Celebrity Traitors: Former Today programme host Amol Rajan is the first star to be murdered as Richard E. Grant and Maya Jama recruit James Acaster to take the heat off actor after slip-up

He made no secret of wanting to be crowned the king of Ardross Castle after signing up to Celebrity Traitors to boost his career.

But former Today programme host Amol Rajan fell at the first hurdle when he was murdered by Richard E. Grant and Maya Jama following a dramatic cliffhanger from Thursday's opening episode.

Viewers were left waiting for 24 hours to see if he or podcaster James Acaster would win the battle to be chosen by Richard and Maya to be the third traitor, but on Friday, fans saw that it was Amol who lost out.

Speaking after his shock exit, Amol admitted that he is ‘grieving’ being kicked off so early.

‘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.’

Host Claudia Winkleman was seen pacing back and forth before slamming the coffin shut on the broadcaster, meaning he is the first player to be eliminated.

'It's game over,' he told the camera. 'It is gutting to be the first out, but James is a fantastic player, and people aren't going to suspect him, and they might suspect me. 

'Maybe I was a little bit foolish with Richard, but then again, I ended up in the chapel with a nearly 50/50 chance to join their club.

'But do you know what? Games are games. Just like there are winners, there has to be losers. I've loved the ride.'

Television's most deceitful game show returned – and yet again proved to be a smash hit with viewers.

Nominated as one of Claudia Winkleman's Traitors, Richard has already made the biggest slip-up in Celebrity Traitors history.  

As Richard mingled with Faithful Joe Lycett in the lounge area, the comedian jumped straight in with the question: 'What are you?'

'A Traitor,' Richard responded with a huge grin on his face. 

Unsure what to believe, Joe said: 'I think you've just done something that has never happened in the game... bold strategy.'

The surprise confession has left the rest of the celebrities in a tailspin, with the actor acknowledging he will face the heat at the first round table.

But James, who was pushing forward the theory Richard is a Traitor, will now be working alongside them to throw the Faithfuls off the scent. 

The second series launch episode attracted a record-breaking nine million viewers on Thursday, surpassing all previous premieres for The Traitors UK.

Overnight figures show the first episode peaked at just over nine million and averaged 8.9 million viewers – up almost three million from the first celebrity series, and 2.5 million from series four of The Traitors back in January.

Last year's star-studded celebrity series, featuring the likes of winner Alan Carr, Jonathan Ross, Stephen Fry, Kate Garraway and Paloma Faith, launched with a peak audience of 6.5 million viewers, averaging 6.1 million across the episode.

The last civilian series opener in January garnered 6.9 million peak viewers and averaged 6.4 million views.

The total audience for the episode is expected to go even higher in the coming days, with viewers who streamed the show on iPlayer yet to be counted.

It also beat ratings for Strictly Come Dancing's first live show, which have plummeted since Traitors presenter Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly stepped away.

Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and dancer Johannes Radebe have since replaced the iconic duo.

The episode, which aired on Saturday, had a peak of five million viewers, down from the 6.2 million who tuned in for the same stage of last year's competition.

The celebrities are playing the game in Ardross Castle in the Highlands, with a cash prize of up to £100,000 for a charity of their choice up for grabs.

And the remaining 20 took part in their second mission, set in a graveyard, and involved them being buried alive in pairs.

They were put in coffins in the ground, with soil thrown on top – but for Jerry Hall, it all became too much.

Turning to her partner, mathematician Hannah Fry, she quipped: ‘I’m sorry I don’t think I can handle it,’ before shouting the code word ‘haggis’ which meant they were both out of the mission, and up for the next murder, while all other players are shielded.

‘It was really scary. It is like being in a horror movie. It is awful!‘ 'Lying in that coffin and then they closed the doors and locked it and started throwing dirt on. My head started spinning. I just had to get out immediately,’ Jerry told the camera.

The episode ended with the first roundtable, where Richard found himself under fire after slipping up and declaring himself a Traitor in the launch episode.

‘Let’s be frank, you are celebrities. You are very successful. When you speak, people listen. You might find that slightly different here,’ Claudia told them.

‘At this roundtable there is no VIP treatment. There are no riders, there is no fluffing. If you hit a rough patch, you definitely cannot call your agent.

‘In here, you have to do only one thing, and one thing alone, and that is find the traitors. So then players, for the very first time, the floor is yours.’

As it kicked off, Coronation Street actress Julie Hesmondhalgh said: ‘We are at risk of being the most idiotic group of Faithfuls in the world if we go for someone else tonight based on nothing at all when someone has come in the room and say, “I am a Traitor”.

‘You’ve given all of us a problem because by doing that it was a big mistake by you. I feel like you have forced our hand by the honest truth of it,’ Romesh Ranganathan added.

Reacting to the episode, viewers wrote on X: 'If Richard E Grant survives this round table, these faithfuls will be screwed. The man literally told them he was a traitor and then killed one of the main people who was against him and people are still thinking he's a faithful??'

'We can't have Richard E Grant going this early. He's too entertaining';

'Massive respect to Richard who made one of the worst errors of all time on The Traitors and has just laughed his way through all of it';

'If Richard goes at the round table THEN they have the choice to recruit so maybe nobody goes? *prays for Hannah'.

But, with BBC leaving us on another cliffhanger, viewers will have to wait until next week to discover Richard's fate.