Richard E Grant has dismissed allegations that he deliberately exposed his identity on The Celebrity Traitors in an attempt to cut short his time on the programme.
During the opening episode of the new series, Grant was selected to play a traitor alongside Love Island presenter Maya Jama.
However, shortly after being chosen to deceive his fellow participants, the actor inadvertently confessed his secret role to several people, raising immediate suspicion and resulting in his elimination as the first person banished at the roundtable.
The actor later explained that, despite his blunder, he was convinced none of the other contestants would take his comment seriously.
Reports in The Sun subsequently claimed some production workers on the BBC series suspected Grant had staged the slip-up to escape weeks of filming.
Addressing the rumours in a post on his Instagram story on Tuesday, Grant wrote: "I usually wouldn’t comment on things like this, but I’ve been made aware some press outlets are suggesting I ‘staged’ my traitors reveal to get out of filming.
"This is categorically false. I’m an avid fan of the show and have been since it first aired.
"Being picked as a Traitor when I was convinced I’d be a faithful was an absolute dream and a sheer shock to the system."
At the show's roundtable, Grant received votes from a majority of the contestants, including his fellow traitors Jama and comedian James Acaster, whom the pair had recruited.
Standing in front of the assembled celebrities to reveal his true identity, Grant announced: "I am… an unfaithful traitor."
Following his departure, Grant admitted that revealing his role so early in the game was a "catastrophically idiotic thing to do".
When asked about his ability to deceive others as part of the game, Grant shared that his daughter had warned him prior to filming that he would be "slaughtered" because he was "incapable of hiding what you feel about people or anything".
The seventh episode of the series is due to air on the BBC at 8pm on Thursday night, with the final to be shown on Friday 30 October.
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