Richard E. Grant broke the most basic rule of Celebrity Traitors within minutes of being chosen, but the extraordinary reason behind his confession has now become clearer

Richard E. Grant’s Celebrity Traitors game nearly unravelled within minutes when he did the one thing a Traitor is never supposed to do: tell everyone the truth.

After Claudia Winkleman secretly selected Grant and Maya Jama as the first Traitors of the new series, the celebrities returned to the bar.

Joe Lycett asked Grant whether he was a Faithful or a Traitor.

Grant didn’t dodge the question.

He told him he was a Traitor.

Even more remarkably, when a stunned Lycett questioned what he’d just heard, Grant repeated it.

The confession should have been catastrophic. Instead, it was so absurdly direct that some of the celebrities initially struggled to believe he could possibly be telling the truth.

Now Grant, Claudia Winkleman and murdered contestant Amol Rajan have all shed more light on what was going through his head, and the explanation is almost as extraordinary as the mistake itself.

Why did Richard E. Grant reveal he was a Traitor?

The simplest explanation appears to be that Richard E. Grant was far too excited about getting exactly the role he wanted.

Grant had made no secret of his desire to become a Traitor before Claudia made her choices.

When that wish came true, keeping it secret proved rather more difficult.

Grant later explained that he had been so thrilled to be selected that, in his “unguarded excitement”, he simply admitted the truth when someone asked him.

He immediately realised the scale of the problem and knew he needed to take attention away from himself.

Claudia has offered a similar explanation.

She said Grant had been incredibly enthusiastic about becoming a Traitor during the selection process and described him as “giddy” after finally being given the role.

His enthusiasm had effectively become his biggest weakness.

But Amol Rajan has since revealed another exchange with Grant that makes his chaotic start to the game even more amusing.

Richard E. Grant told Amol Rajan he ‘just went mad’

Rajan became the first celebrity murdered after Grant and Maya Jama were forced to choose between eliminating him or offering James Acaster the chance to become a Traitor.

Acaster was recruited.

Rajan was murdered.

But after leaving the programme, Rajan revealed that he later questioned Grant about why he’d chosen to get rid of him.

According to Rajan, Grant explained that eliminating him was intended to protect himself.

Rajan pointed out that recruiting him might have provided even greater protection.

Grant apparently saw the logic.

His explanation?

“I think I just went mad.”

It is worth making an important distinction, however.

Grant’s “just went mad” remark came during his later conversation with Rajan about his decision-making in the game. His direct explanation for accidentally admitting he was a Traitor was his “unguarded excitement” at being selected.

Together, though, the comments paint a fairly clear picture of just how chaotic Grant’s opening days inside the castle became.

Why didn’t anyone believe Richard E. Grant?

This may be the strangest part of the entire episode.

Richard E. Grant told the truth and initially benefited because it sounded too ridiculous to be true.

Grant had just been selected as a Traitor.

Why would an actual Traitor immediately announce it?

That contradiction created enough uncertainty for some contestants to wonder whether Grant was joking, bluffing or deliberately trying to attract suspicion as a Faithful.

It was effectively the opposite of how The Traitors is supposed to work.

Normally, the Faithfuls have to analyse behaviour, conversations and voting patterns for tiny clues about who might be deceiving them.

Grant simply supplied the answer.

Yet the answer itself seemed so improbable that it created doubt.

Even the show’s executive producer Sarah Fay has said they had never experienced anything quite like it before.

Grant’s eccentric personality may also have helped.

Instead of everyone immediately accepting the confession as proof, his fellow contestants had to consider whether saying something that outrageous was simply something Richard E. Grant might do.

For a while, being unbelievably obvious became a surprisingly effective disguise.

But Richard E. Grant’s mistake could now be catching up with him

The problem is that the castle hasn’t forgotten what happened.

During the first round table, Grant’s extraordinary admission returned to the centre of the discussion.

Romesh Ranganathan argued that Grant had created a problem for the Faithfuls by openly saying he was a Traitor, while Bella Ramsey questioned aspects of his behaviour.

Others still struggled with just how obvious the answer appeared.

Joanne McNally argued that Grant being a Traitor almost seemed too obvious.

But that is exactly the problem facing him.

Every conversation about Grant eventually returns to the same fact: he told them what he really was.

The second episode ended before viewers learned who would actually be banished, leaving Grant’s future hanging in the balance.

So the mistake that initially seemed too ridiculous to believe may yet be the thing that ends his game.

Celia Imrie had already warned him how difficult Traitors could be

There is another twist to Grant’s chaotic start.

Former Celebrity Traitors contestant Celia Imrie has revealed that Grant contacted her before entering the castle to ask what the experience was like.

And she warned him.

Imrie told The Times that the programme was extremely strict and that constantly remaining switched on could make it difficult to keep your brain working properly.

Grant nevertheless managed to make one of the most extraordinary mistakes in the show’s history almost immediately.

The warning is particularly striking now.

Playing a Traitor requires contestants to constantly remember what they know, what they’re supposed to know and which version of events they’re presenting to everyone around them.

Grant’s problem was much simpler.

For a few seconds, he seemingly forgot he wasn’t supposed to tell anyone the truth.

Is Richard E. Grant still a Traitor on Celebrity Traitors?

Yes. At the end of the most recently aired episode, Richard E. Grant remained one of the Celebrity Traitors, although his position was under serious threat at the round table.

He is currently part of a Traitor trio alongside Maya Jama and newly recruited James Acaster.

Acaster was offered the chance to join after he and Amol Rajan were brought face-to-face with Grant and Jama. Acaster accepted the offer and became the third Traitor, while Rajan was murdered.

The comedian has already had an eventful time in the castle, with Celebrity Traitors filming reportedly being stopped during an intense James Acaster scene, adding another dramatic moment to his time on the show.

Grant’s problem, however, is that several of the Faithfuls already have a very obvious reason to suspect him: he effectively told them the truth himself.

When is Celebrity Traitors next on?

Celebrity Traitors returns on Thursday, 8 October at 8 pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

And Grant’s fate should be one of the biggest questions hanging over the next episode.

The second series has already attracted enormous audiences, with its launch averaging 8.9 million viewers and becoming the highest-rated debut episode in the UK history of The Traitors. Episode two then peaked at around 8.6 million viewers.

But few moments from the opening episodes have generated quite as much conversation as Grant breaking the central rule of the entire game almost as soon as it began.

He wanted desperately to become a Traitor.

Claudia gave him exactly what he wanted.

And within minutes, he was so delighted that he effectively told everyone.

The only thing more extraordinary is that, at least initially, telling the truth was so unbelievable that it almost worked.