After huge cuts, James Blunt details what really happened during James Acaster’s Traitors exit

After weeks of playing the “reluctant” Traitor role, James Acaster surprised literally everyone when he outed himself during the roundtable. 

We all knew that James Acaster didn’t want to be a Traitor, even if he did argue for himself over Amol Rajan in the first episode. Still, it made good television as Maya Jama and Kenny tried to pry the murderous tendencies out of the comedian. 

During the aforementioned roundtable, Michael Sheen zeroed in on the perfume theory and James Acaster’s part in it. From what we saw, it took all of four seconds before Michael had James in his sights. The vote was definitely going against the comedian, but he beat the Faithfuls to the punch by admitting his Traitor ways before those chalks and slates came out. 

Credit: BBC

At the time, many of us were confused. It looked like the admission came out of nowhere after tiny amounts of pressure from Michael Sheen. But sources then confirmed that this was when James Acaster’s earlier-mentioned “breakdown” took place, which is why the edits were made. 

“What you don’t see is the moment when James got upset as he crumbled when he could see he was about to be caught. Both the producers and the other celebrities could see how he was struggling with the pressure of keeping his true identity secret and he reached some kind of breaking point when he was confronted,” they said. 

“That saw the team feel compelled to intervene, and filming was brought to a halt as they assessed the situation. They spoke to both James and the rest of the stars and didn’t allow filming to resume until they were sure everyone was in a fit state. But very little was caught on camera, and what little that was recorded did not feature in the final edit.”

James Blunt shed further light on the other James’ exit 

Because the BBC rightly cut filming, we don’t know what actually took place before, during, and after the highly rumoured breakdown. However, when speaking to the BBC, James Blunt did reveal a few interesting tidbits. As it turns out, it wasn’t the sacrificial moment we all saw it as. 

Most Read

It’s out! Who gets married and who doesn’t at Love Is Blind season 11 weddings has leaked

The 14 UK universities producing the most employable grads in 2027, according to hiring managers

One surprising celeb lost thousands of Instagram followers while on The Celebrity Traitors

He explained: “He didn’t fall on his sword. That’s what you saw, that’s what you feel, but he didn’t. You didn’t see the full extent of the interrogation. It was heavy in there and it was clear-cut.

Credit: BBC

“He was pinned to a post. We got him. We really, really got him. I think how that played out hasn’t really been revealed to you, but he didn’t just say, ‘Oh guys, you got me.'”

It references a larger theme of the show that’s often overlooked: It’s reality TV. The BBC makes huge cuts in a bid to generate the most entertaining hour of your life, so not everything can be included. 

“There are elements [of the show] where I was screaming at the screen for a different reason than you. No matter what really went on in that castle, you’re a victim to the edit,” James Blunt added. 

For all the latest news about The Celebrity Traitors, like The Holy Church of The Traitors on Facebook.

Featured image credit: BBC