As legendary gay comedian Alan Carr stalked the corridors ofThe Celebrity Traitorscastle in last night’s (8 October) first episode, looking something like a cross between E.T. in a bike basket andthat one bald memeof formerBig Brothercontestant Kerry, the nation could be heard howling in unison.
Discounting, um, previous seasons ofThe Traitors, such social media unity hasn’t been seen since the feverish lockdown weeks that brought usDrag Race UKseason two and that doctored video of Italian people apparently singing “Fight For This Love”.
Part of the reason for such an outpouring of joy, of course, is the UK’s infatuation withThe Traitorsin general – it’s inarguably the UK’s biggest reality show,and growing– but so much of the five-star charm of that first episode was down to Alan Carr.
Prior to becoming a – spoiler, for the six people who haven’t seen it yet – Traitor, Carr told the befringed Claudia Winkleman that he wanted to be one. He curled in on himself with laughter, clearly aware of what a messy Traitor he would be. The BBC, experts in the ingredients needed for award-worthy telly,obviouslybestowed him with the honour.
From then on,Alan Carr, Britain’s least inconspicuous presence, blustered and flustered and sweated his way through 70 minutes of TV gold, a nerve-steadying glass of rosé never far from reach.
When Kate Garraway suggested he was a Faithful, he could only turn away, his role as the gameshow Judas written across his goofy grin. In the Traitors’ turret, he made his fellow TraitorsCat Burnsand Jonathan Ross erupt with the mere unveiling of his face.
This has always been Alan Carr’s calling card: being in places that he absolutely shouldn’t be, and having a camera handy to film it. He broke through with comedy/game/talk shows includingAlan Carr’s Celebrity Ding DongandFriday/Sunday Night Project, going pre-virality viral on the latter bymocking Cadbury’s famous eyebrow ad, alongside Lily Allen. Yet the now 49-year-old properly soared to National Treasure status with his Friday night chat show,Alan Carr: Chatty Manin 2009.
Here, he taught Nicki Minaj how to eat a scone – “Is this erotic for you?” – serenaded Elizabeth Olsen with Earth, Wind & Fire, and asked Bradley Cooper if he’d ever “had an orgasm from eating food”. His guests, often initially bewildered at the bawdy and bespectacled man sqwarking before them, were always won over soon enough.
The show ran until 2016, but he’s continued causing occasional trouble elsewhere, trying to saw woodwith an upside down toolonAmanda & Alan’s Italian Job, detailing how an ouija boardouted him to his mum, and infamouslytaking to the stage in a panicked flurryto sing “Make You Feel My Love” while his best friend Adele took a break from her 2021 ITV showAn Audience With. Remember those girls on TikTok who booked a flight “To Nice”and ended up in Tunis, Tunisia? Alan Carr could do the same.
Brits love Alan Carr because his class clown energy – a huge gob, that witch’s cackle, the disarming self-deprecation and panto dame extravagance – resists the country’s poised and stuffy reputation.
Though circumstance often has him exactly where he shouldn’t be, he also knows where his naughtiest jokes will be best received: on theDrag Race UKpanel, while running amok onThe Great Celebrity Bake Off, and now in the camp confines of a castle in the Scottish highlands.
But over the past few years, he hasn’t quite been the monolith of British TV culture that he had been, nor that he should be. SinceChatty Man, he’s hosted a number of game shows and festive specials, an even larger number of travel series with Amanda Holden, written his own sitcom, ITV’sChanging Ends, and presents the very successfulInterior Design Masterson the BBC.
It’s a solid output, but ifThe Celebrity Traitorsproves anything, it’s that he’s surely due one of the biggest, sparkliest presenting jobs on British telly soon.
Hey, he might not want it, and as the old adage says, there can be too much of a good thing. But UK terrestrial TV is famed for cherry-picking five or six presenters and milking them dry of every quip or anecdote they have, on every series going. Alan Carr – the sweating, bumbling, hooting Alan Carr – deserves to be milked.
The Celebrity Traitorscontinues on BBC One at 9pm and BBC iPlayer.
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