EXCLUSIVE - Joel Dommett on Celebrity Sabotage, Chaos and Life Beyond The Masked Singer

In an exclusive feature with The Rakish Gent, Joel Dommett steps inside ITV’s Celebrity Sabotage to talk chaos, comedy and the thrill of not getting caught.

Words - Tajinder Hayer

Photography - Josh Upton at Sunday Agency

Lighting Technican - Simon Lesley

Styling - Suzie Street at Eighteen Management

Styling Assistance - Stella Dickson

Grooming - Lewis Pallett at Eighteen Management

There are prank shows, and then there is Celebrity Sabotage—a format that feels less like light entertainment and more like controlled chaos with a primetime slot. ITV’s latest reality offering takes a deceptively simple premise—celebrities secretly sabotaging unsuspecting contestants—and builds it into something far more intricate: a high-stakes, high-energy experiment in mischief, performance, and restraint. At the centre of it all is Joel Dommett, a presenter whose career has been defined by his ability to balance polish with playfulness.

If Dommett’s recent work on The Masked Singer UK and I’m a Celebrity… Unpacked has cemented him as one of British television’s most reliable hosts, Celebrity Sabotage offers something different. This time, he’s not just guiding the action—he’s in the thick of it, orchestrating it, and occasionally, quite literally, hiding inside it.

“Nothing could have prepared me for the chaos of this show,” he admits. “There are so many more people involved. You’ve got the saboteurs, the guest hosts, the guest saboteurs, and then the contestants. There’s so much going on.”

Shirt, blazer & shorts - Ami Paris, Belt - Paul Smith

That chaos is by design. Produced by Lifted Entertainment, the show places Dommett alongside a core team—Judi Love, Sam Thompson and GK Barry—who each week are joined by a rotating cast of guest saboteurs, from Jo Brand to Harry Redknapp. Their mission is simple: interfere with a series of fabricated reality shows—everything from cooking competitions to business challenges—without being detected by the contestants, who remain blissfully unaware that the entire premise is a fiction.

Hidden away in a high-tech Mission HQ, the celebrities observe, plan, and execute their disruptions. Each successful sabotage adds money to a secret prize pot, which is ultimately revealed and awarded to the contestants at the end of the episode. It’s a format that hinges on deception, but crucially, one that resolves with generosity.

“It’s chaos,” Dommett says again, this time with a grin you can almost hear. “You’re following people on screens, you’ve got people talking in your ear… I’m used to I’m a Celeb where it’s just the director. But here, you’ve got the director, plus Sam Thompson, GK Barry and Judi Love all shouting at you as well.”

The result is something closer to live improvisation than traditional hosting. For Dommett, whose roots lie in stand-up comedy and early acting roles in Skins and The Edge of Love, that unpredictability is part of the appeal.

“Being a comedian is all about reacting—it’s live, it’s unpredictable,” he explains. “That’s exactly what this show felt like. You can only plan so much. After that, it completely depends on how the contestants react.”

Each episode features around six major “hits”—carefully planned sabotage missions that range from subtle disruptions to full-blown absurdity. One standout moment saw Dommett disguised as a chair, moving undetected through a set before tampering with a wellness face mask—turning it an unshakeable shade of green. Another involved approaching a Great Dane, dressed as a pile of dog toys, with the aim of removing its hat unnoticed.

“There’s a very fine line,” he says dryly, “between mischief and getting your face bitten off.”

Yet for all its elaborate setups and theatrical disguises, the show’s success hinges on something more intangible: chemistry. The dynamic between Dommett and his fellow saboteurs is central, not just to the humour, but to the rhythm of the show itself.

“It really felt like a proper ensemble,” he says. “Everyone has their own personality and approach, and you can’t be ‘on’ all the time—especially when you’re stuck in a garage in Croydon for two months.”

T-Shirt - Sunspel, Belt - Ami Paris, Trousers - MR P at MR PORTER, Watch - Gerald Charles Maestro 2.0

It’s a telling detail. For all the slickness of the final product, much of Celebrity Sabotage was built in a confined, collaborative environment. That sense of shared experience—of long days, unpredictable outcomes, and collective problem-solving—translated into a genuine camaraderie on screen.

