A Celebrity Traitors star has revealed she was sacked by BBC bosses over a mistake she made off camera. Podcaster and comedian James Acaster made waves during his time on series two of Celebrity Traitors, with the 41-year-old making the switch from Faithful to Traitor early on.
This proved to be an interesting development in the series as he joined Maya Jama and Richard E. Grant as a part of the Traitor Trio. Although Richard was later voted off, James survived along with Maya and new recruit Hannah Fry.
However, as well as taking part in the show, James has also dished on some of the realities of filming it. While the program is primarily filmed in a castle in the Scottish Highlands, the celebrities do not actually stay in it, instead they stay in a Travelodge an hour away. Even away from the palace, the contestants are kept away from the outside world and monitored so that they do not reveal any secrets.
The restrictions go further. Although celebrities are allowed a 10-minute phone call with their loved ones every day, it is still monitored and supervised by a member of the production team.
For James, this meant talking to his partner, this led to an uncomfortable exchange with the programme’s producers, who disliked it when he shared a piece of information they felt was given away too much.
Speaking to the Times, James talked about the problems this caused: “You can’t have an authentic conversation because you can’t tell them anything about what’s going on. At one point my partner said, ‘Have you caught the sun?’ I was like, ‘Oh yes, we were out on a mission.’ I was told I couldn’t even tell her.”
James isn’t the only celebrity contestant to talk about what life is like behind the scenes, with former player Richard E. Grant revealing a bit about what happens when the cameras aren’t rolling.
Speaking to the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire with Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday, she gave even more detail than James, describing how her food was delivered to her room, with a guard standing outside.
He said: “You become so institutionalized into that thing within 24 hours, because you’re isolated, put in an isolated room. There’s a guard outside your door, your food is delivered and there’s no internet access, so you’re kind of locked in. You’re not told what time it is or what time food will be.”
Richard said that along with serving him food and protecting him, he was also told what to wear, which made him feel like a child again. She added, “You’re also dictated on a daily basis as to what you have to wear and all those things have to be presented in advance. So, you’re kind of infantilized and institutionalized at the same time.”
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