The Traitors villain Paul Gorton has apologised to his influencer wife after being inundated with messages from women and men lusting over his ‘sexy’ character.
Paul, 36, was the latest star of the BBC show to be ‘banished’ after the cast exposed him as one of the Traitors and he was forced by presenter Claudia Winkleman, 52, to leave the Scottish castle.
He became the bad guy of the series and says he has ‘no regrets’ over ‘manipulating’ his co-stars because he played within the rules of the game and was determined to win the six-figure cash prize.
The result of his pantomime character has been an influx of messages from his new fan base saying they love his ‘handsome’ looks – and Paul admits he adores the attention.
But being a Traitor came at a price, with the married father-of-one admitting he was ‘physically’ and ‘mentally’ drained, sleep deprived and teary, as he insists that every time he sobbed on camera it was the result of raw and genuine emotion, although he did use it to his advantage.
The Traitors villain Paul Gorton has apologised to his influencer wife after being inundated with messages from women and men lusting over his ‘sexy’ character
Paul was the latest star of the BBC show to be ‘banished’ after the cast exposed him as one of the Traitors and he was forced by presenter Claudia Winkleman to leave the Scottish castle (pictured with wife Kate)
The result of his pantomime character has been an influx of messages from his new fan base saying they love his ‘handsome’ looks – and Paul admits he adores the attention (pictured Paul’s wife Kate)
He became the bad guy of the series and says he has ‘no regrets’ over ‘manipulating’ his co-stars because he played within the rules and was determined to win the six-figure cash prize
He told MailOnline: ‘I am blown away by the amount of love and attention I am getting… it is insane.
‘Sorry Kate, but a few girls are messaging, I am getting some guys messaging too saying ‘I am so villainous’ ‘handsome’ and ‘sexy’… and obviously I love it, it’s great for the ego.
‘My hate messages aren’t really hate, they’re like ‘you’re a villain’ ‘we need you out of this show’ I was the character that people loved to hate but I was so on board with it.
‘I can count on one hand where I have thought ‘well that’s gone a bit too far’ out of 1000s of messages.
‘Even people like that, it is testament to the show that you can make people feel so angry from a TV programme literally called The Traitors, it is about lying. They told me to do it…’
Paul worked closely with his associates including remaining Traitor Harry Clark to secretly murder other members of the game while the cast are responsible for voting off who they believe aren’t ‘Faithful.’
But four out of five contestants eliminated so far such as fan favourite Diane Carson have been female, with host Claudia saying she found the statistic ‘problematic.’
Former Traitor Paul has defended his decision saying it is a ‘compliment’ to be murdered and gender didn’t play a part in choosing his next victim.
He said: ‘No, it doesn’t even cross your mind.
Paul says being called ‘sexy’ and ‘handsome’ by viewers has given him an ‘ego boost’ as he apologises to wife Kate for the influx of suggestive messages
Paul, who’s a business manager from Manchester, has been married to Kate for 11 years and they share a young son together
Four out of five contestants eliminated so far such as fan favourite Diane Carson have been female, with host Claudia saying she found the statistic ‘problematic’
‘We didn’t go into any depth at all over gender or age. A lot of people were older.
‘We got rid of the people that we thought were the strongest and biggest threat.
‘There was no other depth to it… it was pure game play… it is a compliment if you got killed because you were too strong.
‘It is almost an insult for people to keep you in because you are not a threat and almost a pawn in the game. The strongest people we had to banish or murder, it is a compliment if anything.’
Paul admits the stress of being separated from his wife Kate, who is a glamorous influencer and boasts over 125,000 followers on Instagram, and their 18-month-old son, began to take its toll after he spent a day in the show’s dungeon in a bid to convince his co-stars that he was a faithful.
On multiple occasions he broke down in tears during the ’roundtable’, which is where the cast has the opportunity to challenge each other over whether they are being genuine with their story.
Viewers applauded Paul for his ‘Oscar worthy’ performance thanks to his ability to cry on cue but he says the intensity of filming the BBC series was one of the hardest things he’s ever done.
He said: ‘First of all the show is the most stressful thing I have ever done in my life, well second, after having a baby but nothing compares to that.
Viewers applauded Paul for his ‘Oscar worthy’ performance thanks to his ability to cry on cue but he says the intensity of filming the BBC series was one of the hardest things he’s ever done
Paul worked closely with his associates including remaining Traitor Harry Clark to secretly murder other members of the game while the cast are responsible for voting off who they believe aren’t ‘Faithful’
The Traitors murdered fan favourite Diane Carson in plain sight after drinking from the poison chalice
‘I wanted to be a Traitor and I have absolutely no regrets because I feel like that’s the only way to truly participate in the game, the strategies, it is well within the rules to con people and manipulate and I feel like I played well within the rules and I didn’t cross the line.
‘I loved it but it’s so wearing… you don’t sleep. It was so draining. When I got upset, I was genuinely upset. Mentally, I didn’t recover from being in the dungeon.
‘They were genuine tears and it may not sound great but when I was in the room, they were genuine tears but I would use them in a different way.
‘It sounds crazy but I didn’t want to give myself away, I am crying so I can’t stop that.
‘Because of my personality type, I think people can assume he’s absolutely fine and even in the show people thought I was crying fake tears… when I was showing my most vulnerable side, that’s when people thought I was being the most Traitor.’
Following his banishment on Thursday night, Kate told her following, ‘Everyone can stop with their concerned messages for me’ while congratulating Paul on his performance.
But the former Traitor says it wasn’t difficult for Kate to watch the show because after 11 years of marriage and his prior TV appearance on Channel 4’s Deal or No Deal, she knows what to expect from her husband.
He added: ‘My wife loved it. She has seen me through all sorts of stresses.
Like the rest of the nation, with over 4.4million viewers tuning in to Thursday night’s episode, Paul eagerly awaits the show’s final because even he doesn’t know who successfully wins the prize pot
‘I am a bit of a comedian and I love a windup so she loved watching that.
‘At the start people didn’t see me as a pantomime villain and they genuinely thought I was this person. But now they see me as Jafar out of Aladdin or something because I’m so camp.
‘If I’m spending so much time away from friends and family and work there’s no way I was going on the show to sit back, I wanted to give it 100 per cent.’
Like the rest of the nation, with over 4.4million viewers tuning in to Thursday night’s episode, Paul eagerly awaits the show’s final because even he doesn’t know who successfully wins the prize pot.
The cast are in regular contact via a group WhatsApp conversation but they are sworn to secrecy until their episode has aired.
His fellow Traitor, Harry, could be victorious – and Paul says he wants him to go all the way.
Paul added: ‘Harry has to go on and win. I wanted the Traitors to win. I laid the groundwork… for me, it was the Paul and Harry show.
‘If he wins it then I will feel like I have won as well.’
