Retired diver Tom Daley has opened up about his time filming The Celebrity Traitors and said he got to know his fellow contestants on a “much deeper” and “very intense level” as they were all shut off from the world.
The forthcoming BBC show, a charity spin-off of The Traitors, will see 19 famous faces – who include comedian Alan Carr and actor and broadcaster Stephen Fry – gather in the Scottish Highlands for the “ultimate game of deceit and betrayal”.
Speaking about The Celebrity Traitors at a special screening for his new documentary, the Olympian told the PA news agency: “I’m not sure when it comes out, maybe later this year, but it was a very fun experience.
“And honestly, all I want to do is talk about it, but I’m not allowed.
“All I can say is, it was very fun – the cast and meeting the other people.
“It was great to see everybody and get to know everyone on a much deeper level, and very intense level, because you’re completely shut off from the rest of the world. So yeah, it was fun.”
Hosted by Strictly Come Dancing’s Claudia Winkleman, the nine-part celebrity version, airing in the autumn, will give contestants the chance to win a cash prize of up to £100,000 (€118,000) for a charity of their choice.
Daley, 31, also appears in the new Discovery+ documentary, Tom Daley: 1.6 Seconds, which features personal family films and candid interviews with the athlete and those closest to him, including his husband, Oscar-winning screenwriter, Dustin Lance Black.
The 90-minute documentary, the name of which references the time between platform exit and pool entry, charts Daley’s career, from the build-up to his first Olympics in Beijing 2008 to post-retirement life.
He told PA: “This documentary is a very vulnerable side to me, like diving into topics that I may not have talked about in such depth before, and it might give people a different perspective of what was actually going on versus what they saw in the media.
“Because growing up is already kind of pretty tough, but then growing up under media scrutiny and having people already having a conception of who you are and how you should deal with things was pretty challenging.
“But then also diving into the archival footage that my dad had seen. For me, it’s like hearing my dad’s voice that really makes me quite emotional in the documentary.
“I just feel very grateful that I do have this documentary to be able to look back on, and for my kids to be able to see and have those moments kind of made eternal, if you like, with my dad and myself.”
Daley’s father died from cancer in 2011, meaning he missed seeing the diver secure his first Olympic medal, a bronze, at the London Games in 2012.
The diver, who secured his fifth Olympic medal in 2024, announced his retirement from diving following the Paris Games.
– Tom Daley: 1.6 Seconds premieres on Discovery+ in the UK and Ireland on June 1st.
