Mark Bonnar, the acclaimed actor from Line of Duty, Dept Q, and Shetland, has revealed a surprising twist to his early exit from The Celebrity Traitors: it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Bonnar was dramatically banished at the start of episode six on 23 October, following a nail-biting round table that ended in deadlock. Tied in votes with fellow Faithful historian David Olusoga, the decision fell to pure chance. Olusoga drew a protective shield from a wooden box, sealing Bonnar’s fate and sending him packing from the Traitors castle.
As a lifelong superfan of The Traitors before stepping into the celebrity edition, Bonnar admitted the initial sting of disappointment. “I was very disappointed at the time,” he confessed in an interview with BBC Radio Scotland’s Lunchtime Live. “But with hindsight – first of all, I can start to enjoy watching it again.”
He even reflected that, if elimination was inevitable, this random draw was the ideal way out. “If I was to go at any point, that was probably the way I would want to go.”
Bonnar, no stranger to playing TV villains, pointed fingers at rugby star Joe Marler (a Faithful) and comedian Alan Carr (a secret Traitor) for fueling suspicions against him. “Joe Marler – bless him, he’s a pal – but he’d been watching Line of Duty while we were in there,” Bonnar explained. “And I don’t think anybody, with the best will in the world, would look at my face across that table and not have suspicions after watching Line of Duty.”
“Of course, he was egged on by Alan and as we all know, Alan isn’t a Faithful. Alan saw an opportunity and jumped on it.”
Now free from the game’s pressures, Bonnar is relishing the viewer experience. “It’s great actually,” he said. “What’s great is watching it with Lucy [his wife] and the kids because we’re a fan of the show and we always watch it. It’s such a great series.”
The real thrill? Peeking behind the curtain. “It’s fascinating from a personal point of view to see all the conversations that were going on while I wasn’t there. Who was talking about me? Who had suspicions about who? It’s brilliant, a really great thing to be part of.”
In Thursday’s episode, the drama escalated with Sir Stephen Fry’s wrongful banishment as a suspected Traitor and comedian Joe Wilkinson’s overnight “murder” by the Traitors. The show closed on a tense cliffhanger: host Claudia Winkleman revealed that Kate Garraway, Nick Mohammed, and Lucy Beaumont are all in the Traitors’ crosshairs for “murder” – with the final victim set for a face-to-face confrontation.
For Bonnar, early elimination wasn’t a loss – it was the ultimate prize: reclaiming the joy of being just another fan.