This season of The Traitors celebrity spin-off has seen two huge stars bend the rules and throw the game into chaos. Spoilers for the current series follow.
Richard E. Grant's Historic Gaffe
Richard E. Grant made Traitors history by being voted off during the first round table after letting the mask slip in the most spectacular way. When asked by Joe Lycett if he was a Faithful or a Traitor, just moments after the selection process had finished, he simply responded: 'Traitor.'
Following the unbelievable gaffe, James Acaster then sent the Celebrity Traitors fandom into meltdown after admitting he was a Traitor to his fellow contestants and sealing his own fate. The reluctant Traitor has made no secret that he wanted to be a Faithful for the entirety of the second season so far.
Acaster's Admission and Fallout
However, he was the first recruit to the Traitors by Maya Jama and Richard, outlasting Richard and fellow recruit Hannah Fry. James, Maya, and new recruit King Kenny had been successfully pulling the wool over the Faithful's eyes and remaining under the radar — that was until they murdered Ross Kemp in plain sight.
Suspicion fell on both Maya and James during the latest roundtable and, feeling unable to lie while playing the game, James admitted to his fellow contestants that he was a Traitor. And of course, they unanimously voted him off.
Other Rule-Benders in Game Show History
These blunders have helped make the series absolutely unmissable, but it's not the first time that gameshow contestants have bent the rules and changed the game.
Kate Thornton purposefully got herself knocked out of a celebrity version of The Weakest Link to fulfil a prior work commitment. The journalist and broadcaster made sure she was voted from the gameshow in round two so that she could leave the studio because she had another engagement scheduled later that day.
Another Weakest Link contestant who broke the game's voting system was Mike Stratton, who coasted his way to the final round by colluding with his fellow contestants. Stratton, who has pocketed thousands of pounds across 18 game shows, revealed he got down to the last two on The Weakest Link after persuading unsuspecting players not to vote him off.
'I cheated on The Weakest Link. Every time somebody left the room, I went with them,' he told Metro. 'I'd say something like, "I tell you what, they're going to vote me and you off straight away, aren't they?" So I said, "I won't vote for you and you won't vote for me, yeah?" And I did that all day. By the time it came to film the show, there were only two people who I hadn't done it to. My name never got mentioned until there were three of us left: Me, a girl, and this really clever guy. And I looked at the girl, and I said, "Me and you in the final?" and she said, "Yep," and we voted this guy off. One of the guys in the green room said, "You hear what he said then? He said before to me if I didn't vote for him, he wouldn't vote for me." Another said the same thing. They all went and complained to Anne Robinson about me. But she loved it. She came and gave me a hug and everything.'
BenDeLaCreme shocked even RuPaul himself when she threw herself under the bus and ensured a previously eliminated queen could come back on RuPaul's Drag Race. On the third season of the All Stars season, the drag queen decided to write her own name on her elimination lipstick. She used Wite-Out and a Sharpie to vandalise the lipstick, scribbling out her original choice and writing her own name on the lipstick after winning the challenge and the lip-sync. On the runway, in front of the judging panel and her fellow contestants, she pulled out her own lipstick and announced she was sending herself home. Because of this, it meant she used her power to bring back the previously eliminated queen Morgan McMichaels.
Speaking about her exit, BenDeLaCreme admitted she did it because she felt fully satisfied with her performance and no longer wanted to compete. 'My decision to eliminate myself wasn't something that I had planned to do, but on the day of the elimination it became abundantly clear that it was something I needed to do,' she told The Advocate. 'I felt like I had accomplished what I needed to accomplish, and I am proud of that.'
In one of Survivor's biggest blunders, contestant Erik Reichenbach voluntarily surrendered his Individual Immunity necklace, sealing his own fate. On Day 36 of season 16 on Survivor: Micronesia, Erik won individual immunity at the final five. The all-female alliance in the show known at the Black Widow Brigade — made up of Parvati Shallow, Amanda Kimmel, Cirie Fields, and Natalie Bolton — manipulated him into believing that surrendering his immunity necklace to Natalie would prove his honour, win the jury's favour, and guarantee his safety. Erik handed over his immunity necklace, only for the women to immediately blindside him and vote him out unanimously. He was later invited back for a second season, appearing on Survivor: Caramoan, and again made it to the final five. This time, however, he left the game on medical grounds after severe physical exhaustion, starvation, and dehydration took a heavy toll on his body.
Rob Antonson broke the rules of Survivor 51 when he attempted to vote themselves off the show. During the Tribal Council, Antonson attempted to save Eric Macksoud from being eliminated by voting for himself. However, a show producer was forced to intervene and remind Antonson that this was against the show's rules. Anu Sani ended up leaving after receiving the most votes, but in the following episode, Antonson quit the show. He made the decision to leave due to pain in his foot and leg, expressing to his fellow contestants that he was worried of a possible infection. Despite the Survivor 51 medical team not being able to find an injury, Antonson still believed he needed to leave the game. Before his departure, he nobly gave his immunity idol to Carter Krull.
