Who Won Traitors? Romesh and Bash Win Celebrity Traitors 2026
Faithfuls Romesh Ranganathan and Sebastian "Bash" Croft won series 2 of The Celebrity Traitors after banishing Maya Jama and King Kenny, sharing £83,000 between two refugee charities.
- Romesh Ranganathan and Sebastian "Bash" Croft won The Celebrity Traitors series 2 as Faithfuls in the October 30, 2026 final on BBC One.
- Both remaining Traitors, Maya Jama and King Kenny, were banished, and Faithful James Blunt went out last after choosing to banish again.
- The pair split £83,000, with £41,500 each going to the Refugee Council and Choose Love; the civilian series 5 is expected in early 2027.
Who won Traitors? Comedian Romesh Ranganathan and Heartstopper actor Sebastian "Bash" Croft won series 2 of BBC One's The Celebrity Traitors on Friday, October 30, 2026, as the last two Faithfuls in the castle. They banished both remaining Traitors, Maya Jama and King Kenny, and shared the £83,000 prize pot between two refugee charities.
Below: the result, how the endgame unfolded, the ratings and what comes next. Facts are as of 06:15 GMT on October 31, 2026; ratings will change in the coming days.
Who won Traitors: the result in full
The final aired at 8pm GMT on BBC One and iPlayer. Seven of the 21 celebrities began the last episode, and two were left at the end. According to ITV News, which carried the PA news agency report, Croft revealed himself at the fire pit by telling Ranganathan: "I began this game as a faithful, but I'm ending this game as a faithful." Ranganathan replied with almost the same line.
- Winners: Romesh Ranganathan and Sebastian Croft, both Faithfuls.
- Prize pot: £83,000 out of a possible £100,000, split equally at £41,500 each, as RTÉ and ITV News reported.
- Charities: Ranganathan's half goes to the Refugee Council and Croft's to Choose Love, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Croft said he used to volunteer for Choose Love and that the money will go to "predominantly queer refugees and displaced people". Ranganathan said he was "playing for the Refugee Council, helping displaced people who need help".
Croft, 24, was in tears as he said: "This might actually be the best day of my life." Later, on the spin-off show Uncloaked, Ranganathan described the win as "happiness tinged with a little bit of embarrassment" and joked: "James Blunt, at some point in the future, will kill me."
How the endgame played out
The episode opened with the last murder. The Traitors killed actor Michael Sheen, who had been closing in on Jama. In the turret, Kenny argued that Sheen was "too authoritative on that table", ITV News reported. Sheen said he was "incredibly disappointed".
The six survivors then had to find two underground bunkers of gold in the Highlands and blow them up, with Jama, Croft and Leigh-Anne Pinnock hanging from a helicopter to deliver the dynamite. The mission added £18,500 and brought the pot to £83,000, according to ITV News and the BBC's live coverage.
- Final round table: The group banished Jama, and Kenny's vote against his fellow Traitor sealed her fate. Under the rules for the last episode she left without revealing her role, telling the others "good luck, you're going to need it". To camera she said: "Kenny Kenny Kenny. I took you under my wing… and you stabbed me in the back."
- Fire pit, round one: Everyone chose to banish again, and Pinnock, a Faithful, was voted out. ITV News said all of her fellow players voted for her.
- Fire pit, round two: Kenny voted to end the game, but the others wanted another banishment. Ranganathan accused Blunt, and the vote split two each between Blunt and Kenny. PinkNews called the tie a first for the show. Asked to settle it, Croft persuaded Ranganathan to banish Kenny, the last Traitor.
- Fire pit, round three: Ranganathan and Croft chose to end the game, but Blunt alone chose to banish again. The pair voted him out, with Croft telling him: "I'm a man of my word, and so I've had to go for you." The BBC noted that Blunt could have shared the win if he had also voted to end the game.
Blunt said Ranganathan had "left a question mark in my head". Croft later explained his read to the BBC, as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter: "When we went to four and Kenny voted to end the game, I just knew he was a Traitor." Kenny said: "I was so close, I smelled the victory."
The final Traitors and how they got there
Host Claudia Winkleman first picked Maya Jama and Richard E Grant as Traitors, according to the BBC's episode-by-episode recap. Grant told the other players he had been chosen almost at once. He was banished at the first round table, which The Hollywood Reporter said made him the only Traitor in the UK show's history to be caught at a first round table.
Comedian James Acaster was then recruited. Variety reported that he had said from the start that he did not want to be a Traitor, and accepted only to avoid being murdered. Mathematician Hannah Fry was recruited later but was soon banished. The Traitors then turned to King Kenny, a content creator.
In the October 29 semi-final, Acaster confessed at the round table after questioning from Sheen and Blunt. The BBC's recap said this had never happened before in the show's history. "I was made a traitor without wanting to be," he said.
Key moments of the series
- Broadcaster Amol Rajan was the first player to leave, after Jama turned down his pleas to become a Traitor.
- Comedian Rob Beckett was murdered face-to-face. Ross Kemp was later killed "in plain sight" when the Traitors got him to yawn.
- In episode eight the Faithfuls picked all three Traitors as their most trustworthy players, giving Kenny an extra round-table vote. He used it in the semi-final to banish Joanne McNally over Sharon Rooney, who was murdered soon after.
Celebrity Traitors viewing figures
The series has set ratings records. The opener drew 8.9 million overnight viewers, peaking just above 9 million with a share of nearly 55%, a record for any UK Traitors launch, according to Deadline. Over seven days, the BBC put the launch at 15.7 million and episode two at 15.2 million, ATV Today reported. iPlayer accounted for 58% of viewing across those first two episodes. The Hollywood Reporter's season analysis said that made the premiere the UK's most-watched programme of 2026.
