Richard E Grant has denied claims that he deliberately revealed himself as a Traitor on the latest series of Celebrity Traitors in order to reduce his filming commitments. The 69-year-old actor made headlines when he accidentally exposed his identity to fellow contestants in the BBC show's castle.
In the diary room, Grant told the cameras: 'That may be the biggest mistake I have ever made in my life.' The slip ended his hopes of progressing in the game, as he became the first Traitor ever to be banished at the first roundtable.
Despite the apparent accident, some online commentators have speculated that Grant intentionally revealed his role to shorten his time on the show while still receiving his appearance fee. Grant has now responded to these theories on his Instagram Stories, dismissing them as 'categorically false'.
Grant's response to the allegations
In a statement posted to his social media, Grant wrote: 'I usually wouldn't comment on things like this, but I've been made aware some press outlets are suggesting I “staged” my Traitors reveal to get out of filming.'
He added: 'This is categorically false. I'm an avid fan of the show and have been since it first aired. Being picked as a Traitor when I was convinced I'd be a Faithful was an absolute dream and a sheer shock to the system.'
The denial follows a report in The Sun, which cited an unnamed source on the show claiming crew members were convinced the blunder was 'staged'. The source was quoted as saying: 'Watching how it played out on the set, we're all convinced he staged it. He was there for a good time, not a long time and what a way to go.'
Earlier slip on radio
The source added: 'Obviously he kept talking about his love of the show and had a brilliant time but Richard E Grant is not a stupid man.' However, the same report noted that the BBC had already 'insisted it was an innocent mistake'.
It has since emerged that Grant had previously let slip his Traitor status during a BBC Radio interview before the series aired. Radio 6 Music presenters Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie revealed that Grant had accidentally revealed the information four months ago, forcing their producers to cut parts of the interview.
On a recent episode of their show, they said: 'People were saying when Joe Lycett said to him on Traitors, “What are you?” and he says “Traitor” that was his downfall, but if they had been listening in June, you would have heard that he revealed it earlier, so we took this out because we didn't want to spoil your enjoyment.'
The Celebrity Traitors continues on Thursday at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
