James Acaster was ‘scared’ of public reaction to Celebrity Traitors exit

James Acaster said he was “too scared to google myself or look at the press” to find out how the public had reacted to his Celebrity Traitors exit.The 41-year-old surprised his fellow contestants during the BBC reality game show by outing himself as a traitor at the penultimate roundtable before votes were cast, leading to his banishment from the castle.His decision also shocked and divided viewers, but Acaster has said he was determined not to worry about those who disagreed with him.When asked about the public reaction, he told the Table Manners podcast: “I’m not on social media, and I genuinely don’t look at it.James Acaster said he was ‘knackered’ by the end of his experience on the show (Euan Cherry/Studio Lambert/BBC/PA)PA Media“With a show as big as Traitors, I’m too scared to google myself or look at the press. So, I genuinely haven’t seen any of it.“It’s weird because I have a bit of a disconnected thing from it.“I know that those things have been talked about and gone on, but I don’t know how massive they are.”Referring to the roundtable that ultimately led to his banishment, the comic said: “After it happened, you go: Well, that’s never happened on the show before, so there’s going to be every opinion under the sun about that.”Acaster said he partly felt like his decision would make “good telly”, but he also wanted to “stand by it”, adding: “I don’t care.“Because you obviously get to that point where you know that the public will have every opinion about it.“You can’t worry about the people who don’t like whatever it is that you’ve done.”He also said he was “knackered” by the end of his experience on the show.Acaster left The Celebrity Traitors during its semi-final, after struggling to defend himself during a heated discussion about former EastEnders star Ross Kemp’s plain-sight murder, before revealing his identity.After the episode aired, it was reported that filming was paused after Acaster became upset during his final scenes, with the comedian reportedly given a welfare check before the roundtable began.Read MoreA representative for Acaster declined to comment on the reports, while a BBC spokesperson said in response that its “highest priority is always the safety and welfare of everyone taking part”.Hosted by Claudia Winkleman, the show sees 21 contestants head to Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands, with a cash prize of up to £100,000 for a charity of their choice up for grabs.The latest series of The Celebrity Traitors was won by comedian Romesh Ranganathan and actor Sebastian Croft, who split the £83,000 prize money between their two charities: Choose Love and the Refugee Council.