The Traitors finale becomes most-watched live episode of series

Warning: This article reveals the outcome of The Traitors.

More than seven million people tuned in for the explosive finale of the third series of hit BBC series The Traitors.

The episode was watched live by an average audience of 7.4m on Friday night, up 1.6m on last year’s final – making it the most watched episode on BBC One in the show’s history.

After an intense few weeks, project manager Jake Brown and former soldier Leanne Quigley won and will share £94,600 in prize money.

The viewing figures only include those viewers who watched last night as the programme aired, and do not include those watching on BBC iPlayer.

Following the finale, a further 4.8m tuned in to an extended episode of The Traitors: Uncloaked podcast, broadcast on BBC One and Sounds.

Host Ed Gamble was joined by all of the finalists and host Claudia Winkleman – with the rest of the cast in the audience – as they reacted to the final episode and revealed all about their time on the show.

In The Traitors, strangers gather in a Scottish castle for their chance to win a share of a prize fund, which they add to by completing missions during the series.

A handful of contestants, known as traitors, pick off their fellow contestants, the faithful, with nightly “murders” – while the faithful try to work out their identity.

But if any traitors remain at the end of the game, they take the whole prize pot, leaving the faithful with nothing.

The format was first developed by Dutch producer IDTV and broadcaster RTL, before being brought to the UK by Studio Lambert in 2022.

The two winners revealed their identities as faithfuls after business director Charlotte Berman was banished from the game, followed by interior designer Francesca Rowan-Plowden and former British diplomat Alexander Dragonetti.

But only Charlotte, who adopted a Welsh accent for the series despite not being Welsh, had been a traitor. Francesca later commented on Uncloaked: “I guess we didn’t trust each other enough”, while Alexander saw the funny side of four faithfuls being left, saying it was “absolutely brilliant”.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast the morning after the finale, Jake said the whole experience “still feels like a dream”, adding: “I’m waiting to wake up.”

Jake, who has cerebral palsy, said he was grateful for messages from people who said he inspired them.

“Even though I’m disabled, it doesn’t define me as a person,” he said. “But I am proud of it. It makes me who I am.”

Leanne said her friends and family were “absolutely made up” for her after her win, adding: “It’s been a long time keeping it a secret.”

Former diplomat Alexander said despite on-screen drama: “What you don’t have [watching] at home is you feel this relationship between people.”

But he added that while contestants do bond, “you have to throw people under the bus”.

Francesca agreed that she had a “sense of paranoia” while filming, but watching back on TV she could see conversations she hadn’t been privy to and understood more about what had happened.

She said: “We had a really lovely time together and really bonded.”

Speaking of her fake Welsh accent, Charlotte said she “committed on day one and had to go with it”, as if she revealed her real voice, she would have been banished.