The Traitors 2026 crowns its winners after tense finale

It came down to the wire in the finale of the BBC reality series

The Traitors has concluded with a nail-biting finale befitting what has been a wild series, boasting many twists and turns – and just a few meltdowns.

After a tumultuous journey of treachery, Traitors Stephen and Rachel reigned supreme, batting off suspicion in the eleventh hour to win the £97,750 cash prize. Their victory follows a late-stage banishments of Faithuls Jade, Jack and Faraaz.

The finale began with James being banished, having drawn the empty box in a luck-of-the-draw face-off with Rachel.

Following a final challenge, the contestants then voted out Jade at the roundtable. At the next roundtable, Faraaz was banished, before a final banishment eliminated Jack from the game.

Rachel and Stephen were praised by Claudia Winkleman for remaining “faithful” to their pact, despite being Traitors.

Stephen and Rachel on 'Traitors' (BBC)

The finale capped off what has been yet another hugely entertaining series from the reality series juggernaut.

While many had claimed the civilian series – its fourth – arrived too soon after the celebrity version last autumn, doubts were instantly dispelled as this year’s crop of contestants became regular fixtures in our living rooms.

Helping dust off the format was an early twist: the presence of a secret Traitor, whose identity was kept from known Traitors Rachel, Stephen and Hugo, as well as viewers, for the first time.

Producers clearly hoped to eke out this twist for as long as possible. However, fate intervened after Faithful Harriet put her former barrister skills to use and successfully pinpointed Hugo just three episodes in. The seemingly innocent but actually very wily Fiona was then revealed to be the Traitors’ overlord, and the power went to her head.

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If fears of a clash between Fiona and Rachel were hinted at in the turret, they came to fruition sooner than anyone could have expected, after Rachel divulged a detail confided in her by banished Faithful Amanda, a former Met Police detective who read the clues all wrong.

Fiona v Rachel was one of the highlights of this year’s ‘Traitors’ (BBC)

Having held back her detective past, Amanda made it known to Rachel (a Traitor, hilariously) ahead of her banishment – but Fiona suspected Rachel was lying about this detail to the group and decided to accuse her fellow Traitor of being a Traitor in front of everybody. It was a barmy showdown unlike any seen on the series before and ultimately led to Fiona’s banishment.

The implosions didn’t stop there. After another twist, which saw three contestants win the chance to ask the Traitors two questions each, former Faithful supremo Harriet had a mind-boggling fall from grace. Despite correctly identifying Rachel as a Traitor, she presented her evidence in a rather angry manner at the breakfast table the following morning. This annoyed everyone so much that they ended up suspecting her of being a Traitor.

In yet another bizarre turn of events, she implored everybody to vote her off in a self-sacrificial bid to prove her innocence. It was all for nothing, though, as the very next day, everybody appeared to forget that Harriet suspected Rachel, who sailed through to the end of the series.

Harriet was a brilliant Faithful – but her gameplan imploded (BBC)

With just episodes to go before the end, suspicions were focused on Faithfuls Matthew and Jade. Enter stage left: Faraaz. The smily Newcastle lad revealed he was this year’s Agatha Christie after throwing his suspicions on Rachel. His evidence? Fionagate! It turns out he had been storing up his evidence to deploy at the right time.

This year’s series also featured another first – the inclusion of a dagger twist that enabled one contestant to get two votes at the roundtable. The Traitors gave the dagger to James, who used it to banish Faithful Matthew. There were also two deadlock votes – one between Amanda and Reece, and another between Rachel and James.

After that second deadlock vote, it was left up to chance and James ended up getting banished, leaving Rachel, Jade, Stephen, Faraaz, and Jack as the final five in the game.

With Rachel and Stephen staying true to their pact, host Claudia Winkleman described the winning duo as “two Traitors, but totally faithful to each other”.