Comedian Joanne McNally has said thinking actor Richard E Grant was a faithful during her time on The Celebrity Traitors was “very embarrassing”.
The 43-year-old was banished from the castle before Friday’s final during Thursday’s penultimate episode of the BBC reality gameshow.
During her time on the programme, she believed that Grant was not a traitor, despite the star saying he was a traitor mere moments after being chosen earlier in the series, which eventually led to him being banished.
Speaking after leaving the show, McNally said: “The Richard thing was very embarrassing for me, it was a very early boo boo on my part.
“What I learned about myself is that I believe men’s lies. That was confronting.
“I was absolutely convinced he was a faithful, but you know why? Because he told me he was, and apparently that’s all it takes for me.
“I just blindly accept it as truth, and that is why I am still single. I’m 43 with a string of failed, toxic relationships in my wake.”
McNally said she would like to see TV presenter Maya Jama, who is a traitor, and faithfuls Michael Sheen and James Blunt win the final.
Speaking about her experience on The Celebrity Traitors, she added: “It was confronting. It was more hardcore than I could ever have imagined, and the speed at which you get sucked into the game is frightening.
“You go in, everyone’s holding hands and laughing, and within 24 hours you’re living in a palace of paranoia accusing your own mother of killing people, and she’s not even in the show.
“I underestimated the reality of the feelings that obviously you know we’re all wired to be accepted by our tribe.
“And you can tell your nervous system over and over and over again it’s a game but at the end of the day when an entire table is turning on you, holding your name up, or somebody else’s, whatever way you want to phrase it, it doesn’t bring out the best in you.”
Comedian James Acaster was banished later in the same episode after he admitted he was a traitor during the roundtable.
The 41-year-old attracted heat in a discussion about former EastEnders star Ross Kemp’s plain-sight murder, where he struggled to defend himself, and then admitted he was a traitor.
He told the contestants: “I just want to explain my situation. I was made a traitor without wanting to be, I’ve had a unique experience on this that no-one’s had before, where I wanted to be a faithful and that’s all I’ve wanted to be.
“I couldn’t just go, ‘guys it’s me, vote for me’.”
Acaster said he had pointed out the perfume bottles, which killed Kemp during the murder, on purpose.
After receiving the most votes at the roundtable, the comedian said: “When I came into this experience I told Claudia (Winkleman, the show’s presenter) that all I wanted to be was a faithful, and all I wanted to do is go around this castle and try and help the faithfuls as much as possible catching traitors.
“I’m really proud to say that’s what I’ve been able to do, under the circumstances. I am, reluctantly, a traitor.”
In a cutaway scene, he added: “I’m glad that I was so faithful, that I couldn’t make it to the end as a traitor.”
The Celebrity Traitors final will be broadcast on Friday at 8pm on BBC One. – PA