The former England rugby star has delighted The Celebrity Traitors viewers with his outspoken nature, but his big personality has previously landed him in trouble
Marler has previously landed himself in hot water
Things are heating up on The Celebrity Traitors with the competition entering the penultimate week and the hotly-anticipated final now just days away.
Incredibly, none of the three appointed ‘traitors’ – Alan Carr, Cat Burns and Jonathan Ross – have been caught yet, with the group instead mistakenly voting off innocent ‘faithfuls’ at every opportunity. While 19 famous faces started out in the contest, now just nine remain, with six faithfuls still in the castle alongside Carr, Burns and Ross.
Among the remaining celebrities is former England rugby player Joe Marler, who has become a fan favourite amongst BBC viewers, due largely to his straight-talking approach and surprise ‘bromance’ with comedian Joe Wilkinson.
Entering the iconic Traitors castle is Marler’s first move into reality TV after he brought the curtain down on one of the most colourful careers in rugby last year. As well as winning 95 caps for England, reaching the 2019 Rugby World Cup final and touring with the British & Irish Lions in 2017, he represented Harlequins on 286 occasions and won two Premiership titles and a European Challenge Cup.
However, for all his success on the pitch, Marler often landed himself in trouble, with his outspoken character and penchant for ‘s***housery’ seeing him cross the line on more than one occasion.
Most famously, the Quins loosehead was banned from rugby for 10 weeks after grabbing Alun Wyn Jones’ genitals during Englands’ Six Nations clash with Wales in 2020. The incident, which occurred in the midst of a brawl that erupted less than 10 minutes into the match at Twickenham, sparked fury with Marler caught on camera making the grab at the Wales captain.
Marler was banned for 10 weeks after grabbing Alun Wyn Jones’ genitals
Following the match, then-Wales coach Wayne Pivac condemned the act and said there was “no place for it in the game”, and while Welsh legend Jones described his former Lions teammate as a “good bloke”, he insisted that rugby’s authorities should take action against Marler.
They did just that, with an independent disciplinary panel slapping him with a lengthy suspension. The shortest ban under World Rugby rules for “grabbing, twisting or squeezing the genitals” was 12 weeks, with the panel knocking three weeks off for Marler’s good character and remorse before adding one back on due to his recent disciplinary record.
However, it wasn’t the first time that Marler found himself at the centre of a scandal involving a Wales international, having caused outrage when he clashed with prop Samson Lee during the 2016 Six Nations. The England star was caught on the referee’s microphone calling Lee – who comes from a family of travellers – a “gypsy boy”.
The remark led Marler to be suspended for two matches and ordered to pay £20,000 to an equality charity. He later claimed that the incident and the reaction to it was the triggering factor behind his first retirement from international rugby, which he announced two years later at the age of 28.
Marler sparked fury when he clashed with Samson Lee in 2016
After he retired for good last year, however, Marler revealed that Lee had challenged him to another showdown, but this time in the boxing ring rather than on the rugby pitch.
Appearing on the Socially Distant Sports Bar podcast, the former prop revealed that he had recorded a video tribute for Lee after the ex-Scarlets man announced his own retirement at the end of 2023, only for the Welshman to make him the surprise offer in return.
“I had my incident with Gypsy-gate and Samson Lee,” Marler recalled. “Someone asked me to do a retirement video for him at the Scarlets to send over to him, so I did.
“Then he got in touch just before the Autumn Series started and said ‘Alright butt, I hope you’re well. I hope things are all right. Are you interested in a charity boxing match?’ [This was] for his testimonial.”
Having been somewhat taken aback by the callout, Marler didn’t respond to Lee at first, but he admitted that he wasn’t expecting the 45-cap Wales international to drop plans for the bout, particularly with his proposed opponent now also retired.
“I was like ‘I’m not sure. I don’t see how I win. Even if I do win, I’m not winning,” he added. “You know, I’m not winning. I sort of cowardly didn’t reply for a while and then I got a nudge message from him. He said: ‘What do you think then butt, I think we can make f***ing mint’.
“I was like: ‘Err… I know it looks like I’ve retired already, but I am still playing, so I’ll probably put it on the backburner for now’, he added. “I’m just waiting for that message to come again, now that I’ve fully retired, to be like ‘right, shall we tango?'”