Along with Cat Burns, Joe Marler has emerged as the breakout star of The Celebrity Traitors. Whether or not he triumphs in the series finale on Thursday, Big Joe, previously only familiar to those of us who follow rugby union, has become a household name. If he plays it right, he\u2019ll soon graduate to full-blown national treasure. Having interviewed Marler twice, however, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if he sabotages his big chance. I can\u2019t quite see him being willing or able to play the cuddly celeb role for long. <\/p>\n
Don\u2019t get me wrong. I love the guy. But he is, to put it mildly, a complex character. A prop forward, 6ft tall, 19st, hugely bearded, covered in tats, Marler might present as the archetypal intimidating rugger jock. He is anything but. For one thing, as we have seen, he has enviable clarity of mind. He\u2019s a smart fella, sifting the evidence of his own apparently guileless baby-blue eyes and mangled cauliflower ears far more adroitly than those reputedly great intellects and fellow Traitors contestants Stephen Fry and David Olusoga. He\u2019s warm, open, tactile, funny, charming. But he\u2019s mercurial too, occasionally tetchy or morose, outspoken yet also shy, and cripplingly lacking in confidence.<\/p>\n
When he was first called up for England in 2010, he told me, he was so \u201cnervous and scared, I hardly spoke\u201d. By the end of his international career last year, he had become a big dressing room influence. It has been a similar story in the Highlands, with Marler, 35, journeying from deferential to dominant. Overlooked at first, and no doubt underestimated, Marler locked on first to Jonathan Ross\u2019s treachery and then, having correctly identified the other two baddies, is now organising their downfall.<\/p>\n