James Acaster wanted to stage Celebrity Traitors walk-out
James Acaster has admitted he wanted to stage a mass walk-out on The Celebrity Traitors because he was so terrified during a challenge that involved being buried alive.
James Acaster has admitted he wanted to stage a mass walk-out on The Celebrity Traitors.
The 41-year-old comedian has confessed he was left terrified during a mission that involved being buried alive and he considered leading a rebellion by quitting the challenge and encouraging all the other stars to follow him.
James - who took part in the challenge with The Last Of Us star Bella Ramsey - told Far Out magazine: "I was lying there thinking, actually, I think I’m really scared of this. As soon as the soil was heaped on top, Bella did say: 'Imagine if they can’t get us out'."
Model Jerry Hall did quit the challenge and James believes he should have followed suit, saying: "[Jerry] didn’t like it. She didn’t like, well, none of us liked it.
"I respect Jerry the most because Jerry just went: 'I’m not doing this.' Like, are you kidding me? And the rest of us were just like: 'We want to win Traitors in our coffins, idiots.'
"We should have just done what – as soon as I heard Jerry got out, I should have said to Bella: 'I’m getting out, forget it. If it’s a free-for-all now, we should all get out. They can’t stop us all. We could all do it'."
James was recruited as a Traitor during the BBC series and he struggled with the role before confessing when he was cornered by actor Michael Sheen during a round table interrogation which led to his banishment from the castle.
Previous reports suggested filming was halted shortly before the vote as James was so upset.
A source told The Sun newspaper: "What you don’t see is the moment when James got upset as he crumbled when he could see he was about to be caught.
"Both the producers and the other celebrities could see how he was struggling with the pressure of keeping his true identity secret and he reached some kind of breaking point when he was confronted.
"That saw the team feel compelled to intervene, and filming was brought to a halt as they assessed the situation. They spoke to both James and the rest of the stars and didn’t allow filming to resume until they were sure everyone was in a fit state.
"But very little was caught on camera, and what little that was recorded did not feature in the final edit."
James was banished, leaving remaining Traitors Maya Jama and King Kenny to battle their way to the final but they were both given the boot clearing the way for Faithfuls Romesh Ranganathan and Sebastian 'Bash' Croft to win.
Speaking after his exit, James said of his stint in the castle: "I feel pretty good getting to episode nine, and now we've got a proper final on our hands.
"With three Traitors, it would have been a foregone conclusion that we were going to win.
"Don't get me wrong, I thought it was hilarious at one point that we were just going to walk our way to the final and win the whole thing, but this is much better, isn't it?"
