Kate Garraway didn't want to take part in coffin task on Celebrity Traitors
Kate Garraway initially refused to carry a coffin during Celebrity Traitors because she found it triggering due to the death of her husband Derek Draper.
Kate Garraway initially refused to carry a coffin during Celebrity Traitors because she found it triggering.
The 58-year-old presenter was stunned when she saw the episode two challenge because it took her back to the death of her husband Derek Draper, who passed away in 2024 after four years battling COVID-19 complications, and had to speak to producers, as well as co-stars Alan Carr and Celia Imrie, before agreeing to take part in the task.
She told The Sun newspaper: “You don’t know what’s coming next and so you find yourself walking on by the coffins.
“And I did a double-take, I gasped, and I was walking with Alan and Celia was in front of me.
“And I said, ‘God, I don’t know whether I should carry this coffin’.
“I had a chat with the production team who checked on me all the time. You know, there was a psychologist there.
“But you’re suddenly in the moment and I said, ‘I’m not sure. I think it’s a bit strange and a bit weird’.”
The Good Morning Britain star believes her years living with "genuine life or death" situations with Derek means she had "perspective" on Celebrity Traitors and didn't take it as seriously as some of the other contestants.
She said: “You know, the first two years was daily, was Derek going to live or die?
“So I think when you’ve lived with that for real, actually, it’s easier to see it as pantomime. I think it helped me to have a sense of perspective that perhaps the others didn’t have.”
Kate - who has Darcey, 19, and 16-year-old Billy with her late husband - was grateful for the support and advice she received from Celia, 73.
She said: “Celia and I had a very intense conversation about being a woman growing older, being a parent in a situation where, you know, Derek isn’t around.
“And she gave me such brilliant, perceptive advice. I really have been trying to live by that.
"I’ve cried more since the Traitors about pure missing Derek than before.”
The presenter is thrilled she's already had an influence on popular culture thanks to her overuse of the word 'flabbergasted'.
She said: “I’ve been on holiday this week for half-term and we were in one of those lazy rivers.
“And this bunch of 12 year olds, younger actually, were all going, ‘I’m flabbergasted. I’m flabbergasted’.
"So it’s fantastic. I just think I’ve created a whole generation of flabbergasted tweens and long may it reign.”
