Joe Marler says he was ‘heartbroken’ after being voted off Celebrity Traitors

Former rugby player Joe Marler has said he was “heartbroken” after Ted Lasso star Nick Mohammed voted him out of Celebrity Traitors.

The 35-year old was a finalist in the spin-off series of the popular BBC reality gameshow, however, he was banished during Thursday’s finale after a shock vote from the actor.

Many expected Marler to win after the two had formed an alliance in order to beat traitors singer Cat Burns and comedian Alan Carr until Mohammed broke his pact at the last moment, suspecting Marler could be a traitor, and banished the former pro.

Speaking about the highly anticipated finale, which was watched by an average of 11.1 million, with a peak of 12 million according to the broadcaster, the rugby star told BBC One’s Saturday Kitchen: “I was also expecting to win. I thought me and Nick, really, we’d nailed this one.

“I was heartbroken.

“He didn’t stick to my plan. He went with his gut, which is a shame, but I still was so in love with him, because that little like dicky bow, his little face, the three little love hearts, he put on my name.

“Although in that moment I was heartbroken. I was like, aww.

“I really enjoyed Nick. He’s fantastic.”

The series crowned Carr as the winner with the prize money, which amounted to £87,500, going to the children’s cancer charity Neuroblastoma UK.

Marler added that Carr was “unbelievable, what a winner”.

The former England rugby union player, who was a faithful in the game, said he was “nervous” when he first arrived and joked that he had to convince the rest of the star-studded cast, which included TV presenter Jonathan Ross, actor and broadcaster Sir Stephen Fry, and actress Celia Imrie, that he was not “a member of production”.

He said: “I remember talking to Lucy Beaumont and she was like, ‘oh, so what is it you do then?’. And I was like, I play rugby. She went, ‘oh, what like rugby union or league or something like that?’

“It was quite a big moment for me.

“You go in the real world and they’re like, who are you? And you go, good point. Well, who am I actually?”

Speaking about his game strategy, Marler added: “I went in with a game plan of just copy what Stephen Fry does, because he’s the most intelligent man out there. And then quickly it became apparent he was winging it too.

“That sports mindset kicked in. I was like, well, if I’m going to be here, I might as well try and win. And just started putting them under the under the pump a little bit.”

Marler and comedian Joe Wilkinson had raised the “Big Dog theory” which proposed that Sir Stephen and Ross were chosen as the leaders of either the traitors or the faithfuls – a theory which eventually led to both of them being banished.

Speaking about Wilkinson, he said: “He’s one of the funniest blokes I’ve come across, and I just fell in love with him, and also he is really intelligent.”

He also described Imrie as “wonderful” and “such a flirt”, joking that he would leave his wife for the film star.

Despite catching one of the traitors in the group, Marler also voted out fellow faithfuls including actor Mark Bonnar which he “felt so bad” about, and claimed his suspicion grew after he remembered that Bonnar plays the “baddie”, DCI Mike Dryden, in the series Line Of Duty.

“I got it completely wrong,” he said.

The Celebrity Traitors finale on Thursday secured the biggest overnight audience for the BBC since the final episode of Gavin And Stacey which aired on Christmas Day last year.

According to the BBC, its debut episode of the BBC One spin-off is now the biggest unscripted title on broadcaster VOD (video-on-demand) ever.

Since the UK version began in 2022, millions of fans have watched The Traitors on the BBC and it has picked up a Bafta TV Award for best reality and constructed factual programme and best entertainment performance for host Claudia Winkleman.

This was the first UK celebrity series of the popular reality show and has been a ratings hit for the BBC.