EXCLUSIVE: With Celebrity Traitors back on Thursday, last year’s finalist Joe Marler has revealed how he went close winning and has some useful tips for the castle’s Class of 2026
Joe Marler says there’s only one way to tackle Celebrity Traitors if you want to go all the way – acting clueless.
The stand-out Faithful so nearly claimed glory in the first ever spin off last year, losing out to Alan Carr in the gripping finale. He can’t wait for the second instalment to begin on Thursday as a new batch of stars head to the famous Scottish castle desperate to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes, or unpick the deceitful selected few.
Viewers can’t wait to see a stellar line-up of names including comedians Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan, Coronation Street legend Julie Hesmondhalgh, Little Mix star Leigh Anne Pinnock, Love Island host Maya Jama and singer James Blunt all try to win £100,000 for charity.
Rugby legend Joe, 36, came so close last year and he has offered some advice to those hoping to follow in his footsteps.
“It was so much fun. It is a wild experience. I mean, like nothing else,” he told the Mirror. “If you want to get as far as possible you’ve got to play quite dumb. It was a natural role for me!
“To get to the final, or as far as possible, you’ve got to play the sort of dumb character, play it down a little bit, just be friendly, not really interested in hunting down any of the Traitors, and they keep you by the side.
“Then you hope that at the last minute you can team up with someone and put all your trust in them. But then go in and that person doesn’t betray you!”
The former England and Harlequins prop says his life has totally changed since appearing on the show – but his wife certainly keeps him grounded, warning him that he will soon become a total irrelevance to the world.
“Life’s certainly got busier, especially compared to my first six months of retirement,” he said.
“That was sort of the honeymoon period, just at home all the time with the kids, loving life. I was able to chip in with the around the house and with the family. But part of me was ‘hang on, I haven’t got any work…. what am I actually doing?’.
“Then the Traitors came up and it’s ‘f**k, I haven’t got time to fart let alone spend lots of time with the kids!’ I’ve been very, very busy and I’m very grateful for it and it is all off the back of the Traitors.
“I haven’t even had much time at the weekend to take the boys to watch some rugby. So hopefully I will when time frees up a bit – or as my wife has warned me a number of times, when I become irrelevant to everyone, or I’m cancelled!”
The show is famed for its extravagant breakfasts, which players enjoy as they discuss the game, and now Joe has recalled just how much he indulged during production of their show.
Speaking to Richard Osman and Marina Hyde at their live version of The Rest is Entertainment podcast, he explained: “So you get flown up there and then you get shoved in the Marriott Hotel in Inverness Airport. It was gorgeous!
“I was in the room, you put a card under the door, your food gets brought to you, you can have as much as you like. “There’s no interaction with anyone, any other contestants and then you’re taken to the castle.
“For the first bit of enjoying yourself, just watch what you’re eating, to go in there and put on eight kilos. Some people engage in a second breakfast, some people it would be their first breakfast. Some people it might be a third breakfast.”
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