Claudia Winkleman has revealed why she picked Richard E Grant as a Traitor on Celebrity Traitors, despite the actor making one of the show’s most memorable mistakes.
Speaking on the spin-off programme Uncloaked after Friday’s grand final, the host said Grant had been so determined to receive a Traitor’s cloak that the team “couldn’t not pick him”.
Asked by Ed Gamble about the decision, Winkleman said: “It was what he wanted. I don’t know if you’ve ever faced a three-year-old who really wants an ice-cream?”
She added: “The answer is: ‘yes, Richard. I can’t not give this to you.’ He really wanted to be a Traitor and he was excellent – at the beginning.”
Grant, 69, became the first contestant to be banished in the current series after revealing his identity during a conversation with comedian Joe Lycett.
The actor told a room full of Faithful contestants that he had been chosen as a Traitor, before attempting to disguise the slip by saying he was “manifesting” being handed a cloak.
Winkleman recalled watching the moment, saying: “He was even excellent when he said: ‘I am a Traitor’. We’ve never had that before. I dropped my jacket potato. I dropped it next to the clothing rail, every single item was sent back with flecks of tuna.”
Reflecting on the blunder, Grant told the presenter: “Thank you that I don’t have to go and live in Greenland because I have been forgiven by the public for my absolutely moronic, idiotic, mistake.”
He added: “I should have said, I was joking Joe Lycett.”
The comments came after Romesh Ranganathan and Sebastian Croft were crowned the winners of Celebrity Traitors. The two Faithfuls will split £83,000 between their chosen charities after defeating Traitors Maya and Kenny in the final.
Earlier in the series, James Acaster also revealed that he was a Traitor at a round table before the vote had begun. He received all of the votes and said afterwards that a “weight has been lifted off his shoulders”.
