Joe Lycett already causing chaos on Celebrity Traitors after calling out Richard E Grant
Joe Lycett is a star of The Celebrity Traitors episode one. (BBC/Studio Lambert/Cody Burridge/BBC Creative)
The first episode of The Celebrity Traitors showed why pansexual comedian Joe Lycett was a brilliant casting choice.
The first episode of the hit show’s second celebrity season kicked off on Wednesday (1 October), proving it could very well live up to the first series.
There were plenty of hilarious moments, including host Claudia Winkleman emerging from a coffin, but one of the most jaw-dropping was between Lycett and Saltburn actor Richard E Grant.
Spoilers ahead: Grant and presenter Maya Jama were selected as two of Winkleman’s traitors.
Later, Lycett was going around the room asking contestants if they were a Faithful or Traitor. Seemingly overly giddy about being undercover on the show, Grant blurted out that he was a Traitor. The room fell into a stunned silence.
“You’re what?” Lycett asked, shocked that Grant had completely forgotten the entire point of the game.
“A Traitor. What’s the point of being in the game if you’re not,” Grant continued.
“It’s an interesting angle. You need to be very clear that you’re not,” laughed singer James Blunt.
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that… what are you, Richard?” Lycett asked again, before whispering for him to say “Faithful”.
Lycett then continued: “I think you’ve just done something that’s never happened in the game.”
Time will tell if the Faithfuls actually believe this was a real or acting slip-up. Later in the show, the actor admitted it was a massive mistake.
‘That may be the biggest mistake I have ever made’
“That may be the biggest mistake I have ever made in my life,” he explained.
“I was so thrilled to have been chosen as a Traitor that, in my unguarded excitement, I said, ‘Of course I’m a Traitor’.
“I clearly need to defuse all the heat that’s coming in my direction.”
Fans flocked online to react to the hilarious moment. One wrote: “I have tears in my eyes already Richard actually gagged the whole room and he DIDN’T MEAN TO SAY IT???”
Another declared the scene: “TV moment of the year already.”
Lycett is one of a number of queer cast members of Celebrity Traitors, alongside Bella Ramsey, Myha’la, and Sebastian Croft.
The TV star described himself as a long-time fan of the franchise. He shared: “That first year I sent a DM on Twitter, which was not responded to, to Studio Lambert to ask if they could send me all the rushes.
“I just was so hit by it and wanted more. I am just thrilled to be part of the universe of The Traitors and to have been asked.”
The Celebrity Traitors continues Thursdays and Fridays at 8pm on BBC One.
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