The Celebrity Traitors: First murder victim “grieving what could have been”

Amol Rajan has described taking part in The Celebrity Traitors as “one of the greatest privileges of my life” despite his time in the game being cut severely short.

The journalist became the first celebrity of the new series to be murdered after being summoned, along with James Acaster, to the chapel for a face-to-face meeting with Traitors Richard E Grant and Maya Jama.

The duo then had to pick who to murder and who to recruit as the third Traitor – a decision that led to Rajan taking an early bath.

Speaking about his experience afterwards, he said: “It’s just an absolutely unforgettable ride of a lifetime. And honestly, there’s kind of an unhappy contrast right now, because I’m sort of grieving what might have been.

“In time I know that I’ll come to look on this as honestly one of the greatest privileges of my life. In fact, I already do.

“What an amazing thing to do, and it was bigger, it was bolder, it was braver, it was brighter than it looks on TV. And to have been sort of in it when it’s a show and a game I love so much is just a blessing, really.”

Looking back on his murder in the chapel, he admitted: “Every sensation was turned up to the absolute max. I’d been on this massive rollercoaster of thinking that I was out, then thinking I was reprieved, then thinking, ‘oh wait a second, this could get complicated’.

“Walking into that beautiful chapel I saw one of the greatest comedians of his generation, in James Acaster, a legend, wonderful human being who has become my mate, and I’m thinking, ‘what are you doing here, mate? Are you a Traitor?’

“It suddenly dawned on me that there were a couple of open coffins, and he said, ‘I’m not a Traitor. And there are two coffins up there,’ and I thought, ‘okay, here we go’.”

The Celebrity Traitors continues Thursday night at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.