James Blunt reveals frustration over Celebrity Traitors editing
James Blunt found Celebrity Traitors "deeply unpleasant" and was frustrated by the way the programme was edited, but he's still glad he took part.
James Blunt found Celebrity Traitors "deeply unpleasant" and was frustrated by the way the programme was edited.
The You're Beautiful hitmaker made it all the way to the final three of this year's show before being banished by winners Romesh Ranganathan and Sebastian 'Bash' Croft, and while he is pleased he took part, he insisted he'd never do anything similar again.
He told The Sunday Times magazine: “It was like running a marathon.
“It was deeply unpleasant, but great to have done it. Never again.
“I didn’t [sign up]. My wife did, because she’s friends with Claudia.
“I asked my manager if Chris Martin would do this. And he literally said, ‘James, you’re not Chris Martin.’ "
The 51-year-old singer felt "upbeat" after filming the show in the spring, but he was unhappy that various conversations and theories did not make the final broadcast.
He said: “Before watching the show on TV, I was upbeat. Yet, when I saw it last month, I felt less positive, because it’s so heavily edited.
"Obviously they have got to squeeze a day’s worth of shooting into an hour — but a lot of context is removed. It was frustrating.”
Asked if he thought there was an agenda against him, he said: “Let’s see it in a positive light. Let’s say it’s because they have to edit. Let’s go for that...
“But look, it’s a strange, amazing social experiment about how an uninformed majority will generally lose to an informed minority and it taught me a lot. It taught me I should be at home more, rather than signing up to these things.”
James forced a final vote which led to him being ousted because he thought Romesh was a Traitor. He explained how a mission where the contestants had to complete a puzzle to avoid murder was heavily edited on TV, so viewers didn't see him complete his shield early and then help Joanne McNally, Jerry Hall, Michael Sheen and James Acaster with theirs.
He said: “That proved I was faithful, but they edited it out. At the round table, Michael said I was clearly a faithful and everybody agreed.
"Romesh knew I was a faithful, so when he said what he did, I thought he might be a traitor. He also knew I was faithful, because he’d seen Michael and I remove James Acaster.”
Fans were stunned when James Acaster confessed to being a Traitor during a heated round-table discussion, but the Goodbye My Lover hitmaker insisted the reality of the moment was different to what was broadcast.
He said: “I’m upset that people say Acaster just gave it away. He did not.
"He was forced into that by very effective, intense interrogation — but viewers didn’t see that. He didn’t just confess, he was nailed to the post. What we saw was slightly different to the viewer.”
