King Kenny says betraying Maya Jama was a ‘high risk’ Celebrity Traitors move

King Kenny has admitted to turning against fellow Traitor Maya Jama in a last-ditch gamble to win The Celebrity Traitors.

Jama was banished at the BBC show’s final roundtable when the YouTuber, an ally of the Love Island presenter, voted to oust her over eventual joint winner Romesh Ranganathan.

“I felt like it was very obvious who the Traitors were in that room and, if I was sticking up for Maya, I would have looked very suspicious,” he said.

It comes after players opted to banish again three times at the firepit (BBC/Studio Lambert)

Speaking after his elimination, Kenny said the decision to betray the Love Island presenter Jama was “so difficult”.

“I really wanted me and her to be in the final, and then we would have taken the win, but I had to do a high risk, high reward move, taking her out,” the former boxer said.

After former Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock was voted off at the fire pit, players chose to banish again in the second round, with Ranganathan saying he thought singer James Blunt was a remaining traitor.

But Blunt insisted Ranganathan was “entirely wrong”, while Kenny opted to end the game and believed he may have won.

He said: “At first, I was like, I didn’t expect that, because in my head, the way I’ve been playing this game, I’ve just been visualising that I’m actually a Faithful. Why would I not want to end the game?”

The second banishment ended in a tie between Blunt and Kenny before actor Sebastian Croft persuaded Ranganathan to join him in banishing the YouTube star.

The final took place on Friday (BBC/Studio Lambert)

Kenny said: “I was very surprised that Bash voted for me, because he kept saying I trust you, I trust you.

“But I think by the time it gets to the end game, you can trust everyone, but it becomes about degrees of trust, and I think that’s where I didn’t play it right.”

Faithfuls Ranganathan and Croft won the show after Blunt was banished.

Kenny said he and Jama believed being close in the castle helped the pair avoid suspicion.

“We were just like, you know what, I honestly don’t think people will think that the Traitors will be so close,” he said.

Reflecting on the pressure of the competition, he said: “I lost some hair in the process, my hairline might have receded, but I like the pressure.

“It’s a very high-pressure environment, just constantly being on edge, you’re constantly lying, or manipulating – it’s something I’ve never ever done in my life, but I was able to poker face it.”

But Kenny added he preferred being a Traitor as it gave him greater control over the game.