James Acaster reveals real reason for Julie Hesmondhalgh’s Traitors banishment
The comedian said the reason was not shown in the edit of the show.
James Acaster has revealed the real reason Julie Hesmondhalgh was banished from Celebrity Traitors – and said it was not shown in the final edit of the show.
The actress, best known for her roles in Broadchurch and Coronation Street, was the latest victim of the roundtable in the hit series, after a campaign led by singer James Blunt, and revealed she had been a faithful the whole time.
However, reluctant traitor Acaster has said the real reason the group turned on Hesmondhalgh and voted her out was not shown in the episode.
He told The Times: “In the edit James Blunt’s reason was that Julie was given the first shield.
“What actually happened is that when they did the shoulder tap for the traitors’ pick at the beginning, James told Julie who he thought was acting suspiciously around the table.”
Acaster spoke to Hesmondhalgh soon afterwards and told her that at that stage in the game, before the traitors knew who each other were, they would not be sharing theories because they might inadvertently incriminate an ally.
He suggested that they should take note of who was not being forthcoming.
He continued: “Then Julie went into the room where James was, puts this to everyone, and says, ‘Like you, James. You’re not sharing your theories with anyone’, and James is thinking, ‘Well that’s not true, because I just shared mine with you at the table’.”
Acaster said that when Hesmondhalgh was voted out, Blunt presented this as evidence of lying.
He added: “That’s why Julie got voted off. Which isn’t in the edit.
“If I was him, I’d be pretty gutted.”
Acaster also revealed some behind-the-scenes detail about the filming of the hit show, saying contestants stay in a “Travelodge-level hotel about an hour from the castle in the Scottish Highlands, which is a bit of a trek each morning and night”.
They cannot leave the hotel without being chaperoned and have ten minutes each morning to FaceTime a friend or family member.
He added: “A member of the production team is there with you, so you can’t have an authentic conversation because you can’t tell them anything that’s happening.
“At one point my partner said, ‘Have you caught the sun?’ I was saying, ‘Oh yeah, we were outside for one of the missions’. I was told I couldn’t even tell her that.”
A spokesperson for The Celebrity Traitors said: “Everyone experiences their own game in their individual way with many differing theories, opinions and multiple discussions throughout the day.
“Naturally, we could never include every minute of a day’s filming in any one episode where we need to focus on the key story moments.
“The round table offers an open forum for all of those theories to be presented and it is there that we see the most salient points come to the fore that succinctly convey how players reach the decision on who to banish in that moment.”
Celebrity Traitors continues on BBC One on Thursday at 8pm.