{"id":632917,"date":"2026-09-22T23:32:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T23:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/632917\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T23:32:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T23:32:14","slug":"ivf-plans-secret-chats-and-no-hard-feelings-the-traitors-finalists-on-how-it-all-played-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/632917\/","title":{"rendered":"IVF plans, secret chats and no hard feelings: The Traitors finalists on how it all played out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Warning: This article contains spoilers for season two of The Traitors Ireland.<\/p>\n

\"The
\n The Traitors Ireland finalists pictured with host Siobh\u00e1n McSweeney. RT\u00c9<\/p>\n

RT\u00c9\n<\/p>\n

THE FAITHFULS FINALLY did it.<\/p>\n

After weeks of suspicion, accusations and some spectacularly misplaced trust, Anna and Diego walked away as the winners of The Traitors Ireland, having successfully banished the last two traitors standing.<\/p>\n

Carla was the first to go in the finale, before Pauric\u2019s hopes of taking the prize money came to an end at the fire pit, leaving the two faithfuls to celebrate an unlikely victory.<\/p>\n

But speaking to reporters after the finale, the final four revealed that there was plenty going on behind the scenes, from a secret alliance that helped deliver the win to the personal plans that the winners have for the money.<\/p>\n

For Anna, simply reaching the final had been a surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that I never envisioned,\u201d she said. \u201cIf I\u2019m honest, I didn\u2019t think I was going to get past the first week, so the fact that I was standing at the fire pit was mind-blowing.\u201d<\/p>\n

She and Diego had appeared to be at odds for much of the series, but Anna revealed that the pair quietly joined forces as the numbers dwindled.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe weren\u2019t even frenemies, to be honest. We just didn\u2019t interact as such,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, when the numbers got smaller, we had no choice but to interact. So we had secret conversations without Carla and Pauric knowing, as much as we could, and formed a secret alliance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo much was going on in the background,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

But we played it very, very, very low-key.<\/p>\n

Diego said his suspicions about Pauric crystallised when Pete was banished and revealed himself to be a faithful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI straight away went, \u2018It\u2019s Pauric,\u2019\u201d Diego said.<\/p>\n

The difficulty, of course, was that the remaining four players were split evenly between two faithfuls and two traitors.<\/p>\n

Anna said Pauric\u2019s reaction to the departure of Ian helped confirm her own suspicions, while Diego admitted that the endgame felt like a gamble.<\/p>\n

Their gamble paid off, and Anna now has plans for the prize money that extend well beyond the castle.<\/p>\n

\"Gr\u00e1inne,
\n Anna (right) pictured with Gr\u00e1inne, Donal and Kayleigh.\n<\/p>\n

Asked what she intended to do with her winnings, she revealed: \u201cFor myself and my partner, a lot of it would be put away for when we\u2019re ready for IVF.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple are also hoping to go ring shopping in the coming months, and are trying to buy a house before starting a family.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo once that\u2019s all sorted and settled, then we\u2019re looking to having kids,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For Diego, the victory also meant proving his husband Denis, a fellow contestant on the show, wrong.<\/p>\n

Denis had predicted that Diego would make it far, but that his trusting nature would ultimately cost him the win.<\/p>\n

He was like, \u2018I think you\u2019re going to get far, but you\u2019re not going to win because you trust people\u2019.<\/p>\n

He said Denis expected him to reach the end only for the traitors to turn on him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhich was what Pauric tried!\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n

\"The
\n Diego and Denis. RT\u00c9<\/p>\n

RT\u00c9\n<\/p>\n

Diego, who moved to Ireland 15 years ago, also reflected on learning English while working in a nursing home after arriving in the country.<\/p>\n

He said he learned both the language and Irish history from the older people he cared for and their stories.<\/p>\n

As for what comes next, a honeymoon could be on the cards, with Diego suggesting that he and Denis might head to one of the Pacific islands.<\/p>\n

For the two losing finalists, meanwhile, there was remarkably little bitterness.<\/p>\n

Carla admitted she had spent much of the series expecting to be sent home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI genuinely thought I was gone like six episodes ago,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She credited the relationships she had built with helping her survive, but suggested that being underestimated had been just as useful.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time I spoke at a table, I was interrupted,\u201d Carla said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t really care about what I had to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a faithful, that would have been really annoying, but as a traitor, it worked for me.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cThe faithfuls helped me get away with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the time she reached the final round table, Carla said she had already accepted that her run was coming to an end. Rather than feeling devastated when Anna accused her of being a traitor, she found herself struggling to argue back.<\/p>\n

\"The
\n Carla pictured with Pete. RT\u00c9<\/p>\n

RT\u00c9\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI had nothing to say, other than, \u2018Facts, actually! You\u2019re dead right!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

She insisted she was delighted simply to have made it so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cI genuinely don\u2019t know what I was doing sitting in it,\u201d Carla said. \u201cI was just so happy to be there. I felt like I was at an all-inclusive. Everything was fabulous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pauric was similarly philosophical about his defeat, although his explanation was rather different.<\/p>\n

A self-described superfan, he said he and his girlfriend had watched every season of The Traitors together, and his ambition had always been to wear the traitor\u2019s cloak himself.<\/p>\n

Winning for me was when Carla asked me to be a traitor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat genuinely was. And if I had went on the first night after being recruited, second night, whatever, like that was me winning. I got to put on the cloak.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prize money would have been \u201cunbelievable\u201d, he admitted, but the experience was \u201cpriceless\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was a faithful and got to the final and got put out last, I would have been raging,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"The
\n Carla and Pauric. RT\u00c9<\/p>\n

RT\u00c9\n<\/p>\n

\u201cBut because I had achieved what I went in there to achieve, I wanted to be a traitor, and I wanted to show that I can be a good traitor.\u201d<\/p>\n

And despite spending the closing stages trying to outmanoeuvre Diego, Pauric said there were no hard feelings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Diego ends up hoodwinking me, fair fucks to him,\u201d he recalled saying during the game.<\/p>\n

Now that the roles have been reversed and Diego has emerged victorious, Pauric said the friendship remains intact.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t be happier for the fella.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Warning: This article contains spoilers for season two of The Traitors Ireland. The Traitors Ireland finalists pictured with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[60001,259231,208271,259233,61,60,43,268672,268673,13081,268674,6569,15597],"class_list":["post-632917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-anna","tag-carla","tag-diego","tag-faithful","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-no-hard-feelings","tag-pauric","tag-slane-castle","tag-the-cloaks-are-off","tag-the-traitors-ireland","tag-traitors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}