The Traitors UK finale recap: the final mission and shocking exits

Reality TV has a new offering with BBC's The Traitors.

In a nail-biting season finale that had viewers glued to their screens, ex-soldier Leanne Quigley and project manager Jake Brown emerged victorious, walking away with a stunning £94,600 prize pot. Their triumph came after weeks of heart-stopping challenges, strategic roundtables, and plot twists.

The third series of The Traitors has been nothing short of a television phenomenon, drawing in over nine million viewers and becoming a certified must-watch.

The show's premise is deliciously simple yet complex: a group of contestants live together in a Scottish castle, with some players secretly designated as "traitors" who aim to "murder" the "faithful" players, while the faithful try to identify and banish these hidden deceivers.

This season brought unprecedented drama, with characters like the cunning Minah, the polite Alexander, and the breakout social media star Linda capturing the audience's imaginations.

What happened in the Season 3 finale of The Traitors UK?

The episode's most heart-stopping moment came during a mission that BBC viewers are already calling the "TV moment of the year". Contestants were required to dangle precariously from a helicopter, attempting to drop an item into a ground-based ring to earn cash for the prize pot.

The mission perfectly captured the show's mix of physical challenge and psychological warfare. Francesca Rowan-Plowden was left "screaming and confronting her fears", while Alexander Dragonetti responded with his trademark composure: pure, hysterical laughter. "Of course, Alexander's reaction to being dangled from a helicopter is hysterical laughter," one viewer quipped.

A late-season twist introduced the "seer" power, allowing one player to discover another's true identity. Francesca used this power to reveal Charlotte Berman as the last remaining traitor - a moment that dramatically shifted the game's dynamics.

During their secret meeting, Francesca expected to confirm her suspicions that Charlotte was a faithful player. Instead, she discovers the shocking truth about Charlotte's traitor status, leading her to break down in tears. The subsequent roundtable became a battlefield of trust and suspicion.

The finale's roundtable was unlike previous seasons. Players voted out would no longer reveal their true status, forcing contestants to rely purely on instinct. Emotions ran high as Francesca and Charlotte argued about their innocence.

Alexander drew suspicion by seemingly forgetting his previous allegations, which prompted Leanne to accuse him of deceit. The group eventually voted Charlotte out, but under the new rules, her true status remained a mystery.

Unexpected exits and victory

In a series of dramatic votes, the contestants systematically eliminated each other. Leanne, Jake, and Francesca united to banish Alexander. Then, despite Francesca's insistence that she was a faithful player, both Leanne and Jake voted to remove her.

The final two, Leanne and Jake - both faithful players - chose to split the £94,600 prize pot. Their reactions were pure joy and relief. Leanne squealed, thanking Jake "for not letting me down", while Jake admitted:

"I feel like my body feels like it's going to collapse but I'm just so happy."

The Traitors has become a social media sensation, spawning countless memes and discussions. Characters like Linda became instant internet celebrities, with her "delightfully appalling acting" generating hundreds of gifs across social platforms.

With over nine million viewers and a format that keeps audiences guessing, The Traitors has firmly established itself as one of British television's most compelling contemporary shows.

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The entire third series of The Traitors is now streaming on BBC iPlayer.