast on Monday, October 12, Julie shared her surprise at learning, after finishing filming, that Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock is pregnant. While citing Michael Sheen and Romesh Ranganathan as the quietest players so far, host Jon Kay threw Leigh-Anne's name into the mix.
Julie replied: "Leigh-Anne's quiet, Leigh-Anne's gorgeous, she's such a beautiful person. I think Leigh-Anne will come into her own actually. 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 how they had very little sleep during the show.
She continued: "I think Leigh-Anne might go quite a long way actually." As co-host Sally Nugent chipped in: "Oh, ok." The actress quickly added: "That's not inside info. That's pure vibes."
No game plan and WhatsApp group exit
During the chat, Julie, 56, who said she had "no game plan whatsoever," admitted she had felt starstruck during her time with the likes of Sheen and Jerry Hall, but also revealed she has removed herself from 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 went on 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 of Richard E Grant
Following her exit last Friday, Julie spoke about what it was like when the Faithfuls made history by banishing Richard E Grant during the first banishment - the first time a Traitor was ousted from a Round Table at the first attempt.
She said at the time it was "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."
Celebrity Traitors is on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
