“He planned it”: The “real” reason Celebrity Traitors James Acaster made “jaw-dropping” confession on the show

After a series that some might call, well, slightly flat, The Celebrity Traitors’ penultimate episode was everything we’d been hoping for. There was a banishment, some actual gameplay (at last) and a jaw-dropping confession from James Acaster that nobody saw coming. Not even us.

But, as it turns out, the 41-year-old revelation wasn’t quite as spontaneous as it seemed, as he’d actually been planning to do it all along. Speaking about his decision after the show, James said: “The idea of doing that got me through the whole experience”. And despite some viewers taking to social media to say he’d ruined the game, he said he felt “pretty good” about the whole thing. After all, now it means we have a “proper final” to look forward.

But that still leaves one important question – why exactly did he do it? We’ve unpacked episode 9’s bombshell moment to bring you the answer.

The bombshell moment

It was the game-breaking moment it felt like we’d been waiting the entirety of The Celebrity Traitors rather lacklustre series 2 for. As Michael Sheen started putting two and two together, he began to cast suspicion over James. He was determined to get to the bottom of Ross Kemp’s murder in plain sight and he used the Round Table to hash it out. Sadly for James, it was also his undoing.

Questioning who was in the library when Ross was murdered, Michael realised that James didn’t ever leave the library during the period in which it must have happened. It was the beginning of what we expected to be a tense showdown - only it wasn't. What did James do? Panic, it appeared, and within minutes, he decided it was no longer worth defending himself – and that it was time to confess.

“I just want to explain my situation, I was made a Traitor without wanting to be, I’ve had a unique experience on this that no-one’s had before, where I wanted to be a Faithful and that’s all I’ve wanted to be,” he said. “I’m really proud to say that’s what I’ve been able to do, under the circumstances. I am, reluctantly, a Traitor.”

Er, wow. It was a bombshell no one could have prepared for – or so we thought.

The aftermath

In his post-show interview on The Celebrity Traitors: Uncloaked, James explained that he had, in fact, thought the whole thing through well in advance. “The idea of doing that got me through the whole experience because you feel as a Traitor sometimes, when you see people have real-life reactions that are bigger than the game, you feel bad.

“And I would have to remind myself they don’t have a game without you, literally, if no one's doing this stuff, they can't play, and they all want to play.

“So you are doing an important job here, so they all have something to do, and when they catch you, they'll be really happy and they'll like it, and it will feel good to just tell them and see that reaction.”

Was he pleased with how it went? Apparently so. He added: “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?”

So, why exactly did James make the jaw-dropping confession?

To put it simply, knowing that he was going to confess was, it appears, James's coping mechanism - his security blanket, if you like. There are some contestants for whom being a Traitor comes naturally – Alan Carr in series 1, Maya Jama who’s gone (almost) unnoticed throughout the game - but for James, it’s been a different story. His anxiety has been apparent from episode one, with the star appearing increasingly nervous as the game has gone.

We know that he reportedly became so overwhelmed during filming that production had to pause filming and step in, with fellow contestants apparently offering support, too. And while he the incident hasn’t been officially confirmed, his post-show comments suggest that playing a Traitor took a genuine toll on him - and that his plan was a way to cope with the pressure of it all during his time in the castle, without having to step away from the show.

How will James’s confession affect The Celebrity Traitors final?

In some ways, James is right – we do have a proper final on our hands now that one Traitor has been eliminated, but he also appears to have somewhat ruined the game for his fellow Traitors. Now that James has confirmed Michael Sheen’s suspicions about the murder in plain sight to be true, he can very easily piece together the remaining pieces of the puzzle.

Who else was in the room the entire time? Maya Jama – and Michael knows it. "Now I think she’s a Traitor”, he said at the end of episode 9. And when her identity is confirmed? Michael will be well on his way to realising that the game’s most “trustworthy” players have in fact been the real Traitors all along.

What time is The Celebrity Traitors final on?

The Celebrity Traitors final will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 8pm on Friday 30^th October. The episode will last 80 minutes.