The actor has spoken about his banishment from the BBC show, saying he understood Maya Jama’s vote but had believed his fellow traitor James Acaster would back him.
Richard E Grant was banished from The Celebrity Traitors on Thursday’s episode after accidentally revealing he was a traitor moments after the first roundtable. Speaking on the spin-off show The Celebrity Traitors: Uncloaked, he said he had been certain Acaster would not vote against him. Both of his fellow traitors, Jama and Acaster, ultimately voted to banish him.
‘Not one word’ of support
Grant had joined forces with Jama before recruiting Acaster, who said he would help ease the other players’ suspicions of the actor. The trio then murdered broadcaster Amol Rajan. At the latest roundtable, however, both of Grant’s allies turned on him.
He told Uncloaked he had expected Jama’s vote. “I thought Maya would definitely stab me because I put her in an untenable position so I perfectly understood,” he said.
Acaster’s vote was a different matter. Grant said he had been won over by the comedian’s “big plea in the church after Amol”, in which Acaster insisted he would not kill him off. “I naively thought, ‘Oh well, maybe James, because he’s so trustworthy, he would come through for me,’” Grant said. “Not one word came out of James’s mouth to support me.”
The slip-up
Grant also explained why he told Joe Lycett that he was a traitor, saying there was “no tactic” behind it. “When I walked into the bar, I was in such a state of genuine shock that I had no memory it was Joe Lycett who asked me that question,” he said. “There was no tactic, it was my 69th birthday present. When Claudia tapped me on the shoulder, I went, yes!”
He recalled trying to hide his reaction at the roundtable. “The roundtable bit, by the time Claudia has walked round four times, you think by that point, there’s no chance now,” he said. “When she tapped me on the shoulder, I thought ‘Don’t show any emotion whatsoever and you try your best not to.’”
He acknowledged that actress Miranda Hart, who was sitting next to him, had been suspicious even before the slip-up. “Of course, Miranda Hart, sitting right next to me, I think she said she could immediately feel the vibrations of joy coming out,” he said.
What happened next
After Grant’s departure, Acaster and Jama recruited mathematician Hannah Fry as the third traitor. On meeting them for the first time, she said: “I was sure you were faithfuls, you absolute legends. Oh, it’s going to be so fun!”
She soon faced questioning from Joanne McNally, while Hart and Michael Sheen also voiced suspicions about Fry and Jerry Hall. Later in the episode, actress Myha’la received the most votes from her fellow celebrities and was banished from the castle.
The series so far
The second series premiered on 1 October 2026, with its opening episode reportedly drawing 8.9 million viewers. The 2025 celebrity series was the UK’s most-watched broadcast of that year and won two Baftas.
The next episode airs on Friday 9 October at 8pm on BBC One, followed by The Celebrity Traitors: Uncloaked.
