Anyone in the UK will have found it difficult to avoid talk of TV show The Traitors in recent times, as a celebrity edition of the show kept viewers hooked for weeks.
Based on an original Dutch show (De Verraders), the psychological reality competition has been remade in countries around the world to resounding success. There is even a French version of the show.
Celebrity Traitors follows much the same format: housed in a grand Scottish castle, contestants complete missions to build a charity prize fund while a select few secretly act as ‘Traitors’ to eliminate the remaining ‘Faithful’ based on the classic game werewolf.
Under the watchful eye of presenter Claudia Winkleman, tension and mistrust grow until the finale, when the Faithful must expose all Traitors to claim the prize – or risk losing it to the traitors.
The recent celebrity version featured an all-star cast including Stephen Fry, Jonathan Ross and Clare Balding battling it out to the bitter end.
However, Olivier award-winning actress and part-time France resident Celia Imrie stole the show.
Imrie’s crowning moment of glory was a not-so-silent-but-deadly spontaneous passing of wind that cut through an intense nail-biting sequence, breaking the tension and dissolving her fellow contestants from strained composure into fits of laughter.
When not on Celebrity Traitors, Imrie – who has starred in films The Thursday Murder Club, Calendar Girls and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – calls Nice her home-from-home after she bought an apartment overlooking the sea around 15 years ago.
Advertisment
In various interviews over the years, Imrie recounts her love of the TGV journey from Paris to the coastal hotspot, in particular the last hour along the coast between Marseille and Nice, which she describes as bringing her a sense of calm.
The Côte d’Azur has even inspired Imrie to turn to writing; her series of novels are often set in the south with titles like Not Quite Nice and A Nice Cup of Tea, and the actress often spends her time in France coming up with ideas for her novels, spending the mornings writing.
The books themselves revolve around expats in France living in fictional locations such as the town Bellevue-sur-Mer, which Imrie has described as an amalgamation of the beautiful towns along the Côte d’Azur.
During an interview with Complete France in 2015, Imrie said “I became enchanted with that part of France [the Côte d’Azur] and, apart from some sites in India, there is nowhere more beautiful.”
The actress has embraced Niçois culture, citing dishes such as pissaladière and socca among her favourites.
In an interview in The Times in 2019, she noted her love of the Hotel Negresco in Nice, as well as 24-hour brasserie Terminus Nord in Paris opposite the Gare du Nord.
As for learning French, Imrie has taken lessons at the Alliance Française in both Nice and Los Angeles, expressing appreciation for their “joyful way of teaching”.
Speaking to The Times, she said “I have signed up for many a session because I just want to improve. I love the language and can understand it much better now, but I’m not going to pretend that I’m a marvellous speaker.”
