Sometimes, one simple question can reveal far more about someone than they intend to show.
When journalist Katie Hind asked Jonathan Ross back in 2009 whether he thought he still had a future at the BBC after the now-infamous Sachsgate scandal, the TV star didn’t take it well.
Ross, still reeling from the fallout of the lewd voicemail messages he and Russell Brand left for Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs, fired back with anger rather than remorse.
“I know the BBC never stopped trusting me,” he snapped — a statement that struck Hind as oddly defensive for someone who’d just been suspended without pay for 12 weeks and whose employer had been fined £150,000 by Ofcom.
The arrogance, the dismissiveness, and the lack of self-awareness were all there — signs of the same attitude that viewers have recently seen resurface on The Traitors.
The Scandal That Stuck
The Sachsgate incident didn’t just tarnish Ross’s reputation; it shifted public perception entirely.
Once seen as the witty, lovable host of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, he suddenly became the face of arrogance on British television.
The prank call — during which Ross and Brand made deeply offensive jokes about Brand’s relationship with Sachs’s granddaughter, Georgina Baillie — wasn’t just in poor taste.
It was cruel. And yet, Ross appeared to feel no guilt about it when he later bragged about having Russell Brand back on his show.
It was this kind of behaviour, Hind writes, that exposed the real man behind the charm — the one towering over her at 6ft 1in, curt and unapologetic.
History Repeats on The Traitors
Fast forward to 2025, and viewers got a reminder of that same personality during Ross’s stint on The Traitors.
His confident swagger and sharp tongue worked for a while, but arrogance doesn’t go unnoticed.
After weeks of manipulation and ego-fuelled scheming, the TV veteran was finally unmasked as a Traitor — and his parting words calling his fellow contestants “idiots” sealed the impression many had already formed.
Insiders described him as a “know-it-all” who couldn’t help but dominate conversations.
For those who have dealt with him in the entertainment world, that sentiment sounds all too familiar.
A Reputation Built on Ego
Katie Hind’s own experiences with Ross only reinforced that image.
Over the years, she’d had several run-ins with him — encounters where his booming voice and sharp temper left an impression of someone used to getting his way.
But things got personal in 2010 when Ross, angered by a lighthearted column written in his absence, took to Twitter (now X) to accuse Hind of fabricating quotes.
He ranted online that “not one single word” in the piece was true — even claiming he had never met her, despite having been introduced previously.
The backlash was swift. Trolls pounced, gleefully dragging Hind’s name through the mud, all thanks to Ross’s public outburst.
Standing Up to the Star
Rather than staying silent, Hind decided to respond. Calmly but firmly, she clarified that she hadn’t even been working the week the story ran — she was on holiday with her family.
A colleague had filled in for her, as is standard practice in gossip columns.
Eventually, Ross backed down and admitted she wasn’t at fault.
But by then, the damage was done — and the journalist remained blocked by him on Twitter to this day.
His inability to simply apologize or move on, Hind suggests, reflects the same overinflated ego that’s defined much of his public persona.
When the Spotlight Turns Cold
Ross may still be a household name, still hosting glitzy ITV shows and star-studded Halloween parties, but his career has long carried the shadow of Sachsgate and his own temperament.
So when he was dramatically outed as a Traitor on national television — betrayed by fellow players Alan Carr and Cat Burns — there was a poetic irony in it all.
The man who had once dismissed critics as beneath him was finally outwitted by his peers.
As Hind sums up through her years of observing him, Ross remains talented, yes — but also deeply flawed.
A man who thrives in the spotlight but struggles when that same light exposes him.
What Comes Next for Jonathan Ross?
At 64, Ross continues to host, joke, and perform — yet the ghosts of past scandals still linger.
His Traitors downfall might not end his career, but it has reminded audiences of something his critics have known all along: beneath the charm and quick wit lies a man who has never quite learned humility.