The semi-final averaged 10.3 million viewers with a 62% share and peaked at 10.7 million, the series' highest peak, PA reported via The Irish News, citing the BBC. For comparison, the 2025 final, in which Alan Carr won as a Traitor and took £87,500 for Neuroblastoma UK, averaged 11.1 million live viewers, according to the charity.
As of 06:15 GMT on October 31, overnight figures for the series 2 final had not been published. The BBC said Friday's episode was likely to have been the most-watched TV programme of the year.
What's next for The Traitors
- The Traitors series 5: Deadline reported that the civilian show returns "early next year". As of October 30, the BBC had not confirmed an exact start date, Country Living reported. Reports point to early January 2027, and series 4 began on New Year's Day 2026.
- More celebrity series: A three-year deal announced on March 12, 2026 keeps both shows on BBC One and iPlayer until at least 2030, PA reported. Deadline said three more celebrity series are planned, running to late 2029. "We are proud to remain faithful to The Traitors and The Celebrity Traitors until 2030," said Kalpna Patel-Knight, the BBC's head of entertainment commissioning.
- The US version: Peacock has named a 23-player cast for The Traitors season 5, including Kristin Chenoweth and Bianca Del Rio, with Alan Cumming hosting. It is due in 2027 but has no confirmed date, PinkNews reported. The civilian spin-off The Traitors: New Blood began on NBC on September 17.
- Watch it back: Every episode, plus Uncloaked, is on BBC iPlayer, which is available only in the UK.
Our take
The result came down to one read: by Croft's own account, Kenny's vote to end the game with four left gave him away. Blunt's exit shows how harsh the endgame is, since one player's doubt can hand the prize to everyone else.
Variety and The Hollywood Reporter both argued that reluctant or quickly exposed Traitors drained tension from much of the series, and The Irish Times' review found the season chaotic before a riveting final. Audiences grew anyway. The harder task for producers is casting Traitors who actually want the cloak.
Frequently asked questions
Who won Celebrity Traitors 2026?
Comedian Romesh Ranganathan and actor Sebastian "Bash" Croft won series 2 of The Celebrity Traitors on October 30, 2026. Both were Faithfuls, so they shared the prize after the last two Traitors, Maya Jama and King Kenny, were banished.
How much did the Celebrity Traitors winners win?
The final prize pot was £83,000 out of a possible £100,000. Ranganathan and Croft split it equally, so £41,500 goes to the Refugee Council and £41,500 to Choose Love. The last mission, which involved helicopters and dynamite, added £18,500.
Who were the Traitors in Celebrity Traitors series 2?
Maya Jama and Richard E Grant were the original Traitors. James Acaster, Hannah Fry and King Kenny were recruited later. Grant, Fry and Acaster were banished before the final, and Jama and Kenny were banished in the last episode.
When does The Traitors series 5 start?
As of October 31, 2026, the BBC had not confirmed an exact date. Deadline reported that the civilian series returns early in 2027, and other reports point to early January. Series 4 began on January 1, 2026.
Where can I watch The Celebrity Traitors final?
Every episode, plus the companion show Uncloaked, is on BBC iPlayer, which is available only in the UK. The final first aired on BBC One at 8pm GMT on October 30, 2026.
Sources
- Celebrity Traitors comes to a climax in nail-biting final, BBC News
- Dynamite, banishment and murder: Celebrity Traitors ends with dramatic climax (live), BBC News
- Bombshell confession in The Traitors as faithfuls finally turn the screw, BBC News
- The Celebrity Traitors, BBC iPlayer
- Romesh Ranganathan and Sebastian Croft win The Celebrity Traitors as faithfuls, ITV News
- The Celebrity Traitors winners are crowned, RTÉ
- Faithfuls Romesh Ranganathan and Sebastian Croft win Celebrity Traitors in riveting final, The Irish Times
- Celebrity Traitors winners crowned after James Blunt's last-minute fire-pit move backfires, PinkNews
- 'The Celebrity Traitors' Season 2 Crowns Its Winners After Dramatic Finale, The Hollywood Reporter
- 'The Celebrity Traitors' Ratings Have Never Been Higher. So Why Has This Season Felt Unusually Flat?, The Hollywood Reporter
- 'The Celebrity Traitors' Finale Recap: Faithfuls Sebastian Croft, Romesh Ranganathan Win, Variety
- 'Celebrity Traitors' Returns With Biggest Ever Launch Ep Of Nearly 9 Million Viewers, Deadline
- 'The Traitors' & 'The Celebrity Traitors' Renewed Until 2030 By BBC, Deadline
- The Celebrity Traitors launch attracts 15.7 million viewers, ATV Today
- Celebrity Traitors semi-final attracts highest peak audience of series, The Irish News (PA)
- The Traitors and The Celebrity Traitors to air on BBC until 2030, Yahoo News UK (PA)
- Alan Carr Stays Faithful to Neuroblastoma UK as he wins The Celebrity Traitors, Neuroblastoma UK
- The Traitors UK is returning soon: When does series 5 start and when was the new season filmed?, Country Living (Yahoo Life UK)
- Bianca Del Rio & Kristin Chenoweth join The Traitors season 5 cast as Peacock reveals full line-up, PinkNews
How we wrote this
GessyMorgan explainers are built from public reporting and official sources. This post draws on the 19 sources listed above, each linked where we use it. It was drafted with AI assistance and checked against those sources before publishing. We did not test products, attend events or interview anyone for this article. Facts are current as of October 31, 2026, and we update the post when they change.
