Celebrity Traitors star James Acaster hits back at "completely fabricated" reports
James Acaster has opened up about rumours that he was allegedly bullied by Celebrity Traitors season two castmates Romesh Ranganathan and Rob Beckett. James had a dramatic time on the show, being recruited by Traitors Maya Jama and Richard E. Grant despite desperately wanting to play the game as a Faithful.
The comedian managed to go undetected for quite some time, while Richard and fellow recruit Hannah Fry were banished by the Faithfuls, picking off contestants alongside Maya and King Kenny.
However, in the penultimate episode, James revealed his status as a Traitor to his fellow contestants when he could not lie to them while being grilled at the roundtable, and was swiftly banished.
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During his time on the show, the media was awash with rumours about James, including one that eventual winner Romesh and his close friend Rob had teased James, which allegedly forced him to complain to producers.
Speaking on Alan Carr's Life's a Beach podcast, James slammed the reports as completely untrue.
"I was like, I’ve been friends with those guys for like over 10 years," he told the host, who won the first season of Celebrity Traitors as a Traitor.
"They were lovely the entire show; I didn’t complain about any of my fellow players. It’s completely fabricated."
He also claimed that Rob and Romesh's agents, as well as his agent, denied the allegations, but their denials were ignored.
The BBC told Digital Spy at the time: "Claims of teasing amongst the cast on the show and claims of complaints about teasing are categorically untrue. There were no incidents of this nature, and there is no evidence to support these allegations."
After Digital Spy reached out for comment, a representative for Acaster said that the claims in the report were "untrue". Representatives for Beckett and Ranganathan also denied the "completely untrue" claims, saying that they "couldn't be further from the truth".
Elsewhere on the podcast, James also revealed a dramatic confrontation he had with Jerry Hall was cut from the show.
"Jerry Hall went right up to me face to face, this close, accused me of being a traitor."
He recalled that Jerry told their fellow castmates, "I think it's James", to which he responded, "I think it might be me as well, Jerry."
The Celebrity Traitors seasons one and two are available to stream now on BBC iPlayer.
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Freelance Reporter, Digital Spy Rebecca is a freelance journalist who specializes in TV and film. After beginning her career as a digital entertainment journalist for the Express & Star and Shropshire Star, she embarked on a freelance career in 2021 contributing to the likes of Metro UK, The Sun, WhatCulture, Screen Rant, FilmHounds Magazine and more. Her particular field of interest is horror cinema and she has written for genre publications such as Ghouls Magazine and Moving Pictures Film Club. LinkedIn
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