Richard E Grant reveals he is a Traitor in series two premiere

Richard E Grant told fellow contestants he was a Traitor in the BBC One premiere of The Celebrity Traitors’ second series on Thursday 1 October. The admission came shortly after he had been selected for the role and immediately put him under suspicion, making an early reveal the central drama of an episode that ended with two other players awaiting a decision about their place in the game.

Grant and presenter Maya Jama were chosen as two of the three Traitors among 21 celebrities. According to the BBC’s account of the opening episode, Grant later described his disclosure as a mistake made in ‘unguarded excitement’. His explanation gives his own account of why he spoke out; the episode itself showed the other contestants trying to decide whether to believe him.

How Richard E Grant revealed his role

The moment came when comedian Joe Lycett asked Grant whether he was a Traitor. Grant said he was. The Guardian and The Independent both described the exchange in their reviews, with The Independent placing it in a bar scene and reporting that the surrounding contestants appeared baffled. For a game built around concealing the Traitors’ identities, his answer immediately changed how the group could read his behaviour.

Grant later told viewers that being chosen had excited him and that he needed to defuse the attention he had brought on himself, the BBC reported. Claudia Winkleman, the programme’s host, also told the BBC she thought he had blurted it out because he was thrilled. Neither observation settles how Grant’s fellow players would ultimately interpret the disclosure.

The suspicion nevertheless followed Grant into the next stage of the episode. Journalist Amol Rajan questioned him about what he had said, while comedian James Acaster was also convinced he was a Traitor, according to the BBC. Grant subsequently let Jama take the lead in their decisions, the BBC reported. Those exchanges mattered because Rajan and Acaster would soon be drawn directly into the Traitors’ next choice.

Why ‘Claudiapatra’ and coffins featured in the premiere

Before Grant’s admission, Winkleman made her entrance in a closed coffin carried into a church, where the 21 contestants were gathered. After emerging, she joked, ‘That was quite the nap.’ Hall called her ‘Claudiapatra’, a reference to Cleopatra prompted by the host’s grand entrance and hairstyle, according to the BBC. The nickname belonged to the opening scene, while the coffin motif returned at the episode’s cliffhanger.

The first challenge moved the cast away from the church and onto a pirate ship. Ross Kemp and former army captain James Blunt helped lead the celebrities as they searched for treasure, securing £15,000, the BBC reported. That figure was the amount won in the task, rather than a declared final prize for the series.

Kemp’s confidence during the task gave way to suspicion afterward. Bella Ramsey put a captain’s hat on his head to mark the team’s success, and Leigh-Anne Pinnock later touched his arm. Kemp wondered whether either contact might have been a ‘murder in plain sight’, a game mechanism that had been used in the previous celebrity series. The Independent also described his alarm at both encounters.

The choice awaiting Amol Rajan and James Acaster

At the end of the premiere, Grant and Jama were told to select a third Traitor. They had to summon two contestants to argue for a place alongside them; the person they rejected would become the first player murdered within the game. They chose Rajan and Acaster, both of whom had challenged or suspected Grant, according to the BBC and The Guardian.

Acaster argued that his disappearance would draw attention back to Grant. Rajan presented his reputation for detecting lies as something he could use to mislead the faithful if recruited, the BBC reported. Their pitches turned the consequences of Grant’s earlier admission into a decision for the two selected Traitors: whether to bring a suspicious player inside their alliance or remove him from the game.

The episode ended with Rajan and Acaster each in a coffin, awaiting the outcome. The BBC and The Guardian accounts did not identify which contestant was recruited and which was eliminated. That unresolved choice, rather than a confirmed departure, is where the premiere left the competition.