She was drawn to the celebrity who seemed the most terrified of being pretend murdered in the castle
Banished Faithful Julie Hesmondhalgh says she may be out of Celebrity Traitors, but catching Richard E Grant was one of the highlights of her entire life.
The Coronation Street star found herself in a losing battle for survival at the round table last night, receiving nine votes to Professor Hannah Fry’s six.
But Julie, best known as Weatherfield’s Hayley Cropper, said she had loved catching Richard at the earliest opportunity. “It was the best feeling, I cannot begin to tell you how incredible that feeling is,” she declared after leaving the castle. “Right up there with marriage and childbirth! But of course it created this atmosphere of such cockiness and such blood thirstiness, it was a bit of a poisoned chalice ultimately.
“It’s been the experience of a lifetime, so joyful. I’ve laughed till I’ve cried, most hours of the day. I’ll really miss being part of it.”
The married mum-of-two, 56, revealed that fellow actor Ross Kemp had been one of her favourite people in the castle. “Ross was also the big, unexpected love for me in this series. He’s just wonderful. I’ve never seen anyone as terrified of being pretend murdered in my life, who at the same time talks constantly about all the things he’s seen and done in his life, and they are horrific.”
Julie felt that her game didn’t get off to a good start when she was voted the most trustworthy player in the opening moments of the series. “I didn’t expect it at all,” she laughed. “I did in the back of my mind think, ‘oh, this is quite front and centre, when everyone had advised me to keep a low profile for the first few days’. There I am in my bright red dress, greeting everyone like some starstruck fan. I did worry that it might work against me.”
On the other hand, she also quite liked it. “I think being voted as most trustworthy before anyone knew me, so only based on vibes, was a truly lovely thing. It was quite humbling to know that it was just a public persona perception thing and to see how very quickly it was ripped from my hands – and everyone was like, you’re not what you seem at all!”
Most of the players were understandably gutted to discover that, on the back of banishing Myha’la, they had again got rid of one of their own. At the Round Table, Romesh Ranganathan tried to defend Julie, saying: “The person we nominated as the most trustworthy – we’ve now completely flipped on.”
But overall, Julie felt like she did herself proud. “I felt like mine was a chapter that began very clearly and ended very clearly, a strong narrative arc – and that satisfies the actor in me! I didn’t want to just pootle along, I’d rather go with a bang.”
In the episode, viewers saw Julie come unstuck after gunning hard for Myha’la – who turned out to be a Faithful. She said: “Hannah was doing a brilliant job of defending herself, and I was absolutely rubbish. At one point my mouth dried up to absolutely nothing – I knew I looked really guilty.”
And she admitted: “The fact that I thought that in any universe I could be a Traitor is ridiculous – I knew I didn’t have it in me. If Claudia had picked me, I would have been terrible.”
Saying that she thinks Hannah will now be caught soon, Julie offered some advice to the remaining Faithful. “I would say, look in unexpected places and look closer to you than you think, because often it’s the people right next to you you’ve got to worry about.”
Her parting shot in the game was to declare: “Alas, it may mean that I am not a phenomenal actor. I am indeed a Faithful.”
James Blunt, who led the charge against Julie, admitted afterwards: “I’m just so useless at this game. I’ve been wrong every step of the way. I just feel so stupid.”
Her departure came after Bella Ramsey was murdered – insisting afterwards that they didn’t mind. The Last Of Us actor explained: “I was going in with a fresh slate, and I was so excited to start again. I think the Traitors killed me off because they knew that I was maybe going to start doing that and get to the bottom of things. All things considered, I feel satisfied and ready to go.
“I am forever Faithful – I would love to see the Faithful win.”
Next week viewers will discover whether Rob Beckett, Ross or Romesh will be murdered in a face-to-face encounter with the Traitors following a deadly game of hide-and-seek involving the crypts in the castle grounds.
Leigh-Anne Pinnock is also playing, but was handed a key to protect her – meaning the Traitors could come away without a victim if they choose her as their victim. She said: “I want the Traitors to knock at the door and try to get in. This is the only time I’d invite the Traitors to try and murder me.”
In the turret, it emerged that recruited Traitors Hannah and James Acaster are reluctant to murder, leaving Maya Jama to wish Richard was still by her side. She told them: “I can’t be the only one out here killing people – I need you two to step in to that mentality.”
Last night the group pushed the prize pot to £30.500 during their mission in the scary cabin.
Thursday’s third episode of the BBC hit pulled in the highest ratings of the series so far with a peak of 10.3million tuning in to see Richard get banished. The first peaked with 9.1million viewers last week, while the second got 8.6million.
– The Celebrity Traitors returns to BBC1 next Thursday at 8pm
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: mirror.co.uk
