Welcome to the castle - Sometimes we get burned, you’d think sometime we’d learn | 2026 Celebrity Traitors Thread 8 [Post Final Chat]

[CaveMum]

Previous thread: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/5594538-welcome-to-the-castle-when-your-fears-subside-and-the-shadows-still-remain-2026-celebrity-traitors-thread-7-tv-pace?page=1

This is a post-Final thread so if you haven’t seen it do not read on!

Finalists
Maya Jama (Traitor)
King Kenny (recruited Traitor)
James Blunt
Leigh-Anne Pinnock
Romesh Ranganathan
Sebastian Croft

Murdered
Amol Rajan
Bella Ramsey
Rob Beckett
RossKemp
Miranda Hart
Sharon Rooney
Michael Sheen

Banished
Richard E Grant (Traitor)
Myha’la
Julie Hesmondhalgh
Professor Hannah Fry (recruited Traitor)
Joe Lycett
Jerry Hall
Joanne McNally
James Acaster (recruited Traitor)
Maya Jama (Traitor)

For these that want to keep up with Claudia’s outfits: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/lifestyle/a73628412/celebrity-traitors-claudia-winkleman-outfits/

It's a TV game show. To talk about being triggered is, with every respect, absurd.

I've managed to watch the Irish one and got into it, it was very fighty to start with. The last US one was good after the loudmouths got voted off. The Canadian one was just too weird but oddly dull at the same time. Never got into the Aussie/NZ ones as the locations don't work for me. The UK one is by far the best all round for me though, budget, production values, presenter, photography and the people who are on it, both celeb and normal.

Yes, I mean, of course it’s ‘fair’, Maya, you’re on a tv show whose whole point is the players scrutinising one another for evidence.

It was always pretty clear that Maya’s supposed brilliance as a traitor was only while she was completely unchallenged. She had as easy a ride as any traitor, ever.

I thought the final would have been ruined without JA doing what he did. Far too loaded in favour of the Traitors. It made it more 50/50 and the ending in more doubt. And the ending was perfect.

I almost couldn't bear to watch Claudia and REG talking about his cockup. Excruciating.

Why did everyone keep saying they were gagged about this, gagged about that? I had to look it up (maybe I'm a dinosaur).

James Blunt turned out to be 570,395 times more eccentric than I expected!

She had an easy ride because she played the game well, it didn't just fall into her lap like that.

Agree

Yes, that's how I remember it too.

My impression when it happened was like someone leaping in front of the gun pointed at someone else.

Not saying he did it to save her as such, but I think he just kind of thought "ARGH the revolution is here and I'm going to have to start lying like crazy."

But my impression was that if anything it saved Maya to take part in the final challenge.

People were well onto the library theory by then. It was always a matter of working through them, and James just ensured he went first.

To answer who will get more work from it
Romash - overall a balanced, kind man.
Bash and Bella as a duo perhaps
Joanne - very popular with comedians/presenters anyway and this, will have hugely increased her exposure.
Maya - already popular, priofessional and beautiful in front of the camera
Possibly Blunty (not sure he wants it?)
Kenny I guess but I don’t know if he is on tv or just YouTube or both?

Well she played in a kind of avoidant fashion, and was good at that bit.

Once the heat was on her, I thought she wasn't really traitor material. She looked as guilty as anything and just kept saying "I don't think that's fair" like a child saying "It wasn't me," with their hand in the cookie jar. She didn't really convincingly deflect.

But credit where it's due: the lying low bit worked for her. However, there was also going to be heat towards the end.

People come on the show to compete, not to give a performance of whatever their day job is. No-one expects actors to go around declaiming Shakespeare, or singers to go around singing, so why expect comedians to be funny all the time? It's clearly nonsense to state that JA did nothing for the entire series.

But Romesh is perhaps the most overexposed person on the show, ever! I think I was surprised he’d been cast because he’s so ubiquitous, and surprised he’d been cast with his longtime partner-in-ubiquitousness, Rob Beckett. He certainly isn’t in need of more work, and his reputation as a safe pair of hands is established.

I think Kenny will have had most opportunities from it, and will probably have had firm ideas about brand expansion in play all along. And good for him. He was good value.

Clearly a lot of people, including me, find James A's stand up funny because that's how he makes his living. He did a good job of avoiding suspicion until he gave himself away at the end.

I can't believe the number of posters on this thread who are outraged by players doing something unexpected.

The only women in the final were women of colour.
In fact, everyone but two people in the final six were poc.
Out of the five women banished before the final only one was a poc.

I don’t think it’s fair to say ‘minority’ women have targets painted on their back.

He’s said that his youngest son wanted him to be on the show. Sounds quite genuine that he wanted to please him.

No, but who does? Not many can deflect particularly in the final when you are down to the last five people. Sometimes it's just your time to go.

I really love the idea of selecting the Traitors at random!

But the only people who were witnesses to the yawning were either dead (Ross and Jerry) or Traitors.

Nobody else at the RT would have known that had been going on.

Agreed — in a way that’s the point. What is Michael Sheen like when he’s not playing Nye Bevan or Hamlet but playing a parlour game instead? Are comedians quite gloomy and fragile when offstage? If you bury a former supermodel alongside a sparky public-facing mathematician, what happens?

Absolutely!

I was waiting to see how she would react when she came under any pressure or accusation and she just couldn’t deal with it. Six weeks of having an easy ride meant that when she was eventually put in a difficult situation snd didn’t know how to deal with it….. and her only reaction was to attack and it came across as very guilty and Traitor-ish.

Because you’re behaving as if a contestant has to disclose the whole truth! It’s a tv show, where some competitors have to lie and pretend, not a courtroom!

I agree: it was her time, and I think actually she knew that.

But Kenny I felt kept his cool better (until the banish or end scene!) He was also in the library, but just stayed more even-keeled.

Maya kind of started almost whinging, like a child who knew their toys were about to be put away, or the summer holidays coming to an end.

He’s just so unlikeable in every way.

At the point that he was picked it was really early days. It's easy to say with hindsight that he should have said no, but no-one agrees to come onto the biggest show of the year only to walk away from it at the earliest opportunity - and I bet that everyone on here would still be moaning about him taking a fee and a place only to flounce on day 1. I suspect the producers would have applied a LOT of pressure on both players not to refuse to be recruited.

After he was picked, he made the best he could of it and tried to support the other two. I know people will cite the shield-building challenge against that, but honestly, it was a rubbish challenge and in fact Maya didn't contribute anything useful to it either.

I think James Blunt managed to change preconceptions about him the most and would have the most benefit from being on the show. Especially, as looking on social media, back in August he was accused of being a sexual predator and had a lot of hatred coming his way.

Romesh really came across so well, didn't he. Very balanced and self-aware.

I don’t know much about Sharon but I thought she’s a bit bonkers when I watched her on uncloacked. Lol.

I dont get the love for Kenny. Just an average man who is alright at lying.

I feel protective of James A. He did good.