AFTER it was claimed this week that Gordon Ramsay was set to appear on Celebrity Traitors before “pulling out” last minute, The Sun can reveal the real reason we won’t see the chef in the iconic castle.
The Hell’s Kitchen frontman, 59, was in talks to join the likes of Maya Jama and James Blunt for the upcoming season of the show, which is filmed in Northern Scotland.
But a source has revealed that Gordon never actually signed on the dotted line, and ended up deciding it wasn’t the right time to take part.
They told The Sun: “Despite reports, he was never actually signed to go in. He was in talks and was keen to do it, but then decided it wouldn’t work.
“It meant two weeks completely off his phone, and for someone like Gordon who is running a multi-million pound business empire, that just wasn’t going to work. “
Adding that it was solely down to his booming restaurant business, following the launch of his newest London eatery, they explained: “There were reports it was down to scheduling issues with other TV work but that wasn’t actually the case.
“He could have rearranged other filming, this was more to do with his multiple restaurants and also his production company work.
“He has too many employees relying on him, as as much as he would have loved to head to the castle, it just wasn’t logistically possible.”
It comes after the Daily Mail claimed that Gordon left bosses “scrambling” when he pulled out last minute due to scheduling issues.
Alongside Maya and James, he would have joined Michael Sheen, Hannah Fry, Joanna McNally, Amol Rajan, James Acaster, Bella Ramsey, Jerry Hall, Joe Lycett and King Kenny.
Finishing the line up is Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Myha’la, Rob Beckett, Romesh Ranganathan, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Miranda Hart, Richard E. Grant, Ross Kemp, Sebastian Croft and Sharon Rooney.
The cast were pictured touching down in Inverness earlier this month as they began filming.
It comes after the first Celeb Traitors hit screens last year and proved to be an instant success for the BBC, with a staggering 7.1 million viewers tuning in.
TV presenter Jonathan Ross, musician Cat Burns and comedian Alan Carr were made the three traitors – with the latter going on to win the show in a tense finale.
