John The Traitors assault

John from The Traitors has pleaded guilty to assault on waitress and the details are horrific

He was punching a male member of staff and then dragged a waitress to the floor by her hair


John McManus, the controversial cast member from The Traitors UK’s first season, has pleaded guilty to assault and been fined for attacking two staff at a restaurant in Edinburgh. He was arrested in May 2023, and the horrific details have now emerged of what went down after he made his plea last month at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

John was a Faithful in series one of The Traitors – and rubbed people up the wrong way with his confrontational nature, making eventual winner Aaron cry at one point.

The spa therapist and actor was asked by staff to turn the volume down when he was drunkenly swearing with a friend when dining at Edinburgh’s The Ship on the Shore seafood restaurant in May 2023. Staff then said when John was leaving he got in a waiter’s face and called him a “c*nt” that then lead to a physical fight on the street.

Via BBC

Over the weekend, The Sun obtained CCTV footage of the crime and show John repeatedly punching the 62-year-old waiter. He then leaves before coming back and drags a waitress to the floor by her hair. John then got pulled away by his friend and other customers and the staff member got to her feet, visibly shaken by the ordeal.

A source from the events said John was swearing and saying the f-word a lot, and that it wasn’t appropriate. He was badmouthing staff and said he wouldn’t leave the restaurant “without doing something.”

“A female member of staff had come outside to see what was happening, she didn’t even say anything to him,” the source claims, before John attacked her. The police then came and arrested John. The female member of staff says she’s been left with PTSD, and had to leave the job, with a friend saying she cried for three days street and was too afraid to leave her home. She’s now in therapy after the assault from The Traitors star John.

John pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay out £1070 – a £470 fine and £600 compensation to the waitress.

Rayan, a cast member of the same The Traitors season as John, commented on it on Twitter / X saying “When we say we’re all friends it doesn’t include this pathetic little man.”

The Traitors UK season two continues tonight on BBC One and then on iPlayer. For more like this and the best music, reality TV and entertainment news, like Pop Culture Shrine on Facebook

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