BBC announcer apologies for giving Traitors viewers 'mini panic attack' with prank
A BBC announcer has apologised for a prank he played on certain viewers tuning in to watch The Celebrity Traitors at 9pm last night.
Those watching on BBC One Wales last night (which included this writer) had a shock as the continuity voiceover said: "In a change to what you might have been expecting, it's The Repair Shop."
After a few seconds, the voice then said: "Just kidding, I wouldn't do that. I'm not a Traitor, honest."
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Danny Cowan, who provided the announcement, said sorry for the brief deception in a post on X. The people in the replies admitted that they genuinely believed the show might have been replaced in the schedule for a few seconds, but thankfully took the whole thing in good humour.
"Apologies to viewers in the Welsh Wales... I was just having a wee bit of fun with #CelebrityTraitors #CelebrityTraitorsUK..." he wrote.
"Probably in a lot of trouble now, at least you know I'm not AI! Love ya."
"I was about to have a meltdown!" replied one fan, who added that they'd "let [him] off [as] we did laugh out loud!"
"To be fair, I did say to my other half 'WHAT THE F**K'!" a second viewer said, while a third said: "We laughed but ngl my heart missed a beat when you said it Hope you didnt get in trouble it was just a joke".
"Brilliant! We need more fun in continuity announcements," another person wrote.
One particularly dramatic viewer said: "I literally had a mini panic attack, I was about to change the channel over, You're such a tease."
Others said they "swore at the TV", "almost burnt my bacon", and that their "jaw dropped as well as my phone".
Cowan briefly mentioned AI in his post, and previously he stated that his voice had been "stolen, and used, without my permission, using AI" and asked if people could sign a petition calling for the government to protect the voices of every person in the UK against AI replication.
The Celebrity Traitors airs Thursdays and Fridays on BBC One and streams on iPlayer.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.
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