This article contains spoilers for ‘The Celebrity Traitors’
A Traitor’s recruitment is always a turning point in the game. For the Faithful, it’s an opportunity to not only avoid murder for another night, but also to look out for changed behaviours and suspicious moves. For the Traitors, it’s a chance to switch up the game, cause chaos – or recruit a sacrificial lamb to throw others off their scent. And then there’s Joe Lycett.
From the moment Professor Hannah Fry was banished at the Round Table and revealed she was a Traitor, Joe offered himself up for recruitment. “I was going to have an alcoholic drink but actually I’m not going to in case I’m recruited,” he announced to a full kitchen. “There’s a beautiful vacancy now!”
And he didn’t stop there. “Recruit me,” he whispered to Ross Kemp, the most paranoid Faithful. “Just to be clear, I’d love to be recruited,” he told another set of players. “I want the full experience as much as possible.” He was so giddy and blinded by his campaign to get into the Traitors’ turret that he didn’t even realise he was breaking the game’s golden rule: don’t tell anyone your next move.
In being so vocal about wanting to be a Traitor, Joe – who was not recruited – naturally came under immediate suspicion when both Sharon Rooney and Michael Sheen walked into breakfast the next morning. And still he didn’t keep his mouth shut. “We’re all here, there’s been a recruitment,” he pondered before facing the room, throwing his hands in the air and shouting: “It wasn’t me!”
Joe is a showman, best known for his out-there stunts. He’s changed his name by deed poll to Hugo Boss to make a point about copyright, he once “shredded” £10,000 because David Beckham didn’t pull out of a multimillion-pound deal to promote the World Cup in Qatar (it was actually fake money and Joe donated the £10,000 to LGBTQ+ charities). This is a man who currently hosts a live TV show on Channel 4 every Friday – a job that needs a certain level of theatricality – and you only have to glance at his flamboyant castle outfits to understand that he wants to be noticed.
None of those qualities are helpful in a game of Traitors. Whether you’re a Faithful or a Traitor, you must be wily, secretive, and not put your head above the parapet. Take Michael, who knew that just being chosen as the “head of the Round Table” in the mission would make him a potential target for murder.
It’s a problem we see on the celebrity version of the game more than the civilian one. These people are so used to being the main character and getting their own way, that they’re not shy about shouting about what they want. Yes, it makes for great television, but in terms of the game, the celebs can get so wrapped up in wanting to “experience” it all that they forget the point is to survive to the end.
By the time Joe realised what he’d done, it was far too late. Asking the Traitors to make him one of them in front of the entire castle was never going to work. He was under too much heat to be worth the risk. Instead, Traitors Maya Jama and James Acaster chose King Kenny to join their ranks, leaving Joe extremely vulnerable. It was a forgone conclusion that he would be the one for the chop at that night’s Round Table.
Joe Lycett’s fate should be a cautionary tale for the rest of the Faithfuls. Keep your head down and your strategies to yourself – make too much of a spectacle of yourself and you might find yourself booted out by the people who are supposed to protect you. Are you listening, Joanne?
‘The Celebrity Traitors’ continues on Thursday 22 October at 8pm on BBC One