James Acaster is clearing the air about his time on “The Celebrity Traitors,” calling a report that he complained about his competitors “completely fabricated.”
A few weeks ago, the Daily Mail claimed that the comedian had “complained to producers” that he was being teased by fellow players (and comedians) Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan and was made “uncomfortable” by their “macho banter.” Speaking on “Celebrity Traitors” Season 1 winner Alan Carr’s podcast on Monday, Acaster rejected the rumor.
“I’ve never had stuff made up about me before. And you’d think that just going and playing ‘Traitors,’ surely there’s nothing — who cares? But there was something in the papers that said I’d complained because Rob and Romesh had been like, teasing me,” Acaster said. “And I was like, I’ve been friends with those guys for like, over 10 years. They were lovely the entire show. I didn’t complain about any of my fellow players. It’s so completely fabricated.”
He added, “They contacted my agents and Rob and Romesh’s agents, all of them said, ‘That is categorically untrue.’ They’re like, ‘Cool, printing it tomorrow.’ And that was it. And you’re like, ‘Wow, do people really care that much?'”
The Daily Mail did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.
The BBC, which produces “The Traitors” franchise in the U.K., also issued a denial soon after the story was published. “Claims of teasing amongst the cast on the show and claims of complaints about teasing are categorically untrue,” a spokesperson told Variety. “There were no incidents of this nature and there is no evidence to support these allegations.”
Acaster was a reluctant Traitor on Season 2 of the show, which just aired its finale over the weekend, refusing to lie and to take part in some Traitor duties. Ranganathan ended up winning alongside Sebastian Croft for the Faithfuls. Acaster made headlines with his dramatic exit in the penultimate episode, where he admitted he was a Traitor at a heated roundtable and was therefore voted off.
On the podcast, Acaster told Carr that there was another moment where he admitted he was a Traitor to contestant Jerry Hall, but it didn’t make it to air.
“Jerry Hall went right up to me, face to face, this close, accused me of being a Traitor. She said, ‘I think it’s James,'” he said. “I looked her in the eye and said, ‘I think it might be me as well, Jerry.’ And she went, ‘You’re very sneaky.’ I was like, ‘I am sneaky, it could be me.'”
