Joe Marler says Celebrity Traitors has scored him a follow from Dawn French

The former England rugby union player Joe Marler has said his appearance on Celebrity Traitors has scored him a follow from actress Dawn French.

The 35-year-old is among the five finalists on the BBC spin-off reality gameshow, which follows a group of celebrity contestants as they play for the chance to win up to £100,000 for their chosen charities while trying to banish the unknown traitors in the group who “murder” players in the middle of the night.

Speaking ahead of the finale on Thursday, Marler revealed that among all the “lovely messages” he has received from fans, he was surprised by one particular interaction.

Marler said: “My highlight would be getting a follow from Dawn French off the back of one of the memes on Instagram.

“I didn’t think I’d get on the show let alone make it to the final. It is a privilege to have made it this far.”

French, 68, is best known for her comedy partnership with Jennifer Saunders and became a household name with their first series of their sketch show French And Saunders in 1987.

She is also known for playing Geraldine in The Vicar Of Dibley as well as starring in the blockbuster film Harry Potter And The Prisoner of Azkaban and a range of TV series including Let Them Eat Cake, Psychoville and The Wrong Mans.

The comedy duo also featured in a Traitors sketch for Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day in 2023.

The series, which began with 19 celebrities, has since been whittled down to five finalists made up of Marler, singer Cat Burns, historian David Olusoga and comedians Alan Carr and Nick Mohammad.

Carr was selected as a traitor alongside Burns and presenter Jonathan Ross, who has since been banished, added that it feels “amazing” to be in the final.

He said: “I think me and the entire nation didn’t believe I would get through the first roundtable let alone be in the final five.  What a journey. I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

“The strange thing is, weirdly even though we’ve been murdering and banishing national treasures, Olympians, intellectuals and popular entertainers, my family are still strangely proud of me – which is frankly quite odd.”

Other contestants who appeared on the series but were either banished at the roundtable or murdered by the traitors included Olympic diver Tom Daley, singer Paloma Faith, actress Celia Imrie and comedian and TV presenter Sir Stephen Fry.

Speaking about the fan reactions, Carr added: “I’ve been bathing in the love, it really has put a spring in my step, and I am loving the constant flow of memes that pop up on my feed.

“The public scrutiny and all the theories, some actually quite bizarre, have been really interesting to read, but I guess when you have such huge ratings this analysis of your every move comes with the territory.”

The Celebrity Traitors Finale airs on November 6 at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.