Kilts! Paranoia! Baffling obliviousness to obvious tells! The Celebrity Traitors is back and all our Traitors-mania with it. And just as with previous Traitors series before this one, there are existing dynamics between the players that will be tested by the show.
Unlike the twists of Diane and Ross, Judy and Roxy, and Ross and Ellie, however, certain bonds are already well-known by the other players in the game – which we predict may work against them.
Rob and Romesh's friendship
Along with Jerry Hall and Richard E Grant turning out to be neighbours, we've got another immediate bond in the form of Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan. The comedic duo have been pals for over a decade, having met in 2014 and immediately connected over both feeling like they 'didn't belong'. Back in 2019, they shared a TV show called Rob and Romesh Vs, and from then on they were the comedy world's go-to pairing, hosting the BAFTAs and more, and appearing together on shows such as Taskmaster, Have I Got News For You, 8 Out of 10 Cats and A League of Their Own.
They're friends off-screen, but thanks to their work the relationship has become very public knowledge. They're known as best mates.
And this, we reckon, could end up working against them.
Before the show began, Romesh acknowledged that taking part in The Celebrity Traitors with Rob would be 'weird'. 'Rob is one of my best friends, and we've worked together for a decade now, but I still won't be able to trust it,' he shared. 'I mean, he's just as easily going to be on my side as he is going to twist the knife in my back given the opportunity. I mean, it's completely unpredictable. So, it's going to be a weird thing where normally when we're doing Rob and Romesh Vs, we've got each other's backs and are helping each other out. Whereas this time, he can't be trusted. It can't be the end of the relationship because it's financially beneficial. But I think if it wasn't financially beneficial, then it could be the end of the friendship.'
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Why Rob and Romesh's friendship could be bad news
In episode one, we immediately saw that their existing friendship did little to help either Romesh or Rob decipher whether the other was a traitor. The duo met in the halls to discuss, in a conversation that went like this:
'Are you a Traitor?'
'No, are you?'
'No!'
'That hasn’t resolved much, has it?'
Well... quite.
Here's the thing: while the pair may have plenty of trust in each other in real-life, that goes out of the window when you're playing a game like The Traitors. They clearly have no clue how to tell whether the other is telling the truth. It'll be all too easy for them to spiral into complete paranoia, their existing relationship making them falsely believe that because they know each other well, they're spotting secret signs or traitorship.
However, our prediction is that the threat won't come from each other, but from the other contestants.
Why Rob and Romesh's friendship will make them targets
When Rob and Romesh entered the show, many, many viewers assumed that one of them would be selected as a traitor – because that would be great TV, right? To put two friends on opposing teams would guarantee drama. So watching at home, we were surprised when Claudia only tapped up Richard and Maya, letting them go on to select the final member to complete their trio.
We got to see that. The celebs did not. And just as we made an assumption about what Claudia would do, we reckon the celebs – knowing the strength of the bond between Rob and Romesh – may well have assumed the same. We predict that as gameplay ensues, someone will theorise that one of Rob and Romesh must be a traitor.
If both remain alive and faithful long enough, this theory could snowball enough that one of them will be voted out at the round table as a suspected traitor. When either Rob or Romesh is revealed as a faithful, the celebrities' confirmation bias will kick in and convince them that the one remaining must be a traitor. Bam, both voted out.
If our traitors are smart in their schemes, they'll execute exactly this chain of events. They'll sow seeds of suspicion among the faithful, pointing to previous Traitors connections and how Claudia usually pits two people with a relationship against one another. And once that suspicion is laid, there will be little to nothing either Rob nor Romesh can do to erase it. They might even buy into the theory themselves, certain that their pal must be a traitor.
Given an old interview Rob and Romesh did to promote their show together, we think that last bit is likely. Look at this quote from Romesh, discussing how he views Rob's competitive edge while they were filming Rob and Romesh Vs:
'Once he knows he’s better than you, he’ll cut you loose in a heartbeat.'
Oh, Romesh. Do you really have that little faith in your best pal?
A silly move from the traitors would be to kill either Rob or Romesh off to prevent this theory from playing out. But even if they do kill one of the duo the suspicion could land on the other. Imagine it: Rob gets murdered, everyone thinks Romesh has killed him off because their friendship would make him not kill him. An obvious double-bluff!
In short, their relationship exists to be exploited. They're both absolutely screwed. Best of luck, guys.
