Richard E Grant has finally addressed his Celebrity Traitors mishap, admitting he has a habit of “getting to the punchline too quickly”. The 69-year-old actor messed up on the opening show last week by immediately confessing he was a Traitor to fellow castmates.
He has since been battling on the programme to save his skin from being kicked off by trying to tell the other celebrities he was being clever and playing mind games with them.
Radio prize announcement
Richard, who filmed the reality show several months ago, went on Classic FM radio to announce a record-breaking prize win. The Withnail and I star called a competition winner named Andy to tell him he had won a massive £1.25 million, but the big moment proved somewhat anticlimactic as the actor blurted out the news as soon as he answered the phone.
“I have a tendency to get to the punchline too quickly sometimes,” he admitted. Andy replied: “I can’t believe this. Is this really genuine? We’re going to have a big holiday! A family holiday. My wife is originally from Mauritius, we’re thinking about going next year and visiting some family. We couldn’t afford that so it was just a dream, really, we were trying to go there one day, but hopefully that day has arrived!”
Traitor confession
Grant was one of the two Traitors picked by Claudia Winkleman in the Celebrity Traitors series premiere – but before he had even joined Maya Jama in the turret for the first time, the actor told a group of his castmates that he’d been chosen. Some of the celebrities were in the castle’s bar when Joe Lycett asked Grant: “What are you?” With a giant grin, Grant replied: “A Traitor.”
His fellow players were left in disbelief at his answer, with Lycett replying: “I think you’ve just done something that has never happened in the game.” Grant and Jama later met in the turret to decide on two celebrities to bring to a face-to-face meeting, where one would ultimately be “murdered” and the other recruited to complete the initial line-up of Traitors. The pair ultimately chose comedian James Acaster to join them on the dark side, sending broadcaster Amol Rajan packing.
Rajan's exit
Writing in his newsletter, Rajan said he asked Grant why he chose to kill him off first. “To protect myself,” he reportedly replied. “And that’s a compliment!” When Rajan argued that recruiting him would have been a stronger move, the actor told him: “Ah yes, that makes sense. But I think I just went mad.”
Celebrity Traitors will reveal whether Grant manages to survive the first roundtable this Thursday.
