BBC rejects reports of Celebrity Traitors' James Acaster being 'teased' and "singled out" on show

The BBC has strenuously denied reports that James Acaster was "singled out" for teasing by Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan during filming of The Celebrity Traitors, with the broadcaster calling the claims "untrue".

Daily Mail claimed that Acaster was made to feel "uncomfortable" by his fellow comedians, with an unnamed source saying that he went to the producing team after being "unhappy" after feeling "like he was being singled out" for mockery.

The BBC, however, has denied this, telling Digital Spy: "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."

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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".

The trio are taking part in the second season of the hit reality series, which sees several famous faces head to the Scottish Highlands to participate in a game full of twists, deceit and plenty of drama.

All three comedians were originally Faithfuls, though Acaster was recruited as a Traitor in the second episode following the exit of Richard E Grant. Acaster is still in the castle, and is causing mayhem by working alongside Maya Jama and King Kenny.

Ranganathan is also still there as the season progresses past the halfway mark, though Beckett was eliminated during Thursday's (15 October) episode as he was murdered by the Traitors overnight.

Beckett, who was murdered when Hannah Fry was a Traitor, expressed shock about Acaster's role following his exit, noting: "I gave James the benefit of the doubt because he desperately wanted to be a Faithful, but then that's the oldest trick in the book."

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"But then he had been really quiet recently, and on reflection, he'd avoided me a lot which makes sense, because I know him quite well," he added, before speaking more generally about his elimination.

"I'm a bit sad because I would have liked to have gone further," he said. "But a killing in plain sight, [managing] to get a Traitor... I've done some Missions, done the breakfast - I feel like I've done almost all of it!"

The Celebrity Traitors on BBC One and streams on BBC iPlayer.

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Reporter, Digital Spy George is a freelance writer who specialises in Movies and TV. After graduating with a degree in Film Studies and Journalism from De Montfort University, in which he analysed the early works of Richard Linklater for his dissertation, he wrote for several websites for GRV Media.  His film tastes vary from blockbusters like Mission: Impossible and John Wick to international directors such as Paolo Sorrentino and Hirokazu Kore-eda, and has attended both the London and Berlin film festivals.