Arabic version: جيمس أكاستر يكتسب متابعة واسعة الانتشار بفضل «ذا سيليبريتي ترايترز»

According to The Guardian, comedian James Acaster has become a viral heartthrob through his appearance on The Celebrity Traitors. Social media has filled with slow-motion edits and thirst-trap clips of Acaster, including a video set to Ginuwine’s Pony that has received more than 500,000 views. Vogue called him its “new internet boyfriend”, highlighting his “specifically east London-y wardrobe”.

The attention has drawn renewed focus to Acaster’s established television and podcast following. He is a co-host of the Off Menu podcast and appeared on the seventh series of Taskmaster. Before The Celebrity Traitors, he also competed in the 2019 Stand Up To Cancer Great British Bake Off, despite having no baking experience, not sleeping for 36 hours and suffering severe jet lag.

During that Bake Off appearance, Acaster presented liquid cherry Bakewell flapjacks to the judges, saying: “I started making it, had a breakdown, bon appetit!” His 2019 standup show Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999 later addressed mental health struggles from that period, including a Samaritans call in which he pretended to be a professional baker in crisis.

On The Celebrity Traitors, Acaster said he had wanted to play as a Faithful and solve the game’s puzzles. “I was looking forward to being a little detective, solving puzzles and looking for clues,” he said. After being recruited as a Traitor on the first day, he was described as bemused and good-natured, while Maya Jama took the lead in the turret.