Comedian James Acaster has called a newspaper report that he complained about his Celebrity Traitors rivals “completely fabricated,” breaking his silence on a story the BBC rejected weeks ago.Acaster spoke on Alan Carr’s Life’s A Beach podcast, Deadline reported. He said Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan were lovely throughout filming and sounded incredulous at the Mail on Sunday’s claim that he told producers the pair’s “macho banter” made him uncomfortable.
The paper put the claim on its front page last month. It quoted a source who said Beckett and Ranganathan thought they were joking, but that Acaster felt the teasing targeted him and grew annoyed and upset away from the cameras. Over the weekend the paper pressed the story further, reporting that the two comedians joked about Acaster’s middle-class background, and quoting a source who said he felt he was fighting a second battle on top of the game itself.
The BBC rejected the account on October 19. A spokesperson called claims of teasing among the cast, and of complaints about teasing, “categorically untrue,” and said there were no incidents of that nature and no evidence behind the allegations. A source added that the reality was the opposite. Representatives for all three comedians told the paper the story was false, according to reports.
Acaster’s run on the show was dramatic. Contestants recruited him as the third Traitor in the second episode, alongside Maya Jama and Richard E. Grant. In the penultimate episode he admitted at the roundtable that he was a Traitor and was banished. Reports said filming paused when he became upset during that scene, and the BBC responded that contestants’ welfare is its “highest priority.”
Beckett left the show in the episode that aired October 15. Ranganathan stayed on. Claudia Winkleman hosts the series. Acaster, who also appeared in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, has not addressed the second Mail on Sunday report beyond his podcast remarks. The newspaper has not retracted its claims, and Beckett and Ranganathan have not commented publicly beyond their representatives’ denials.
