Celebrity Traitors final was vomit-inducing mayhem and James Acaster is to blame

Celebrity Traitors final was vomit-inducing mayhem and James Acaster is to blame Well, that was brutal. The Faithful have won amid chaos, back-stabbing and unmissable TV in a dynamite final ignited by James Acaster the previous night. We have long known that the Celebrity Traitors format is as delicate as, say, a paranoid Ross Kemp after being lightly touched by Leigh-Anne Pinnock. One move can send the whole thing tumbling off in an unexpected direction. And nothing look a leaf blower to the house of cards quite like James Acaster. His sad announcement that he was a Traitor topped even Richard E Grant's gleeful announcement that he was a Traitor and delivered a win for his beloved Faithful on Friday night that would not have been possible otherwise. Another Traitor, King Kenny, carried on his work when he delivered the fatal blow by turning, foolishly as it turned out, on Maya Jama by sending her packing - a favour she returned, saying coldly: "Good luck, you're going to need it." This is when the drama went up to 11 with the sort of stomach-churning mayhem that left several viewers reporting that they were going to throw up. The tension was almost unbearable. At one point host Claudia Winkleman looked like she would burst into tears, but it might have been all that red smoke. READ MORE: Follow our Celebrity Traitors blog for live updates as this year's winner is crowned James Blunt was visibly fuming at being accused of un-Faithful behaviour by Romesh Ranganathan because he dismissed the Maya comment. Earlier he bickered with Maya herself. The cheery crooner this was not. Leigh-Anne was next out of the door, then Traitor King Kenny, then James too, delivering a decisive win for Faithfuls Sebastian Croft and Romesh - a victory set in motion by James the previous night. If he hadn't piped up and whittled the Traitors down to two, the Faithful would have been crushed. He knew it too, saying in his only comments on the matter (he didn't show at tonight's reunion) that the Traitors were "just going to walk our way to the final and win the whole thing". The two mad moments where Richard and James both 'I am a Traitor'd bookended this second celebrity run, which provided much-needed jaw-droppers to a series where the chaotic, giggling humour delivered by the likes of Alan Carr last time had given way to calm, strategic masterminds like Maya Jama. Richard E Grant could have filled the Carr void, except that his theory that his co-stars wouldn't take him seriously came to a clattering halt with 18 votes against him and the grim words: "I have been annihilated" in the second episode. This lot really were trying to win. The Faithful were absolutely on it. Michael Sheen was so good he could be a cold-case detective (and he could do it in the style of Tony Blair). Hence why the Traitors finally moved on him at the start of tonight's episode. Richard went and was replaced by James. Hannah went and was replaced by Kenny. As Mr Sheen (finds umpteen things suspicious) pointed out, there might be more value in voting out weak Faithfuls because Traitors get replaced. The voicing of the theory - backed by Hannah - was swiftly followed by the departure of the iconic Jerry Hall, which might not have been a coincidence. In the end it seemed the Faithful just didn't have the numbers until Acaster announced himself a Traitor and upended what he called a "foregone conclusion" that the Faithful would be defeated saying: "This is much better, isn't it?" Maya Jama didn't seen to think so, gurning with displeasure after the round table. She'd have been looking even more unhappy if she knew what was coming. Another impossibly tense final, another fine series of this superb series. Plus, a win for the Faithful. For once it was actually deserved.