Filming of the penultimate episode of Celebrity Traitors was reportedly halted after contestant James Acaster became distressed during the roundtable, prompting the welfare team to check on the stars.
The episode, which aired on Thursday night (October 29), saw the comedian exposed as a "reluctant Traitor" before he outed himself when actor Michael Sheen accused him and fellow Traitor Maya Jama of being "murderers". He was immediately banished by his co-stars.
Welfare Team Intervenes
A source told The Sun that the moment when James got upset was not shown on screen. The insider 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. 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. They spoke to both James and the rest of the stars and didn’t allow filming to resume until they were sure everyone was in a fit state."
Heavily Edited Episode
The insider added that "very little" was captured on camera and that "what little" that was did not feature in the final edit. James had only wanted to play the game as a Faithful and struggled as a Traitor throughout the series.
Speaking after leaving the castle, he said: "Now we’ve got a proper final on our hands. With three Traitors, it would have been a foregone conclusion that we were going to win."
He added: "Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was hilarious at one point that we were just going to walk our way to the final and win the whole thing, but this is much better, isn’t it?"
He also reflected on his role: "As a Traitor sometimes, when you see people have real life reactions that are bigger than the game, you feel bad. I would have to remind myself they don’t have a game without you, literally, if no one’s doing this stuff, they can’t play, and they all want to play. So you are doing an important job here. When they catch you, they’ll be really happy and they’ll like it."
Final Line-Up Confirmed
The seven finalists are Maya Jama, King Kenny, Sebastian Croft, James Blunt, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Michael Sheen, and Romesh Ranganathan. The final will air on Friday (October 30).
