The Celebrity Traitors Series 2: Cast, Winners and Key Moments
The second series of The Celebrity Traitors reached its finale on Friday 30 October 2026, and it ended with a surprise. Two Faithfuls, comedian Romesh Ranganathan and actor Sebastian Croft, walked away as winners. This guide covers the cast, the format and the main turning points, and it reveals the result.
What is The Celebrity Traitors?
The programme is the celebrity spin-off of The Traitors, the Scottish Highlands reality competition hosted by Claudia Winkleman. Contestants arrive at Ardross Castle. Winkleman secretly picks a few of them as Traitors, and everyone else is a Faithful.
Each evening the Traitors choose a Faithful to murder, and that player leaves. At the roundtable, everyone votes to banish a suspect. If any Traitor survives to the end, they take the prize. If only Faithfuls remain, they share it. In this version the money goes to charity, and the pot can reach £100,000.
Series 2 ran for ten episodes from 1 October 2026. The companion programme The Celebrity Traitors: Uncloaked returned with Ed Gamble. The first series was won by Alan Carr, and its finale was the most-watched television broadcast in the UK in 2025. That left plenty to live up to.
The cast
Twenty-one famous names took part:
- Amol Rajan
- Bella Ramsey
- James Acaster
- James Blunt
- Jerry Hall
- Joanne McNally
- Joe Lycett
- Julie Hesmondhalgh
- King Kenny
- Leigh-Anne Pinnock
- Maya Jama
- Michael Sheen
- Miranda Hart
- Myha'la
- Professor Hannah Fry
- Richard E. Grant
- Rob Beckett
- Romesh Ranganathan
- Ross Kemp
- Sebastian Croft
- Sharon Rooney
The mix covered comedy, acting, music, broadcasting, science and online video. King Kenny is a former boxer and a member of the Beta Squad YouTube group. Sebastian Croft is known for Heartstopper, and Bella Ramsey for The Last of Us.
How the series unfolded
An early shock
Winkleman chose Maya Jama and Richard E. Grant as the first Traitors. Grant admitted his role within moments of being named in episode three. He was banished, which made him the earliest Traitor ever voted out of the programme.
Fresh recruits
The Traitors then replenished their ranks. James Acaster and Hannah Fry were brought in, and King Kenny joined the dark side later. Fry was banished in episode five. Acaster stayed hidden until the semi-final, when he confessed at the roundtable. Variety called it a first for the programme.
Murder in plain sight
One of the series' most talked-about moments came in episode seven. The Traitors tried to murder a Faithful in plain sight. Ross Kemp had spent much of the series convinced he was a target. He was removed after a seemingly casual yawn, apparently without realising what had happened.
Key exits at a glance
| Episode | Aired | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2 October | Amol Rajan murdered |
| 3 | 8 October | Richard E. Grant banished after admitting he was a Traitor |
| 4 | 9 October | Bella Ramsey murdered; Julie Hesmondhalgh banished |
| 5 | 15 October | Rob Beckett murdered; Hannah Fry banished |
| 6 | 16 October | Joe Lycett banished |
| 7 | 22 October | Ross Kemp murdered; Jerry Hall banished |
| 8 | 23 October | Miranda Hart murdered |
| 9 | 29 October | Sharon Rooney murdered; Joanne McNally banished; James Acaster confessed |
| 10 | 30 October | Michael Sheen murdered; final banishments; Faithfuls win |
The final and the winners
Seven players began the finale. The Faithfuls were James Blunt, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Michael Sheen, Romesh Ranganathan and Sebastian Croft. The remaining Traitors were Maya Jama and King Kenny. Kenny had looked the likeliest winner at the start.
Michael Sheen was murdered early on. At the final roundtable the group voted out Maya Jama. Leigh-Anne Pinnock was then banished at the firepit after a series of missteps made her fellow players suspect she was a Traitor. A tie between King Kenny and James Blunt ended with both leaving.
Ranganathan and Croft were left. They believed the last Traitor had gone and chose to end the programme. Both had been Faithful from the start. Croft said his share would go to Choose Love, a charity he has volunteered for.
Viewing figures and reception
Audiences were large throughout. The semi-final drew a peak of 10.7 million viewers and a 62 per cent share of the audience that evening, the biggest live audience of the series. The episode featuring Ross Kemp's removal peaked at 10.3 million.
Variety noted that the first series would be a hard act to follow, but described this finale as a feel-good ending few had predicted.
What comes next
The BBC has agreed a three-year deal that keeps The Traitors and The Celebrity Traitors in production until 2030. The main Traitors series returns on BBC One in the new year, after its fourth run in January 2026. A third celebrity series is expected to follow in due course.