Celebrity Traitors series two: Faithfuls Romesh Ranganathan and Sebastian Croft win final

Mixed · 2Comedian Romesh Ranganathan and Heartstopper actor Sebastian "Bash" Croft won the second series of The Celebrity Traitors on Friday 30 October, as the last two Faithfuls standing. 1 2 Mixed · 2They shared a prize pot of £83,000 between their chosen charities: Ranganathan's half went to the Refugee Council and Croft's to Choose Love. 3 4 Left · 1Seven players began the final: Faithfuls James Blunt, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Michael Sheen, Ranganathan and Croft, and Traitors Maya Jama and King Kenny. The Traitors were a man down after James Acaster confessed to being a Traitor at Thursday's roundtable. 2

Mixed · 2Jama and Kenny murdered Michael Sheen at the start of the episode, and the remaining players then completed a mission that added £18,500, taking the pot to £83,000. 3 5 Centre · 2At the final roundtable Jama was banished after receiving the most votes, with her fellow Traitor Kenny also voting against her. 3 6 Centre · 1In the endgame Pinnock was banished after Kenny voted to remove her. Kenny and Blunt then tied in a vote, and Croft persuaded Ranganathan to banish Kenny, the last Traitor. 1

Centre · 1Blunt, a Faithful, pushed for another round of voting and was himself banished, leaving Ranganathan and Croft as the winners. Croft said through tears: "This might actually be the best day of my life." 1 Left · 1The Guardian's reviewer wrote that Ranganathan, after Jama left with the parting line "Good luck. You're going to need it", was "suddenly convulsed by doubt" about Blunt and voted to banish him, before Croft "split the vote, talked sense into Romesh and got the last remaining Traitor banished instead". 7 Right · 1The Daily Mail said Blunt, after banishing Jama and Kenny, was the only player to vote for another banishment, after Ranganathan had questioned his Faithful status, and that viewers said he had "shot himself in the foot"; Blunt had earlier told Ranganathan he was "entirely wrong". 8

Centre · 1Ranganathan, 48, told reporters he felt "happiness tinged with a little bit of embarrassment", saying identifying Traitors was what he was "the worst at", and joked that Blunt "at some point in the future will kill me". Blunt said he was "thrilled" with the ending and "really happy" the Faithfuls won. 9 10 Centre · 1Croft, 24, said he wrote a list of what Blunt, Ranganathan and Kenny had done that was Faithful, that Kenny's list was "almost non-existent", and that he was initially "disappointed" to be made a Faithful, believing he had a better chance as a Traitor, before adopting "operation fly under the radar". 11 Centre · 1Jama told reporters she "expected" Kenny's vote because he was "a lot more trusted at that time than me"; Digital Spy added that she was absent from the reunion programme The Celebrity Traitors: Uncloaked, with viewers told she was busy filming. 12

Right · 1In a Radio 2 reunion, Ranganathan and Croft said keeping the result secret for months was hard, with Croft saying it "was killing me"; Pinnock said she took part while three months pregnant. 13 Mixed · 2BBC News said more than 15 million people watched the series and that the final was likely to be the most-watched programme of the year. The Independent said Thursday's semi-final had the biggest live audience to date, 10.7 million. 1 2 Centre · 3Overnight figures released on 31 October put the final's average audience at 11.2 million (Deadline: 11.23 million), peaking at 11.6 million, above the roughly 11 million for last year's finale; Deadline said series two averaged 9.7 million overnight against 7.5 million for series one, and the Daily Mail said it was the biggest UK audience of 2026 so far. 14 15 16

Right · 1The first series was won last year by Alan Carr, a Traitor, who took the whole £87,500 pot for Neuroblastoma UK; the Daily Express said that finale was the most-watched UK broadcast of 2025. 17 Centre · 1Acaster's confession became a talking point. Reports said filming was paused when he became anxious. A BBC spokesperson said the welfare of participants was the "highest priority" and that players are monitored by a dedicated welfare team. BBC News added that viewers had questioned whether the roundtable was heavily edited. 1 Centre · 1After the final, viewers, including Channel 5 presenter Dan Walker, voiced concern that Acaster did not appear in person on the companion show Uncloaked, presented by Ed Gamble and Claudia Winkleman, and was barely mentioned; Michael Sheen sent a video message, while Jama was reportedly filming The Gentlemen. 16

Left · 2Reviewers and commentators were divided on the series. The Independent's reviewer called the finale "anticlimactic" and the series "frustrating", while Variety called the result a "feel-good ending" but the season "underwhelming". BBC News noted that some viewers saw a mid-series lull despite record ratings. 18 19 Left · 1The Guardian's reviewer called the finale "more muted but still thrilling to the last" and said the season was unlikely to become a classic, with "too few twists, not enough suspense", but that it "still got its main job done". 7 Right · 1The Daily Express reported that some viewers criticised the winners' choice of refugee charities, including TalkTV's Julia Hartley-Brewer, who called it "the most BBC thing EVER". It also quoted viewers defending the choices. 4

Right · 1GB News also reported the row, quoting its presenter Alex Armstrong and commentators who asked why none of the money went to British causes, alongside Narinder Kaur and Ashley James praising the choices; it noted Ranganathan became a Refugee Council patron in September and that Croft is an ambassador for Choose Love. 20 Mixed · 2Accounts of the endgame order differ slightly: the Daily Express's recap says Blunt was voted out in the third vote and that Ranganathan and Croft "decided to banish James" from the deadlock, whereas the Evening Standard, The Hollywood Reporter and The Guardian say Kenny was banished from the deadlock and Blunt went afterwards. 17 21