Richard E Grant dismisses claims he ‘staged’ BBC Celebrity Traitors exit in defiant statement

The Withnail and I star penned on social media: “I usually wouldn’t comment on things like this, but I’ve been made aware some press outlets are suggesting I ‘staged’ my traitors reveal to get out of filming.

“This is categorically false. I’m an avid fan of the show and have been since it first aired,” he defiantly penned.

Mr Grant added that being selected as a Traitor rather than a Faithful had been “an absolute dream and a sheer shock to the system,” having fully expected to play on the other side.

The blunder unfolded during the opening episode of the current series, in which Mr Grant was appointed a Traitor alongside Love Island host Maya Jama.

As the investigations and questioning began among the cast, the Oscar-nominated star let slip his true identity to several castmates, immediately arousing suspicion.

At the roundtable, the overwhelming majority of contestants voted to banish him, including his fellow Traitors Ms Jama and comedian James Acaster.

Standing before the group to confirm his allegiance, Mr Grant declared with a smile: “I am… an unfaithful Traitor.”

He subsequently described the slip-up as a “catastrophically idiotic thing to do,” claiming the entire thing was a mistake.

His daughter, he revealed, had warned him before filming that he would be “slaughtered” because he was “incapable of hiding what you feel about people or anything.”

Despite Mr Grant suggesting it was a genuine hiccup on-screen, the theory that it was all a ploy gained traction after The Sun published claims from an unnamed production insider.

They claimed: “Watching how it played out on the set, we’re all convinced he staged it. He was there for a good time, not a long time and what a way to go.”

The source added that while Mr Grant had spoken enthusiastically about his love of the programme, “Richard E Grant is not a stupid man.”

The BBC, however, maintained that the incident was nothing more than an innocent mistake.

Joe Lycett, the comedian to whom Mr Grant initially confessed his Traitor status, also dismissed the staging theory.

“There’s no game around that, he absolutely meant it when he said it to me,” Mr Lycett told the Mirror.

“God knows what was going through his head. It’s one of the most iconic performances I’ve ever seen on this series.”

BBC Radio 6 presenters Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie also backed Mr Grant and dismissing the “staged” theory, revealing that the actor had also let his Traitor status slip during an interview with them four months before the series aired.

Speaking on their Radio 6 Music programme, the pair explained that their “brilliant producers” had been forced to edit out portions of the conversation to avoid spoiling the show for viewers.

“If they had been listening in June, you would have heard that he revealed it earlier,” the presenters said.

Following Mr Grant’s banishment, Mr Acaster and Ms Jama recruited mathmetician Hannah Fry as a Traitor to step into his shoes.

However, she soon met a similar fate, banished during a roundtable after her castmates gew suspicious.

At the midway point of the series, Mr Acaster and Ms Jama have recruited social media star King Kenny as a fellow Traitor.