Warning: This article contains major spoilers for The Celebrity Traitors.
If Richard E Grant’s botched double bluff left you in a cold sweat during this year’s Celebrity Traitors launch show, spare a thought for the producers who watched the insane scenes play out live.
During Thursday night’s season opener, Richard was chosen to be one of two Traitors, alongside Love Island host Maya Jama.
But before he’d even entered the turret or tried on his cloak, the Oscar nominee had already flown a little too close to the sun, when he appeared to confess to several members of the group that he was part of the treacherous team.
“It was a mixture of a little bit of sick coming up in my mouth, and [an air punch] at the same time,” executive producer Sarah Fay said ahead of The Celebrity Traitors’ return (as reported by Digital Spy).
“We’ve never had anything like that happen before,” she then claimed. “Within five minutes of being out of the Round Table, he’d already mucked up.”
“As producers, you always want to make sure the series is fresh, and new, and we’ve been very lucky so far. Every single series, the cast brings something different,” she added.
“But never in our wildest dreams did we think that we’d have a Traitor admit they were a Traitor five minutes after the Round Table!”
Due to Richard’s faux pas, when it came to recruiting a new Traitor, he and Maya decided to give two of his biggest sceptics a chance, with one turning the duo into a trio, and the other becoming the first casualty of the new series.
Find out whether it’s broadcaster Amol Rajan or comedian James Acaster on the chopping block when The Celebrity Traitors continues on Friday night at 9pm on BBC One.
Who is in the cast of The Celebrity Traitors 2026?
The 21 stars on the line-up are as follows:
- Amol Rajan
- Bella Ramsey
- Professor Hannah Fry
- James Acaster
- James Blunt
- Jerry Hall
- Joanne McNally
- Joe Lycett
- Julie Hesmondhalgh
- Kenny Oghenovo “King Kenny” Ojuederie
- Leigh-Anne Pinnock
- Maya Jama
- Michael Sheen
- Miranda Hart
- Myha’la
- Richard E Grant
- Rob Beckett
- Romesh Ranganathan
- Ross Kemp
- Sebastian Croft
- Sharon Rooney
