Celebrity Traitors star Joe Marler almost quit series for devastating reason

The 35-year-old former England rugby star made it to the final five of the hit BBC show

Joe Marler on The Celebrity Traitors(Image: BBC)

Joe Marler almost quit Celebrity Traitors after a devastating death in the family.

The 35-year-old former England rugby star made it to the final five of the hit BBC show, which ended last Thursday (November 6) alongside Nick Mohammed, Cat Burns, David Olusoga and winner Alan Carr.

He has now opened up about his experience in the castle, and how he nearly walked away during filming after his wife Daisy’s grandmother died.

He told The Times newspaper: “The producers already knew she was terminally ill, so I went to them and said, ‘That’s me done.’

“They were great — I was leaving. Then Daisy rang back and said, ‘Look, there’s not a lot you can do right now, so just stay up there until you get kicked out.’

“That was the moment that I was like, right, I’ve had enough of this impostor syndrome. I’m gonna ramp it up, go hell for leather and if I get banished or murdered, it’s a win — I can go home.”

The retired sportsman admitted of the other 18 celebrities on the show, “the majority didn’t know” who he was – only fellow Brighton lad Joe Wilkinson, chat show host Jonathan Ross and sports broadcaster Clare Balding were familiar with him beforehand.

Joe was among the stars to take part in the first Celebrity Traitors in the UK(Image: BBC)

Joe added: “Whereas I’d heard of all of them except Niko [Omilana, YouTuber], David [Olusoga, historian] and Ruth [Codd, actress].

“In celebrity terms, I was out of my depth. And then, when they did get to know me a bit, they thought I was weird. So they were like, ‘Why would we follow the weirdo? He’s so awkward.’ ”

Joe insisted he didn’t feel excluded, but he “had to graft a bit more to get to know them”.

Joe admitted he “enjoyed it so much”, especially as he came into his own with his ‘big dog’ theory that either Jonathan or Sir Stephen Fry would have been chosen as a Traitor.

Meanwhile, he also revealed his payday for the show, which didn’t match up to the £40,000 which was the rumoured figure for all 19 contestants.

He laughed: “Daisy read that too. She said to me, ‘Hold on, I thought you only got 30?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I did.’

“So no, I don’t think everyone got paid the same. But I’m not bothered. It was 30 grand whether you lasted two days or three weeks — a no-brainer.”