Celia Imrie’s Celebrity Traitors FART hailed as a memorable TV moment WORTHY of a Bafta

Celia Imrie’s cabin fart has been hailed as TV gold by fans, as it helped The Celebrity Traitors to a series high of 6.9million on Wednesday night. The players all howled with laughter when the actress, 73, let rip as host Claudia Winkleman was welcoming them to their latest mission, which she described as the “worst team-building away day experience in history”.

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As her team-mates guffawed and Claudia asked what had happened, The Thursday Murder Club actress piped up: “I just farted Claudia. It’s nerves, but I always own up.”

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Afterwards fans heaped praise on Celia, awarded a CBE last year, not only for her hilarious parp in the quiet cabin, but for the later scenes in the castle in which she told other players that she was “snooping” on them – while still in the middle of doing it.

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It led to Alan Carr quipping: “You’re not supposed to tell anyone if you’re snooping – that’s like the first lesson at snoop school.” He also added with a flourish: “I think the next time Celia goes snooping she should look in the mirror.”

Some TV experts have already suggested the scene-stealer from Celia, best known for films including Bridget Jones and Mamma Mia: Here I Go Again, as a contender for the next Bafta Memorable Moment award.

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Fans agreed, with one saying: “Her comic timing was impeccable. I watched this over and over again and am still laughing. TV moment of the year.” Another agreed: ‘The most revolutionary and taboo-breaking moment in TV history I say.”

The hilarity helped the show to pull in 6.9 million viewers on Wednesday night, nearly 1 million more than it got for the opener one week earlier. It puts the star-studded version of the series on course to beat the highest ever overnight audience for any of the BBC episodes of The Traitors, which was set in January when the ratings hit 7.4million.

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Other viewers have expressed dismay over YouTuber Niko Omilana going out so early – for no good reason other than – perhaps – the other celebs didn’t know who he was.

The prankster looked gutted as he became the second Faithful to be selected for banishment at the Round Table, in a plot carefully constructed by the Traitors. He summed up his short time in the castle with the three words: ”Betrayal. Set-up. And loser.”

But he said one positive he was taking away was that he’d overcome his long-held fear of public speaking. “At the table, I was quite nervous when I first started talking, but then as it went on, I felt more confident,” he said. “I’m quite chuffed with that, because I really don’t like public speaking. It’s one of my big fears. Seeing everyone staring at me, having to defend myself and really making sure I didn’t go down without a fight. I think I did that. That was something I learned about myself, which I’m happy about.”

Tonight’s episode kicks off on BBC1 at 9pm, with more departures from the castle expected.