Filming for the final of The Celebrity Traitors was brought to a halt after comedian James Acaster struggled during the penultimate roundtable before revealing his true identity as a Traitor. The 41-year-old, who started the show as a Faithful, was recruited by Maya Jama and Richard E. Grant earlier in the competition and reluctantly accepted, vowing to be the most Faithful Traitor.
Roundtable confrontation forces intervention
During Thursday's roundtable, actor Michael Sheen began to suspect James, even though James believed he was going undetected. The comic was accused of being responsible for the murders of his co-stars, including Ross Kemp, who was murdered in plain sight. In a major twist, James revealed he was a Traitor, leaving Maya completely gobsmacked.
His co-stars ultimately voted to banish him from the castle after his true identity was unveiled. Sources claim he "crumbled" while filming the intense scenes. Speaking to The Sun, a source said: "What you don't see is the moment when James got upset as he crumbled when he could see he was about to be caught."
Producers step in as filming pauses
The source added: "Both the producers and the other celebrities could see how he was struggling with the pressure of keeping his true identity secret, and he reached some kind of breaking point when he was confronted. That saw the team feel compelled to intervene, and filming was brought to a halt as they assessed the situation."
Bosses spoke to James and his co-stars and did not resume filming until everybody was in a "fit state". The source added that "very little" was filmed, and the parts that didn't make the final edit of the programme.
Acaster's emotional confession
Exposing himself, James said at the roundtable: "I just want to explain my situation, I was made a Traitor without wanting to be, I've had a unique experience on this that no-one's had before, where I wanted to be a Faithful and that's all I've wanted to be."
He continued: "I wanted to be a Faithful so much at the beginning, I made sure I pointed out the perfume bottles to everybody, so no one forgot them, and I'm so proud of you guys for catching me the way that you did. I couldn't just go, 'Guys it's me, vote for me, but that's all I can do really.'"
After receiving the most votes at the roundtable, the comedian said: "When I came into this experience, I told Claudia that all I wanted to be was a faithful, and all I wanted to do is go around this castle and try and help the faithfuls as much as possible catching traitors. I'm really proud to say that's what I've been able to do, under the circumstances. I am, reluctantly, a traitor." In a cutaway scene, he added: "I'm glad that I was so Faithful that I couldn’t make it to the end as a traitor."
Celebrity Traitors: The Final airs tonight at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
