Richard E Grant: Players would not look me in the eye before Traitors vote

Richard E Grant knew he would be banished from The Celebrity Traitors because hardly any of the other players would look him in the eye before the roundtable.

The actor, 69, was banished from the game in Thursday’s episode after he accidentally revealed he was a traitor mere moments after being chosen.

But it did not come as a surprise to Grant, who said: “When we were in the bar before going into the roundtable, Myha’la had made eye contact with me directly, but few others did.

“Miranda Hart was very friendly, and I thought, ‘Ah, she’s doing this to try and ameliorate the fact that she’s about to stab me’, which is exactly what happened.

Grant was a traitor alongside Maya Jama and James Acaster (BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan Cherry/PA)

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“I just felt it in the room before we headed into that roundtable.”

Grant also admitted revealing his true identity so early in the game was a “catastrophically idiotic thing to do”.

He said: “Joe (Lycett) asked me. He said, ‘Are you a traitor?’.

“I suppose what I should have done in retrospect is go round everybody and say, ‘Are you a traitor? Yeah. I am a traitor, I am Spartacus. I am a traitor’, to try and make light of it, but that may have dug my grave even deeper.

“It was a completely catastrophically idiotic thing to do! I can only imagine the faces of the producers looking at each other and mouthing ‘he said what?!’.”

Richard E Grant admitted revealing his true identity so early in the game was a ‘catastrophically idiotic thing to do’ (BBC/Studio Lambert/Cody Burridge/BBC Creative/PA)

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He added: “The strategy of no strategy is the strategy, clearly.

“I’d watched every iteration that I possibly could have of this game and I was manifesting, willing myself to get invited to be a traitor so receiving that… well, I lost all sense of self control.”

Although they both voted to banish him, Grant said he would still like to see his fellow traitors James Acaster and Maya Jama win the game.

Asked to describe his time in the game, Grant said it had been “unforgettable, mischievous and lovely”.

On Thursday’s episode, Hannah Fry was recruited as a traitor following Grant’s banishment.

Actress Myha’la, a faithful, was banished at the roundtable and Fry, Acaster and Jama selected Bella Ramsey, James Blunt and Sebastian Croft for the murder shortlist.

Hannah Fry was recruited as a traitor following Grant’s banishment (Yui Mok/PA)

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In the hit series, hosted by Claudia Winkleman, 21 celebrity contestants take part, with those assigned as faithfuls attempting to seek out those who have been made traitors, who “kill off” players in the middle of the night.

The celebrities are playing the game at Ardross Castle in the Highlands, with a cash prize of up to £100,000 for a charity of their choice up for grabs.

The Celebrity Traitors continues on Friday at 8pm on BBC One.