Bosses of The Celebrity Traitors have been left "devastated" by a racism row that erupted after banished contestant Myha'la appeared to agree that "unconscious racial and cultural bias" exists within the BBC game show.
The 30-year-old Industry actress became the second celebrity to be banished from the new series after she suspiciously backed her friend Richard E Grant - even after the veteran actor publicly admitted he was a Traitor, in one of the most remarkable gaffes in the show's history.
The controversy began when a fan on social media accused Myha'la's co-stars of being "racist" and claimed that was the reason she was voted out. In a lengthy response, Myha'la wrote that she understood why the fan felt that way, saying she "may have agreed" had the circumstances been different - but then systematically listed the reasons she believed she had sealed her own fate.
"I understand why you feel this way, and I may have agreed with you had I not winked at Richard effectively aligning myself with a known traitor, found and concealed then seemingly reluctantly revealed I had a shield, or... expressed my thoughts and feelings openly to literally everyone (which many people who get out early in this game do)," she wrote. "I sealed my own fate! And that early in the game there is VERY little to grasp on to, and I gave them... a lot."
Her acknowledgement that unconscious racial and cultural bias "exists in this game" nevertheless ignited a fierce debate among viewers about whether the elimination reflected deeper prejudices among the cast.
Insiders have hit back hard. A source told The Sun that the claim of unconscious bias playing a role in the eliminations was "ridiculous," pointing out that the celebrities are used to working with a "huge variety" of people throughout their careers. The BBC is said to be "devastated" by the "hurtful" nature of the accusations, which landed in the middle of what has otherwise been a record-breaking series.
The second series of The Celebrity Traitors launched on BBC One with a record-breaking average of 8.9 million viewers, peaking at 9.1 million, and executives are understood to be thrilled by figures that have exceeded all expectations in an era when live television audiences are shrinking.
The row came in the same week that Traitor Maya Jama was labelled a "satanic villain" by some viewers, and another contestant described producers as "human traffickers" for confining participants to a hotel with extremely limited phone contact with their families.
The episode illustrates how the social-deduction format, which relies on suspicion, alliances and snap judgments, can become a lightning rod for wider cultural debates. Myha'la's nuanced response - acknowledging the reality of bias in general while insisting her own elimination was self-inflicted - has been praised by some as honest, while others argue the conversation points to a genuine problem with how players of colour are treated in the game.