“When someone’s energy dipped, someone else would take over,” Dommett continues. “We all understood the assignment and just had a proper laugh.”

That spirit extends to the guest saboteurs, whose varying levels of commitment and creativity add another layer of unpredictability. Perhaps the most surprising, according to Dommett, was former football manager Harry Redknapp.

“You don’t expect him to be doing accents or getting into character,” he says. “But he absolutely went for it. We had him in a pinstripe suit with a little goatee, doing this posh voice—it was brilliant. I loved seeing that mischievous side of him.”

Blazer, belt & tie - Paul Smith, Shirt - Oliver Spencer, Trousers - Canali

It’s a recurring theme: the idea that Celebrity Sabotage reveals something unexpected in its participants. Not just in the contestants, who navigate increasingly bizarre scenarios without realising the truth, but in the celebrities themselves, who are pushed out of their usual roles and into something more playful, more improvisational.

For Dommett, that shift is particularly significant. In recent years, he has become synonymous with a certain kind of hosting—slick, dependable, and reassuringly familiar. But Celebrity Sabotage offers a break from that mould.

“I’ve done a lot of hosting recently,” he reflects. “So it was really nice to be part of a team again and not feel like the whole weight of the show was on my shoulders. It’s on everyone as a whole.”

It’s a subtle recalibration, but an important one. Where The Masked Singer UK positions Dommett as the ringmaster of a carefully choreographed spectacle, Celebrity Sabotage places him within the chaos, reacting in real time, sharing the spotlight, and occasionally, disappearing into the furniture.

Off-screen, that sense of balance—between control and spontaneity, structure and play—extends into his personal life. As a father to a young son, Dommett is no stranger to unpredictability.

“My life is chaos anyway,” he says. “I’ve got a two-and-a-half-year-old. I’d go from looking after him at home straight to set… where I was basically looking after Sam Thompson, who is also like a chaotic two-year-old.”

It’s a line delivered with characteristic self-awareness, but it speaks to something broader: the way Dommett has evolved as both a performer and a person. His 2018 memoir, It’s Not Me, It’s Them, offered a candid look at the less polished side of his journey—something that now informs, rather than defines, his approach to work.

If anything, Celebrity Sabotage feels like a natural extension of that evolution. A show that embraces imperfection, leans into unpredictability, and finds humour in the gaps between expectation and reality.

And then there’s the audience—the final piece of the puzzle. Unlike traditional prank formats, where the humour can sometimes come at the expense of the participants, Celebrity Sabotage ensures that everyone walks away a winner. The contestants, unaware of the deception throughout, are ultimately rewarded with the accumulated prize pot—a twist that reframes the entire experience.

Tie - dunhill, Knit - King & Tuckfield, Trench coat - Shirt - Oliver Spencer

It’s a clever piece of narrative engineering, and one that aligns with Dommett’s own sensibilities. The mischief may be real, but so is the payoff.

In a television landscape saturated with formats that promise drama, tension, and high stakes, Celebrity Sabotage offers something slightly different: a reminder that chaos, when handled with care, can be both entertaining and unexpectedly generous.

For Dommett, it’s another step in a career defined by versatility. From stand-up stages to scripted roles, from jungle camps to primetime hosting, he has consistently found ways to adapt, evolve, and—crucially—remain himself.

“Every job is completely different,” he says. “And I love that.”

In Celebrity Sabotage, that difference is taken to its logical extreme. It’s louder, messier, and more unpredictable than anything he’s done before. But at its core, it’s still driven by the same instincts that have carried him this far: timing, intuition, and a willingness to embrace the unexpected.

And, as Dommett himself hints, perhaps even more chaos exists just beyond what viewers will see.

“There’s definitely a version of this show for 8pm… but there’s probably another version entirely—one that would only work post-watershed, made up purely of the outtakes.”

Celebrity Sabotage airs on Saturday 21st March at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.

EXCLUSIVE: Joel Dommett on Chaos, Camaraderie and the Art of Sabotage