Spoiler warning: This article reveals details from the second episode of The Celebrity Traitors, series two.
A comedian, a journalist, an actor and a television presenter gathered in a castle, but for one of them, the evening would end in a coffin. Amol Rajan became the first contestant eliminated from this year's Celebrity Traitors after the show's traitors—Richard E Grant and Maya Jama—recruited James Acaster to their ranks and orchestrated his removal before he could even participate in a banishment vote.
The elimination unfolded as the second episode aired on Friday evening. Grant and Jama invited Acaster to join them in the turret, where they simultaneously murdered Rajan, the University Challenge host. The decision left Rajan as the earliest departure of the series, removed before the first round table discussion could take place.
"It's gutting to be the first out,"Rajan reflected afterwards, suggesting that his earlier directness with Grant may have sealed his fate.
"But you know what, games are games, and just as there are winners, so there have to be losers."
The episode drew a peak audience of 8.6 million viewers, slightly below the debut episode's average of 8.9 million. Presenter Claudia Winkleman delivered the news of Rajan's elimination to the remaining players with a quip:
"That's what I call a starter for 10."
Acaster's recruitment marked a turning point in the game's dynamics.
"I'm gutted to not be a faithful anymore, I don't like lying. But if I don't join them, they'll kill me."His logic proved sound—accepting the traitors' offer was the only way to survive the round.
The recruitment gave Grant at least one successful elimination despite his deeply compromised position. The 69-year-old actor had spent much of the episode attempting to recover from a catastrophic earlier mistake: blurting out to Joe Lycett, Rob Beckett and several others that he was a traitor while in the bar.
Grant's confession created an unusual dynamic. Many players assumed his statement was an elaborate double bluff—that no genuine traitor would be so foolish as to openly declare themselves. This miscalculation became his only shield as the evening progressed.
Jama, by contrast, demonstrated far greater control.
"I am quite shocked at my ability to just lie to everyone,"she said in the castle's diary room.
"I'm an all-or-nothing kind of honey."Her performance suggested she would prove a far more durable traitor than her struggling counterpart.
The mission and the burial
As the contestants gathered for breakfast, speculation about the traitors' identities intensified. Mathematician Hannah Fry reported observing Leigh-Anne Pinnock applying makeup late in the evening, possibly heading to a secret meeting. Jerry Hall, meanwhile, declared her suspicion fell on James Blunt—not James Acaster—drawing laughter from viewers who recognized her misidentification.
The day's mission required the celebrities to be buried alive in pairs, with only one duo remaining above ground. The traitors had pre-selected Ross Kemp to be protected from burial, along with his partner Romesh Ranganathan, who responded with visible delight upon learning he would remain above ground.
Kemp and Ranganathan faced a choice: they could dig up graves containing gold to add to the prize pot, or they could free their fellow players. They chose liberation, resulting in several celebrities struggling to remove soil from their faces as they emerged. All contestants were eventually freed except Fry and Hall.
Hall, visibly uncomfortable with being buried alive, shouted the emergency word
"Haggis!"—a Scottish variation of the standard extraction phrase—forcing an early release. The decision guaranteed that either she or Fry would face murder in the next round, unless the traitors chose to recruit again.
"Just you and me up for murder,"Fry told Hall afterwards.
"You'd better not be a traitor or I'm really screwed!"
In a flashback, Acaster explained the traitors' reasoning for protecting Kemp.
"I think if we give it to Ross, he'll overthink it, and behave in a way that would draw suspicion."Grant responded with approval:
"You're a wonderful traitor."The assessment proved accurate—Kemp's overthinking would likely have made him a liability.
Grant's precarious position at the round table
As the first banishment approached, Grant remained in damage control.
"I have a slight pinprick of advantage,"he told himself in the diary room.
"Nobody would possibly believe that anybody would be so stupid as to come forward and say 'I am a traitor'. I'm hoping that I do get away with it."
His fellow traitors offered qualified support. Acaster described him as a
"loose cannon,"while Jama acknowledged:
"I want to save him, even though he's dug himself the biggest hole imaginable."
Among the faithful, opinion divided. Ranganathan pointed out that any other player behaving as Grant had would face immediate elimination.
"If somebody else had behaved like Richard, we wouldn't even be having a debate about this, you would just go 'you've got to vote for him'."
Actress Myha'la offered a different perspective.
"Richard feels a little too easy,"she reflected,
"and then anybody pushing him feels suspicious to me."Comedian Joanne McNally agreed that some players were
"using him as a fall guy and a decoy,"though she conceded he had
"made such a shambles of it now."
Discussion initially focused on other suspects, including Julie Hesmondhalgh, whose early receipt of a shield had aroused suspicion. The group had overlooked that she had earned the shield through a vote of trustworthiness in the opening minutes of the first episode—hardly evidence of deception.
When Grant's name finally emerged, Hesmondhalgh mounted a forceful case against him.
"You came into the bar, and said you were a traitor,"she told him.
"It was a bold move. It was chaotic and we love you for your chaos. I think we are at risk of being the most idiotic group of faithfuls in the world, if we go for someone else tonight based on nothing at all, when somebody has come into the room and said 'I am a traitor'. There's no reason to say it unless you are."
Miranda Hart added weight to the case, noting that
"the joy when he took off his blindfold"during Winkleman's initial traitor selection had made Grant appear suspicious.
The episode concluded before voting commenced, leaving the outcome uncertain.
"You've given us all a problem,"Ranganathan told Grant as the round table prepared to vote.
"By doing that, it was a big mistake by you, I feel like you forced our hand."
Despite the mounting evidence against him, Grant remained defiant.
"I do not go down without a fight,"he concluded.
"I couldn't have survived showbusiness for four decades without a fight."
What happens next
The first banishment vote will unfold in episode three, scheduled for Thursday 8 October 2026 at 8pm. The faithful hope they have finally identified a traitor, though Grant's counterintuitive strategy of admitting his status may yet save him from elimination.
The series, which consists of ten episodes in total, will continue with Thursday and Friday broadcasts at 8pm. The finale is scheduled for Friday 30 October 2026. The 21 celebrity contestants are competing for a prize pot of up to £100,000 for charity, with the game's outcome still entirely uncertain following Rajan's early elimination and Acaster's recruitment into the traitors' ranks.
