After 12 episodes, eight 'murders' and 14 banishments, the winners of The Traitors were revealed in a nail-biting finale. Project manager Jake Brown and former soldier Leanne Quigley triumphed as faithfuls, sharing a prize pot of £94,600.
The pair's victory came after interior designer Francesca Rowan-Plowden, former British diplomat Alexander Dragonetti, and business director Charlotte Berman were banished from the BBC One show. Berman was the first to be banished after Rowan-Plowden, granted the power of the 'seer', revealed her as a traitor.
Earlier in the episode, Rowan-Plowden attended a secret meeting with Berman and opened an envelope containing a card printed with the word 'traitor', exposing her friend's status. At breakfast the next morning, Rowan-Plowden told the contestants that Berman was a traitor, but Berman threw the same accusation back, leaving their fellow players confused.
The contestants had been whittled down to five after rounds of banishments and 'murders' on the programme, hosted by Claudia Winkleman, who welcomed 22 strangers to a castle in the Scottish Highlands. The game involves the faithfuls attempting to banish the traitors, who murder during the night, to win a prize pot of up to £120,000.
After Berman was banished, the remaining contestants chose to banish twice more, despite all four being faithfuls, leaving just Jake and Leanne to share the £94,600. This year, finalists could no longer reveal whether they were a traitor or faithful after being voted out, making it more difficult to know when to stop banishing.
After their win, Quigley revealed to Brown that she had lied about her identity as a nail technician and was actually a former British army soldier. Berman had also lied about her identity, pretending she was Welsh. The show has won a host of awards, including at the Bafta TV Awards in 2023 for best reality and constructed factual.
