Celebrity Traitors Star Myha'la Speaks Out After Banishment, Addresses "Unconscious Bias" Row

Celebrity Traitors Star Myha'la Speaks Out After Banishment, Addresses "Unconscious Bias" Row

Celebrity Traitors may be television's most devious game, but this week the drama has spilled well beyond the walls of the castle. Industry actress Myha'la, 30, who was banished from the BBC show last week, has weighed in on a heated social media debate about whether race played a role in her exit — and her response is more nuanced than anyone expected.

How Myha'la Was Caught Out

Myha'la became the second star to be voted out of the new series after her loyalty to fellow contestant Richard E Grant raised eyebrows at the round table. Grant, the veteran actor behind Withnail and I, had been exposed as a Traitor, and Myha'la's decision to defend him — capped off by a suspicious wink in his direction — was enough for her co-stars to send her packing.

But the fallout didn't stop there. Myha'la was the second person of colour to leave the show after journalist Amol Rajan was "murdered" in the very first week, leaving only four people of colour among the remaining contestants. That pattern did not go unnoticed by viewers.

The Bias Debate

Some fans went further, accusing the show itself of bias. A former contestant, Chantel Sachanna, shared an Instagram post describing the programme as a "racist show" and addressed Myha'la directly, writing: "Unfortunately you were banished because you are BLACK."

The discussion gained more weight when statistics entered the conversation. Reports have noted that while only around 32 per cent of contestants across the series have been people of colour, they account for nearly half of the early evictions — a pattern some viewers argue shows that players of colour are deemed suspicious more quickly.

Myha'la's Response

Rather than letting the accusations stand, Myha'la responded with a candid and balanced statement that has been widely praised. In a lengthy post, she insisted that she had "sealed my own fate" — pointing to the wink at Richard, her defence of a known Traitor, and the fact that she concealed and then reluctantly revealed a shield as reasons her fellow players had every justification to vote her out.

"I may have agreed with you had I not winked at Richard, effectively aligning myself with a known traitor," she wrote, adding that in the early stages of the game "there is VERY little to grasp on to, and I gave them… a lot."

At the same time, she refused to dismiss the bigger issue. "I do agree that unconscious racial and cultural bias exists in this game where my authenticity or honesty or the ways in which I choose to express myself look suspicious to people who are unfamiliar with people like me," she said. She added that she had arrived at the castle already aware of that dynamic — noting that she had come into the game knowing she would be the only American contestant in the cast.

Crucially, Myha'la defended the co-stars who had voted her out, insisting they had acted without conscious racial bias: "I do have to defend my dear friends on this show who in no way consciously put bias on me because of my race."

A Conversation That's Bigger Than the Game

Myha'la's comments have struck a chord precisely because they refuse easy answers. By owning her own gameplay mistakes while acknowledging that unconscious bias is real, she has managed to validate both sides of the argument — and turned a reality-TV elimination into one of the most thoughtful celebrity conversations of the week.

As Celebrity Traitors continues, all eyes will be on how the remaining contestants of colour fare in the castle — and whether the show itself addresses a pattern that its viewers are no longer willing to ignore.