The Celebrity Traitors: Comedy gold

With the latest season of The Celebrity Traitors drawing its biggest audience yet, attracting the attention of 8.9 million of us for episode one, inspiring wild theories on the internet, and becoming a staple talking point in conversation, it has become bigger than just a TV series. Presented by the phenomenal Claudia Winkleman and including contestants from a range of professions in the public eye including actors, musicians, and comedians, it was only inevitable that the show would contain a flurry of quotable lines and hilarious moments – think Miranda Hart and Leigh-Anne Pinnock sat on the floor as “Little Mix and Big Mix” recreating the dance to ‘Touch’! Contrasting this, some of the ‘talking head’ style interviews spliced into the action reveal deeper musings on the dynamics between them all, as well as some reflections about life more generally. Miranda pivoting from a side-splitting (at least for Sebastian Croft) comedy dance routine to sharing the raw truth that “connection and laughter and joy are bigger than this game … and to meet someone and just play and laugh, it’s all us humans need” while holding back tears really exemplifies the allure (if you will forgive the reference to Miranda’s 2009-2015 hit TV series) of the programme. This article was written prior to the airing of the finale

Broadcaster Maya Jama on the other hand has presented us with a masterclass in how a traitor should ‘fly under the radar’, her name only being brought up as suspicious in episode eight aired last Friday. Is she a contender to win? I would argue that if she plays her cards right, she could at least make it to the end of the series as her ability to convince people with her confidence and conviction is unmatched by most of the others. Episode eight certainly continued to be favourable towards her in the challenge, as the remaining contestants in the game were tasked to choose three people that would receive an unspecified ‘power’. Naturally then, this became a choice of the three who seemed to be the most faithful, and not only was Maya one of those chosen, but in a shockingly ironic and highly entertaining turn of events for the omniscient audience, the selection was all three traitors!

The internet is awash with theories on the matter. One video on Instagram made by @_jeffthurm_ predicts that the three traitors will make it to the final, but the lack of suspicion on Maya thus far will backfire and result in her being voted off, leaving the remaining two, James Acaster and King Kenny, to work together and orchestrate a win for themselves. Other Instagram users have focussed on the more light-hearted side of the programme and the memes being created, as well as James Acaster’s newfound heartthrob status. Model and actor Jerry Hall received the seemingly unanimous vote in episode six that out of everyone, it was her who had her “head in the clouds” the most, suggesting that a proven faithful, who was no longer even in the game, may be a suspect. Another of her many popular moments is when she cries out “But what about Richard!” during breakfast, seemingly unprompted by the topic of conversation at the time, in a way that mirrors the still referenced scene in The Traitors series three where contestant Linda asks the room, “Who the hell is not going to come back?” in a way that can only be described as overly theatrical and unbelievable.

The paranoid Ross Kemp ultimately being taken out by the very thing he had been afraid of for the entire series, a murder in plain sight, combined with the somewhat phallic statues being carried by the group, have the internet in stitches. Other meme-able segments have come from comedian Romesh Ranganathan’s hay fever, clearing him from any potential suspicion as well as the bizarre strategy that actor Richard E. Grant employed, which was to plain and simply admit to TV presenter and artist Joe Lycett that he was a traitor (I for one am still unsure how he expected that to turn out in his favour), and James Acaster’s suggestion that they kill off singer James Blunt, purely with the intention to put an end to the ‘two James’ confusion. TV gold.

Ultimately, the place in culture that Celebrity Traitors occupies is undeniable and for good reason, the assorted assemblage of celebrities and the tense, often eerie challenges truly is a winning combination. I would even go as far as to say that this series will have a lasting impact, at least on me as I will now be adding some new idioms to my vocabulary – namely “My head’s going to melt off like a tuna melt” (thank you Joanne McNally)!