The Celebrity Traitors winner to be crowned after surprise roundtable reveal

The winner of The Celebrity Traitors is to be crowned in Friday’s final after comedian James Acaster surprised his fellow contestants by outing himself as a traitor at Thursday’s roundtable.

The 41-year-old was banished from the castle during Thursday’s penultimate episode of the BBC reality gameshow, after a discussion about former EastEnders star Ross Kemp’s plain sight murder, in which he struggled to defend himself.

He told the contestants: “I just want to explain my situation, I was made a traitor without wanting to be, I’ve had a unique experience on this that no-one’s had before, where I wanted to be a faithful and that’s all I’ve wanted to be.

“I couldn’t just go, ‘guys it’s me, vote for me, but that’s all I can do really’.

Acaster admitted he was a traitor at the roundtable (BBC/Studio Lambert)

Acaster said he had pointed out the perfume bottles, which killed Kemp during the murder, on purpose.

After receiving the most votes at the roundtable, the comedian said: “When I came into this experience I told Claudia (Winkleman, the show’s presenter) that all I wanted to be was a faithful, and all I wanted to do is go around this castle and try and help the faithfuls as much as possible catching traitors.

“I’m really proud to say that’s what I’ve been able to do, under the circumstances. I am, reluctantly, a traitor.”

In a cutaway scene, he added: “I’m glad that I was so faithful, that I couldn’t make it to the end as a traitor.”

Acaster became the second traitor to announce his identity to his fellow contestants during this year’s series, after actor Richard E Grant said he was a traitor mere moments after being chosen earlier in the series, leading to him being banished.

A traitor has been banished before The Celebrity Traitors final (BBC/Studio Lambert)

Earlier in Thursday’s episode, actress Sharon Rooney was murdered and comedian Joanne McNally was banished from the castle.

Traitors, TV presenter Maya Jama and social media star King Kenny, and faithfuls, singer James Blunt, Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock, actor Michael Sheen, comedian Romesh Ranganathan, and actor Sebastian Croft, are left to compete in Friday’s final.

Viewers did not get an indication of who Jama and King Kenny were planning to murder at the end of Thursday’s show.

Jama attracted heat during the beginning of the episode, when she toasted her fellow contestants by saying: “To killing them, banishing them even.”

During Thursday’s mission, contestants collected £5,000 for the prize pot, bringing it to a total of £64,500.

The show sees 21 celebrity contestants take part, with those assigned as faithfuls attempting to identify the contestants who have been made traitors. The traitors “kill off” players in the middle of the night.

The stars 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 final will air on BBC One at 8pm on Friday.