“He’s after you”: Richard E. Grant’s Celebrity Traitors exit will put James Acaster in “danger” – here’s why

The third episode of The Celebrity Traitors is almost here (ahem, 8pm tonight), and if there’s one thing we’re confident about, it’s that Richard E. Grant will almost definitely be packing his bags. Sob! We’re not, however, the only ones who will be sad about tonight’s events as Richard’s exit is about to put another Traitor in danger and they go by the name of James Acaster.

Faithful viewers may remember that when Traitors Richard and Maya Jama were making their decision about who to recruit in the first episode, James Acaster was an obvious choice. “James is laser eyed in his conviction that I’m a Traitor,” said Richard. “He’d make a very good Traitor. But then again, he’s after you,” added Maya. Here’s why that conversation – and Richard’s exit - is going to spell serious trouble for poor James…

The conversation

Let's start at the beginning. If you cast your mind back to episode 1, Traitors Richard E. Grant and Maya Jama were given the opportunity to invite two Faithfuls to meet them in the chapel – they could choose one to recruit and the other to kill. With eyes already on Richard thanks to his disastrous blunder, Maya said: “We’ve got a big decision. We need to work out how to save you.” So who did they decide on? “The biggest rottweiler on me is Amol. It would take the heat off me from being such a plonker”, said Richard. Amol Rajan would therefore be murdered.

As for recruitment, that decision was even easier. “James [Acaster] is laser eyed in his conviction that I’m a Traitor”, said Richard. “He’d make a very good Traitor. But then again, he’s after you,” added Maya. Clever, they thought – let’s get rid of Richard’s other biggest threat. But these Faithful aren’t stupid, are they and we’ve no doubt this decision will come back to haunt James, pretty soon.

The exit

Now, to tonight’s episode. You probably remember that episode 2 finished on something of a cliffhanger. The Round Table was underway and several Faithfuls had been rather vocal about their suspicions towards Richard. Julie Hesmondalgh declared that they’d be “the most idiotic group of Faithfuls in the world” if they ignored the fact that Richard had actually told them he’s a Traitor and didn’t vote him out.

Miranda Hart and Romesh Ranganathan were also among those who weren’t exactly showing signs of having Richard’s back. We don’t blame them. While we’ll be very sorry to see him go, our money is therefore on Richard receiving the most votes at tonight’s Round Table and leaving the castle. And when he does, that’s exactly the moment at which we’re expecting fingers to be pointed at James...

The aftermath

If you’re wondering why James Acaster will subsequently find himself in danger, let us explain. We know that this year’s celebrities are clever – very clever, in fact. Julie Hesmondhalgh has already correctly identified our three Traitors, having confronted James, declared that Maya is on her list and told everyone, to put it simply, that they’d be a fool not to vote Richard E. Grant out. So, when Richard’s big moment comes and he tells them he is, in fact, a Traitor, the next question will be: who would Richard have recruited?

And the obvious person? James, who had made it abundantly clear that he was suspicious of Richard. “I’m in his sights”, Richard said when he and Maya were discussing who to recruit. He knew that, Maya knew that and so did the rest of the celebrities, including eagle-eyed Julie. If, then, Julie (or anyone else for that matter) does put two and two together, she’s likely to turn her attention to James, who is already, well, a little on edge, shall we say.

How can James Acaster save himself in The Celebrity Traitors?

If James has any sense, now is his moment to lay low. Sadly, we have a feeling that won’t happen given we’ve heard producers had to step in and stop filming due to an ‘incident’ that involved him. If he does pull it off, however, two further things: 1. Stay close to Maya. She’s playing a strong game and James could learn a lot from her. 2. Find some allies. So far, James has been slightly 'lone wolf' and he could do with some friends around about now, especially if their name is Julie Hesmondhalgh.

The Celebrity Traitors continues at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Thursday 8^th October.