The latest episode of The Celebrity Traitors series 2 delivered one of the series’ most nerve-racking missions so far, as the Traitors had to sabotage the Faithfuls’ shield puzzles while creeping around a room full of blindfolded players. But the real tension was inside the Traitor team. James Acaster refused to take part, leaving Maya Jama and King Kenny to do the dirty work all on their own – and their frustration wasn’t hard to miss.
The exchange that followed may have revealed more than James’ reluctance to get his hands dirty. She’s brutal: Celebrity Traitor James Acaster has missed Maya Jama’s ‘winning’ move – here’s why. Her sunny, likeable persona and presenter’s instinct for putting people at ease could be helping her stay trusted, even as she makes ruthless choices behind the scenes. Decisions that, however treacherous, could guarantee her the win, if she plays it correctly.
Maya Jama’s winning move
Maya Jama has been a joy to watch, and dare I say we underestimated her. She has proved time and time again she knows how to play The Celebrity Traitors. She has survived two Traitor banishments, a murder in plain sight and now a sabotage mission without attracting much suspicion at all. Her secret weapon? Killing them with kindness.
Maya’s sunny, likeable persona may be doing more than winning over the Faithfuls. She has said she is ‘good at making people feel comfortable’ because ‘that’s when they open up – and that’s when they slip up’. It sounds less like simple charm and more like a strategy: using her presenter’s warmth to put people at ease, then giving them room to reveal too much.
But after James refused to help with the mission, Maya’s frustration showed, and her mask slipped. James said ‘I ain’t creeping around, I’m too scared’ and didn’t even take off his blindfold to help his fellow traitors in the task. Maya was not impressed: ‘I knew James didn’t want to be a Traitor, but wow! He didn’t even lift his blindfold. I’m speechless, absolutely speechless!’ she said. Kenny seemed just as frustrated, mouthing his feelings about James during the challenge, and let’s just say – they didn’t look like kind words.
Maya has already suggested when recruiting him that she wholly trusts Kenny, and he appears happy to follow her lead. Could the two of them be forming an alliance against James? It certainly looks like it.
Maya has shown she is willing to turn on a fellow Traitor before. She is the only original Traitor still in the game, having voted out former teammates Richard E. Grant and Professor Hannah Fry. Her anger at James may have given her another reason to sacrifice a fellow player – and we think her comments point to him being next on her hit list.
Evidence of Maya Jama’s secret plan
In the turret and her private confessionals, Maya has dropped hints that her friendly presenter persona may be helping her stay under the radar – but her patience with James is wearing thin. Could she be preparing to sacrifice him because he is reluctant to play the game her way? Here’s the evidence.
‘Not just the two of us anyway.’
After James sat out the mission, Maya called his decision ‘a demonstration of how not to play the game’. She keeps her frustration mostly under wraps around the other players, but in her confessionals, the mask slips thanks to some pretty pointed comments and very frustrated looks. She also said: ‘In our heart of hearts, we wanted to complete the shield, but I just don’t think that we would’ve been able to do that without getting caught. Not just the two of us anyways.’
That last line sounds like more than a comment on the challenge. Maya may be hinting that she does not see James as a reliable partner. She clearly enjoys the game and has shown plenty of composure, she knows as well as the viewers do that fewer Traitors means a bigger share of the prize pot and fewer people who could expose her. James’s reluctance may make him an obvious person to cut loose.
‘He’s what we call a Faithful Traitor’
Since his recruitment, James has been open about not wanting to be a Traitor. Maya has made her frustration clear on this topic – and done so occasionally in more pointed remarks to the group. When she and James recruited Kenny, she described James as ‘what we call a Faithful Traitor’, referring to his aversion to lying and betrayal.
Those are rather useful skills for a Traitor to have. Recruiting Kenny may have helped Maya bring in someone more willing to play the role, while leaving James looking increasingly out of step. Could her comment – and her choice to recruit Kenny – be an early sign that she is already thinking about how to get rid of James?
‘I know I’m gonna get a dressing down in the turret’
James knew his refusal to help could cause trouble. He said: ‘I was certain that as punishment for not joining in, Kenny was gonna come over but he didn’t. I know I’m gonna get a dressing down in the turret, I’m aware of that.’
He arrived in the turret expecting a telling-off. Perhaps he knows Maya has a sterner side. Or also knew he had given Maya another reason to see him as a liability.
‘James, you did leave us out to dry’
Maya did call James out for abandoning the mission, telling him, ‘James, you did leave us out to dry’. But she also seemed to laugh it off at the same time, even as she shot him some seriously menacing looks.
These mixed messages may be the clever part: she can let James know she is unhappy without revealing how far that anger goes. If she is planning a Traitor-on-Traitor betrayal, keeping him guessing could buy her time to exact her revenge and her master plan.