Maya Jama is facing her biggest threat yet on Celebrity Traitors after an audacious murder in plain sight involving a yawn, putting her previously impervious game in jeopardy.
The Love Island host has been an exemplary Traitor so far, repeatedly going into the diary room saying she didn't want to lose her besties Richard E Grant or Hannah Fry, only to vote them out at the roundtable. The 32-year-old has proven to be a ruthless player, a quality needed amid complaints about complacency elsewhere in the castle. Unlike Joanne McNally and Miranda Hart, Maya would never refuse to vote for someone because they're a pal.
Murder in plain sight
After recruiting King Kenny to the turret, who has taken to the role better than anyone else this series, the Traitors' conclave looked impenetrable. That may be why producers threw an audacious murder in plain sight at them. The plan involved a peacock-emblazoned perfume bottle that had to be sprayed, the murder victim needing to yawn, and a Traitor saying 'Am I boring you?' followed by the victim's name.
Maya realised the only way to get someone to yawn is to do so yourself. But she and James Acaster are not born actors, and the episode ended with an extended sequence of the hammiest yawning ever seen. Even Ross Kemp, who has acted in EastEnders, looked unimpressed.
Tiredness as a clue
Maya's only gaffes so far have been some miserable recruitment picks, but this yawning business puts the Traitor supremo in real jeopardy. Tiredness is a concrete clue the Faithful can point to when Traitor hunting. Last season, Stephen Fry noted that Cat Burns was partial to an afternoon nap, and the Traitors would be needing them. US Traitors star Lisa Rinna said the Traitors remained in the Scottish castle with cameras rolling for hours longer than the Faithful, not returning to their rooms until two or three in the morning.
When Kenny let out a big yawn along with his Traitors, Sharon Rooney leapt on it, asking if it's 'tiring murdering'. Even always-wrong Joanne brought up the tiredness theory with Romesh Rangannathan at breakfast, making the case for suspecting him as: 'You don't lose the rag, you're diplomatic and we can never tell if you're tired.'
What's next for Maya
It puts Maya, the most flamboyant of the yawners, in a dangerous position. The question is whether Ross or Jerry Hall can seize upon it once the murder in plain sight is made known. If Jerry survives, Maya and co can rest easy. Jerry's only correct offering so far was when she cosplayed in a Miss Marple outfit and said, 'I deduce that I am still alive.'
Ross is already furious with the Traitors, accusing them of 'using him like a donkey'. If he finds out Jerry has been murdered in plain sight, the extravagance of those yawns could flicker in his mind. His issue is that he doesn't seem to have a clear crew of allies who he could convince. The Faithful remain suspicious of him, so the Traitors could turn the doubts back to point at him.
Even if that succeeds and Ross goes, he would have planted the seed of doubt about Maya, who is currently so removed from suspicion that the Faithful volunteered to give her the mission shield. But that was before she over-yawned herself into the firing line. Celebrity Traitors returns on Thursday at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
