The Traitors has crowned its winners, but they are yet to receive their £95,750 prize fund
Contestants in series four of BBC1’s The Traitors, (left to right back row) Rachel, Jessie, Stephen, Faraaz, Maz, Ellie, Harriet, Hugo, Jack, Fiona, Sam, Adam, Roxy, Reece, (left to right front row) James, Matthew, Jade, Netty, Ross, Judy, Ben, Amanda and host Claudia Winkleman (standing centre)(Image: )
The Traitors winners are still waiting to receive their winnings, despite their dramatic victory on the hugely popular programme.
The BBC series concluded on Friday evening with an unexpected turn – following an incredibly tense finale.
Co Down native Rachel Duffy and Glaswegian Stephen Libby were crowned the winners of this year’s Traitors, leaving the shadowy corridors of Ardross Castle with the cash prize of £95,750 – taking home £47,875 each – after outsmarting their fellow contestants.
Nevertheless, the victors are unlikely to have collected their prize money as of yet.
The programme is recorded several months before broadcast, meaning there’s inevitably a delay before the full sum is transferred by producers.
Jack, Rachel, Faraaz, Stephen, Jade and James were the last contestants remaining in the BBC One show(Image: PA)
This pattern held true for both last year’s champions, Jake and Leanne, as well as the prior year’s victor, Harry. Jake and Leanne revealed: “We haven’t spent any of the prize money, none of it has gone yet.
“We apologised to Frankie and Alexander straight away for voting them out. We want Alexander to find a nice wife, everyone loves him.”
Similarly, Harry Clark, who claimed victory on the BBC programme the year before, didn’t receive his prize until months afterwards.
Reflecting on his win, he shared: “I’d won, but then I had to go back to work and I couldn’t tell anyone so I sort of just wanted to forget about it. And now it’s like reliving it and being able to tell everyone that I’ve actually won The Traitors series two.”
“I felt like I was lying even more. I had a month where I had to lie to people and build connections on a lie and then I get home and then I’ve got to carry on lying for four months again, just even about being on the show – let alone winning it. So it’s been a relief, last night was a massive relief because it’s like, ‘Oh okay, I don’t need to lie for a bit now so I can chill out.'”.
The Traitors finale had viewers hooked(Image: )
He also confessed he’s yet to see any of the prize money, despite being crowned champion. He joked: “It’s mad, isn’t it? I can’t really believe it. I can’t even explain it because, well one: I haven’t got the money yet, so that’s probably why. And two: I just can’t believe it. Like I still can’t believe it.”
It’s fairly standard for BBC contestants not to receive their winnings until considerably later”, reports the Mirror. This year’s series featured a substantial £120,000 prize pot, accumulated through various challenges.
The Celebrity edition operated differently – offering £100,000 as the top prize. Ultimately, victor Alan Carr secured an impressive £87,500 for Neuroblastoma UK, a charity supporting youngsters battling the uncommon cancer.
The inaugural series saw Aaron Evans, Hannah Byczkowski and Meryl Williams emerge as winners, with Aaron entrusting his share to his mother for safekeeping and Hannah investing in a vehicle to support her career as a touring stand-up comic. Meryl allocated her winnings towards forehead surgery.
Harry Clark, who triumphed in the second series, gave his parents a portion of the winnings and invested some towards his first property, whilst also clearing some minor debts.
During the third series, Leanne Quigley and Jake Brown split the prize money, with Jake using his share to treat his wife to a holiday and champion cerebral palsy awareness, whilst Leanne allocated her winnings to support her family and organise her wedding.
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