Clare Balding has admitted that the pack mentality of The Celebrity Traitors was ‘cruel’ as she insisted sports stars were held in a lower regard during the roundtables.
Thursday’s episode of the popular BBC show saw Traitors Alan Carr, 49, and Cat Burns, 25, go head-to-head against Faithfuls Joe Marler, 35, David Olusoga, 55, and Nick Mohammed, 45, in a bid to win the cash prize for their chosen charity.
The remaining famous faces failed to identify who the Traitor was, and Alan was crowned the winner of the series.
But ahead of the gripping final that had BBC viewers on the edge of their seats, Clare, 54, revealed to The Sports Agents podcast that there was a hierarchy in the game.
She admitted that she found that the pack mentality of the roundtables felt personal and ‘cruel’ in some instances.
‘Celia said that a number of times, about how cruel she thought it was. And she said it in her exit interview, but she also said it to me early on’, she said.
Clare Balding, 54, has admitted that the pack mentality of The Celebrity Traitors was ‘cruel’ as she insisted sports stars were held in a lower regard during the roundtables
Thursday’s episode saw Traitors Alan Carr, 49, and Cat Burns, 25, go head-to-head against Faithfuls Joe Marler, 35, David Olusoga, 55, and Nick Mohammed, 45,
‘But it is hugely engrossing and fascinating… And the study of human psychology and what people do, how they behave when they’re under pressure, how difficult it is to defend yourself when you’re being attacked.’
Clare also suggested that the celebrities from a sports background weren’t as highly regarded as those from other disciplines during the roundtable discussions, putting people like herself and Tom Daley at a disadvantage.
‘A lot of my friends are PE teachers, and they find that they don’t get listened to, whereas the History teacher or the English teacher or the Head of Science has a status’, she added.
‘I think those roundtable situations where certain voices – and there are lots of factors one can put into this, why they have a higher status – but they carry with them a lot of votes.’
Clare’s confession comes after her co-star Jonathan Ross, 64, opened up about the ‘horrible’ moment that ‘took a toll’ on champ Alan that left him ‘with his head in his hands’.
He appeared on the ITV show to chat to former Traitors co-star Kate Garraway, 58, and her co-host Adil Ray, 51, about the epic series, which wrapped up on Thursday.
Jonathan was voted off the programme halfway through as his co-stars managed to sniff him out as a Traitor.
Speaking about the show, Jonathan said: ‘I did feel it was much harder than I expected, and I did struggle with that.’
The remaining faces failed to identify who the Traitor was, and Alan (pictured with host Claudia Winkleman) was crowned the winner of the series and won a cash prize for his chosen charity
But ahead of the gripping final that had BBC viewers on the edge of their seats, Clare revealed to The Sports Agents podcast that there was a hierarchy in the game
He went on to explain there was one bit in particular that fans didn’t see, which got him and Alan the most.
Jonathan continued: ‘Cat not so much, she said it was a game, she found it easy to put into perspective, even though often we’d be driving home much later at night than you guys, we’d be driving in the car with our heads in our hands going “oh God”.
‘And Alan and I were very aware that it was taking its toll. But having said that, what a lovely opportunity, what an incredible thing to be a part of.’
Entertainment editor Richard Arnold went on to say that it was interesting that it was ‘quite the pressure cooker that it was’.
Jonathan confessed: ‘It was horrible at times, because as a traitor you’re speaking to really nice people who you wanted to support in the show, and make sure they had a good time as well.
‘Then you would suspect, or be fairly certain, they knew it was you.
‘Whenever I do a show, I always go in and say I’ll give as much as I can, try and help the show be as good as it can be. I always turn up to work.
‘Then you have to try and engineer ways to get them out, and you see them standing there being banished… because you’ve been successful, and then you see they’re upset, and to see someone upset, you’ve played a part in it.
‘It’s a horrible feeling, even though it’s essential to the game.
