Comedian Romesh Ranganathan and Heartstopper actor Sebastian Croft were crowned winners of The Celebrity Traitors in Friday night's finale (October 30), a episode that drew a peak audience of 11.6 million on BBC One.
The pair became the first faithfuls to win the series, after traitor Alan Carr secured a shock victory last year. The finale began with the murder of Michael Sheen before traitor Maya Jama was unmasked at the final roundtable.
Finale drama and banishments
At the Fire of Truth, former Little Mix singer Leigh-Anne Pinnock was banished by the remaining contestants. The drama continued when Romesh questioned whether James Blunt could still be a traitor. Faithful James insisted he was 'entirely wrong', while King Kenny opted to end the game with just four players remaining.
An allied vote between Kenny and James forced another decision, with Romesh and Sebastian eventually voting to banish Kenny. James then chose to continue banishing rather than end the game, despite Romesh revealing that a conversation with Sebastian had changed his opinion of him. Both faithfuls ultimately voted for James, leaving Romesh and Sebastian as the final two. They left with £41,500 each for their charities.
Record ratings for the series
On Saturday (October 31), the BBC confirmed that the episode also recorded a peak audience of 11.6 million on BBC One. On top of having the highest audience of the season, it boasted a 62.9% audience share.
Becoming the most-watched episode of the celebrity spin-off to date, it pulled in more viewers than Alan's victory last year, which was watched by 11.1 million viewers overnight. However, last year's finale did hit a peak of 15.4 million viewers, the biggest TV audience of 2025.
When it premiered, The Celebrity Traitors was the most-watched debut episode of any series of the programme in the UK, with an average of 8.9 million viewers and a peak of 9.1 million.
Fans divided over the series
However, many die-hard Traitors fans took to X, previously known as Twitter, to explain why something felt off with the second season compared to the first. @Grahamf1swtor said: "Traitors series (in general) are being ruined by overly difficult Murder in plain sight tasks. Objective common sense would be to not bother...the heat you get is not worth the kill. #CelebrityTraitors."
@DannyMcNamara20 added: "I think the murder in plain sight was just a bit too specific and powerful, kinda ruined it in the end. #CelebrityTraitors." @_hxrrybxtt wrote: "What a rubbish ending to what has been the weakest series of the traitors UK franchise yet. So boring and such poor gameplay from everyone. Bring on the civilian version in January to try and turn this around #CelebrityTraitors."
@theendofdays66 stated: "Not bad, very enjoyable at times, a decent mix of personalities and a tense ending. Unfortunately not a patch on last year though. Will this be a case of diminishing returns each season? Also, someone please tell the bloody celebrities the rules! #CelebrityTraitors." @LukeThorne94 argued: "It was an amazing final! #CelebrityTraitors." @Terrencewoodho1 posted: "Great ending to an average series of Celebrity Traitors. Bash being the unexpected saviour for the faithful. #CelebrityTraitors."
