Ropemaker says Traitors response 'fantastic'

A craftsman who made ropes used in the new series of Celebrity Traitors says the response has been "fantastic".

The Westmorland Rope Company, based in Appleby, installed the ropes on a shipwreck for the first challenge in the BBC show, which saw celebrities including Miranda Hart, James Blunt and Richard E Grant hunting for treasure.

In Thursday's launch episode watched live by almost nine million people, Grant and presenter Maya Jama were selected as two traitors, whose job is to plot the demise of fellow players.

Ian Outram, who said he is one of about 15 traditional ropemakers left in England, admitted he had not watched the show but was pleased to have his "at-risk heritage craft" on TV.

Outram told BBC Radio Cumbria: "It's a strange one actually... the producer [of Traitors] is a very old friend of mine."

He said he had got a message "out of the blue" from his friend who had been a young farmer with him about 40 years ago.

In the first challenge of the series, the celebrities were divided into teams on a lake side, where they hunted treasure on a pirate ship held down with large long ropes to later bag £15,000 for the prize pot.

Ross Kemp, the former EastEnders actor-turned documentary-maker, came into his own for the task, along with ex-army captain-turned singer James Blunt.

When Outram was asked if he had seen his craft in the episode, he admitted "never seen it in my life - I didn't watch it".

"The response has been fantastic though. It's good publicity, there's no two ways about it.

"I'm one of about 15 [traditional ropemakers] left in the country.

"We are an at-risk heritage craft... an endangered species," he said.

Outram said another job he enjoyed involved building a rope bridge for the soap series Emmerdale.

"I think they were killing some characters off and they had to fall off it. That was good fun," he said.

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