Nearly a week on from the Celebrity Traitors final, there’s been bitter swipes, contract ‘violations’ and a huge backstage ‘feud’ as the drama rumbles on after the castle
It’s been nearly week since the Celebrity Traitors final – but the fallout from the show is still ongoing.
Romesh Ranganathan and Sebastian Croft took home the top prize after successfully banishing Traitor King Kenny in the firepit, with poor James Blunt becoming collateral damage in the Faithfuls win.
Since the victory, numerous members of the show have spoken out to address rumours of a feud among the cast members – and to hit out at the BBC for editing a number of crucial scenes out.
Viewers have been left wondering if the real Traitors are the production team after hearing James Acaster told Jerry Hall he was a Traitor himself and almost staging a mass walk-out partway through the show.
Here’s all the drama that has erupted since the final firepit showdown.
Star ‘betrayed’
James Blunt has told how he felt betrayed by co-star Romesh during the show.
Speaking on BBC Radio 2’s The Sara Cox Breakfast Show, Blunt said he felt “betrayed” when the comedian voted for him, explaining: “I think what I really knew is, I had proven through the time we had been there that I was a faithful. Everyone knew it.
“Everyone at the roundtable said he’s obviously a faithful, so when Romesh pulled his card out, I was like, hang on. I think Romesh was being a little underhand(ed). I had to chuck in a final red because he’s done something very treacherous there, hasn’t he?”
Blunt insisted there is no bad blood between the pair, adding: “It was the perfect finish, I really enjoyed it. Romesh and I are really close actually, I promise we’re really good friends.”
Contract ‘violation’
Just after Celebrity Traitors, Joanne McNally and friend Vogue Williams had planned to reveal all about her time on the show. However, she claimed that the BBC prevented her from releasing a “tell-all” episode about her experience.
Addressing the missing episode at the start of a different instalment, Joanne and Vogue’s producer Joe Attewell said: “I think it is now, eight to nine thousand messages we’ve had, and rightly so, asking where that promised bonus extra episode went that was going to come out on Sunday. We recorded that on Friday afternoon.
“It was a tell all behind the scenes and all about Joanne’s experience on Celebrity Traitors.” Vogue quipped that she had “spent ages on research” so that she could interview Joanne, and Joe said he “edited it as fast” as he could.
They then jokingly claimed he was “bundled roughly into a BBC van”. They added: “[The BBC] told me in no uncertain terms that just about everything that had been spoken about on the podcast was a violation of contracts that had been signed.”
James Blunt ‘feud’
There had been rumours of a ‘feud’ between winner Romesh Ranganthan and James Blunt. In the final firepit, Romesh made it clear he thought James was a Traitor after he dismissed Traitor Maya Jama’s comments.
When questioned about it, James said it was nothing and after a chat with Sebastian Croft (Bash), Romesh and Bash both decided to end the game whilst James voted to banish again. As a result, he left without any prize money.
A cheeky joke Romesh made about Claudia ‘thanking Romesh for getting James out’ the show appeared to be taken wrongly by James during the Uncloaked final episode, but it seems any ‘bad feelings’ are all gone now.
Speaking on Hits Radio, James said: “Romesh is a very, very, sweet human being, and I promise he and I get on very, very, well. He has done [donated some money]. I was going to save that for a conversation I was having with him, but you know, if you’re going to mention it, he absolutely has. It’s called Blue Marine Foundation.”
‘Heavily edited’
Of course, as with all TV shows, there has to be editing of what happened to fit it into a single episode but since the show, many of its famous faces have spoken out about the editing of the show.
“He didn’t fall on his sword. That’s what you saw, that’s what you feel, but he didn’t,” James Blunt explained of the big moment that James Acaster confirmed he was a Traitor, “You didn’t see the full extent of the interrogation. It was heavy in there and it was clear-cut. He was pinned to a post. We got him. We really, really got him.
“There are elements [of the show] where I was screaming at the screen for a different reason than you. No matter what really went on in that castle, you’re a victim to the edit.”
James Acaster also said key scenes from the castle were cut – including him confessing he was a Traitor to Jerry and his contribution at the roundtables before his true identity was revealed.
Speaking on Alan Carr’s Life A Beach podcast, he said: “I had that in my head to speak out, that all the quiet ones around the roundtable are the Traitors so I went for it. But then I realised..
“Because most of the time they want to keep how the Traitors vote as a surprise, they don’t want to have hints I go one way or another. A lot of the time what I said at the roundtable was cut out so that what I voted was a reveal – so that makes sense.”
He said they cut out Jerry Hall accusing him of a Traitor – and him admitting he was. “I looked her in the eye and said, I think it might be me too Jerry, and she said you’re very sneaky. And I told her I was very sneaky and it might be me,” he recalled – but said he was shocked it wasn’t included in the edit.
Kenny’s swipe
Discussing the big reveal from James, fellow Traitor King Kenny made a barbed swipe at his co-star. James had made it clear that he didn’t want to be a Traitor but Kenny felt he left the show because of James’ reveal.
“I think the producers should make sure that everyone wants to play the game effectively. Whether you’re a Traitor or a Faithful, everyone’s happy to do whatever. It makes the game much more fun,” he said.
“I was shocked. Ultimately, in that moment when he spoke about him not spraying the perfume and bringing up that the murder happened in plain sight in that room, I said to Maya ‘Time’s coming but we’re going to have to fight for our life and try and win this.”
He added: “I kind of had an argument to try and stay as long as I can because I was out of that room when the murder happened. So that was the only hope I had to try and win this. I think if James Acaster didn’t say that I would have won.”
Romance rumours
There had been rumours of a romance between Maya Jama and King Kenny following the end of the show, but a source has denied a romance between the pair after he visited her at her £1.5million London flat.
The source added that the pair, who were both Traitors on the show, “find it hilarious that their relationship could be anything else.”
“Maya and Kenny are just friends. There is nothing romantic between them,” a source said, “Kenny has been firmly on the sofa this week and the pair find it hilarious that their relationship could be anything else.”
The insider added that Kenny has been visiting Maya’s home to spend some time with friends who have been staying with the TV presenter. The source told the publication that the pair “are genuinely really good friends” and built “a stronger bond” on the show.
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