JONATHAN Ross is playing the panto villain with aplomb on Celebrity Traitors – and his pal Vanessa Feltz is tipping him to win after revealing his secret advantage.
Chat show host Jonathan, 64, has made plenty of mischief over the three episodes that have aired so far, and is loving the menace of being a cloaked baddie.
Vanessa Feltz think pal Jonathan Ross did his homework ahead of Celebrity Traitors[/caption]
Jonathan said being a traitor took its toll during filming[/caption]
Though he almost slipped up in a private conversation with Joe Marler, carelessly forgetting he’d won an immunity shield, Jonathan has otherwise done well.
And Vanessa believes her telly pal, alongside his screenwriter wife Jane Goldman, prepared meticulously ahead of filming.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun on behalf Betano, she said: “I think he’s just completely in advance discussed with his brilliant, genius wife Jane Goldman, who has a mind, an absolutely incisive, brilliant, plotting mind.
“And I think, together, the two of them decided that he should play it as kind of nakedly evil. And it’s just magnificent. I love it.”
She continued: “Jane is the bigger brain and everybody knows that. Particularly Jonathan.
“And I think Jane is the one, she’s a gamer, they’re all involved in sort of intensively complicated plots and things I know nothing whatsoever about.
“She knows that she’s absolutely ingenious. I reckon the two of them together have cooked up this identity for him. He’s obviously an early front runner and we don’t know who’s going to go all the way.”
Flamboyant Jonathan is no stranger to an eccentric outfit and he’s embraced the theatrical nature of the show, which is hosted by Claudia Winkleman and set at the grand Ardross Castle.
Dark glasses, a faux fur coat and dyed chestnut brown hair all add to his character.
“I think he’s just lapping it up,” said Vanessa. “He’s the only one really who isn’t saying, ‘oh, this is just awful, how sad, oh dear, gosh, I feel terrible about it’. He’s not saying that at all’.
“He’s properly being authentically horrible and ruthless, which is exactly what the game requires.”
Another of Vanessa’s pals, Alan Carr, is also on the show, and it was he who eliminated Paloma Faith with a murder in plain sight.
TV queen Vanessa warns viewers not to be fooled by his edgy, chaotic demeanour on the show, insisting he is “brilliant and highly organised”.
Jonathan recently said on his Reel Talk podcast that he wouldn’t recommend the experience to pals, but Vanessa isn’t deterred and said she would love to take part next time around.
“I’ve had two celebrity friends of mine call me and say ‘I’ve been approached — is it good to do, is it bad to do?” said Jonathan. “So I’m giving them the benefit of my experience, which was I didn’t enjoy it.”
Jonathan said: “I’m a Traitor, that’s why. I found the lying really wearing, it left me feeling increasingly uncomfortable.
Vanessa thinks Jonathan’s wife Jane Goldman devised a clever plan for him[/caption]
Paloma Faith was the first celeb eliminated[/caption]
She was murdered in plain sight by Alan Carr[/caption]
“We were lying all the time, because you’re sharing a car in with people in the morning, and even though we’re not supposed to be talking about the game but obviously some people do, so you’re lying then.
“You’re on the defence the whole time and you have to look people in the eye and lie.”
First out, Paloma was furious at being betrayed by her comedian friend Alan and, months on, she’s still cut up by it.
She said: “I still maintain to this day that if the shoe was on the other foot, I wouldn’t have done that.
“So I don’t think he should have done it to me and I’m surprised that he did.”
The show has been praised for its calibre of celebrity[/caption]
