Ricky Gervais said no to Celebrity Traitors after he 'nailed' show's big problem

Cliff Notes – Ricky Gervais said no to Celebrity Traitors after he 'nailed' show's big problem Ricky Gervais declined an invitation to join Celebrity Traitors, citing concerns over being targeted due to his celebrity status, which he termed the 'Big Dog theory'. Jonathan Ross confirmed Gervais's reasoning, noting that bigger names were indeed voted out

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November 13, 2025•3 min read

Cliff Notes – Ricky Gervais said no to Celebrity Traitors after he ‘nailed’ show’s big problem

Ricky Gervais declined an invitation to join Celebrity Traitors, citing concerns over being targeted due to his celebrity status, which he termed the ‘Big Dog theory’.
Jonathan Ross confirmed Gervais’s reasoning, noting that bigger names were indeed voted out early during the show’s progression.
Alan Carr ultimately won the series, successfully deceiving fellow contestants and revealing his role as a Traitor in the finale.

Ricky Gervais said no to Celebrity Traitors after he ‘nailed’ show’s big problem

Ricky Gervais turned down a spot on Celebrity Traitors (Picture: PA)

Key Points

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Ricky Gervais turned down an offer to join Celebrity Traitors, citing the ‘Big Dog theory’ as his reasoning

Jonathan Ross shared that Gervais believed bigger names would be targeted early, which was confirmed during the show

Alan Carr won the Celebrity Traitors series, deceiving fellow contestants and revealing his role as a Traitor in the final

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Jonathan Ross has revealed that Ricky Gervais turned down the opportunity to appear on Celebrity Traitors this year.

Ross, 64, was the first of this year’s three Traitors to be banished, with Cat Burns and Alan Carr making it all the way to the final before the latter clinched victory.

He has now revealed that comedian Gervais, also 64, told him that he had also been offered a spot in the star-studded line-up to enter the Scottish castle.

However, Gervais obviously turned it down, Ross has now shared in an episode of his podcast Reel Talk.

Jonathan said: ‘I had a chat this week with Ricky Gervais. He called me after the Traitors. And he was asked to go in.

‘He called me because I think my name had got out there, nothing had been confirmed before we filmed it.

The comedian knew the bigger names would come under suspicion (Picture: PA Wire)

Jonathan Ross said Gervais ‘nailed’ it (Picture: BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan Cherry)

‘He said “Are you doing this Traitors thing?” I said “Yeah, I’m doing it. Stephen Fry is definitely doing it, and Alan [Carr] is going in…”.

‘And he said: “I’m not doing it. The reason I’m not doing it is, I’m pretty sure that if you go in there, they’re going to say it’s going to have to be one of these bigger names.

‘You’re going to wind up getting voted out just because they think you’re a bigger name in the outside world.’

‘So he nailed the Big Dog theory. And I said “Well, you were right”.’

The Big Dog theory was Joe Marler’s brainchild (Picture: BBC)

The Big Dog theory was the brainchild of Joe Marler, laying out his thinking to Joe Wilkinson that host Claudia Winkleman had elected Stephen Fry to lead the Faithful and Jonathan Ross to lead the Traitors.

It did take a bit longer than anticipated to take hold, since the Celebrity version of the show went a record number of murders and banishments before they finally nabbed a Traitor.

But the theory did eventually come up good when the cast successfully banished their first Traitor in Ross.

However, in the end, it was a Traitor who won it, with Carr successfully hoodwinking Faithful finalists Nick Mohammed and David Olusoga.

When he revealed his true identity in the final scene around the roundtable, Carr was suddenly overcome with emotion, ending his run in a big hug with Mohammed and Olusoga.