Tom Daley has said he was banned from wearing his own knitwear brand when appearing on The Celebrity Traitors.
The Olympic gold medallist, 31, has revealed in a new interview that self-promotion was prohibited during filming for the BBC gameshow, meaning that he was not allowed to sport designs from his knitwear company, Made With Love by Tom Daley.
The former diving champion appeared as a Faithful contestant on the programme alongside singer Paloma Faith, presenter Stephen Fry and broadcaster Kate Garraway, with the Traitors being Jonathan Ross, Alan Carr and singer Cat Burns.
Daley, a keen knitter and crocheter, told Radio Times that he was constantly knitting when they weren’t filming scenes for the show.
“Any time I was in the hotel, I was just knitting, knitting, knitting,” Daley said.
“You get your phone taken off you. You can’t talk to anyone. You’re just in your room, so I was very glad I had knitting because I think lots of people were bored.”
Daley launched his brand in November 2021 based on his passion for knitting and crochet, which he took up during the Covid-19 lockdown.
He said that while his fellow Celebrity Traitors stars were keen to do a knitting lesson in their “downtime”, they “never quite got around to it”.
The show dictates that contestants cannot speak with one another between filming episodes, and that they cannot discuss the game with anyone outside of filming hours. Phone calls back home are understood to be chaperoned by a member of the production team.
Daley was eliminated from the programme during episode three, after the Traitors “murdered” him by delivering a handwritten letter to his door. He was the second contestant to be killed off by the Traitors, following in the footsteps of Paloma Faith, who left the programme in episode one.
The former GB athlete said his eldest son, seven-year-old Robbie, is a huge fan of The Traitors – and that he cried when he watched his father be “murdered”.
After Daley reassured his son that he was fine in real life, Robbie expressed his disappointment, stating: “OK, but I wanted you to win. I hate the traitors.”
During the latest episode, Sir Stephen Fry was banished after players wrongly accused him of being a Traitor. Joe Wilkinson also left the programme after he was “murdered” overnight.
The episode ended on a cliffhanger with host Claudia Winkleman announcing that Kate Garraway, Nick Mohammed and Lucy Beaumont are all at risk of being eliminated – and that the final victim will meet their maker face-to-face.
The Celebrity Traitors continues on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 9pm on BBC One.
