The Traitors: the Final, review: Leanne and Jake win is a disappointingly drama-free finale
We waited a whole series for the dream ending to The Traitors – Charlotte winning the money and letting her fake Welsh accent slide into London posh, like Keyser Soze dropping the limp at the end of The Usual Suspects. But we were robbed.
TV producers always feel the need to fiddle with a successful format. This year they introduced a late twist with The Seer, allowing Frankie to find out, during a one-on-one meeting, that Charlotte was a traitor. The rules around what to do with this information were a little unclear, but Frankie walked into the breakfast room the next morning with a face like thunder and announced to the room that Charlotte was a traitor. This left Charlotte unsuccessfully trying to turn the tables while crying a lot. She had played a brilliant game, but the twist left her flailing. Even the trustworthy Welshness couldn’t save her.
So we were down to the final four: middle-class mum Frankie, smooth diplomat Alexander, nice guy Jake and Leanne the Soldier Barbie. Alexander was next to go. The programme-makers had added another change here, with contestants no longer revealing their faithful or traitor status as they departed. This added nothing to the drama, and it all started to feel fairly low stakes.
Then a last surprise: Leanne, hard as acrylic nails, banished Frankie even after listening to her heartfelt speech earlier in the day about their shared experiences of motherhood. That left Leanne and Jake as winners, sharing the £94,600 prize pot. Leanne was a bundle of nerves before the final reveal, asking Jake: “Why are you not looking me in the eye?” I’m sure it was very tense for them; for the audience, not so much.
Were they worthy winners? Jake had been smart from the start, immediately identifying Linda as a traitor. He was pretty likeable, even if his habit of saying “I’m voting for yourself” drove some viewers demented. He planned to spend the money on treating his parents as a thank you for their support over the years as he grew up with cerebral palsy. Leanne was often shouty and argumentative, but alluded to hard times in her life and a desire to spend the money on IVF.
The reaction on social media to their win was lukewarm, but that was most likely because we were comparing it to last year’s humdinger of a final, in which Harry betrayed sweet Mollie.
This one felt flat by comparison, but the series as a whole has been entertaining. It is so well-produced and edited, and Claudia Winkleman strikes just the right note between seriousness and high camp. And it’s still a fascinating insight into human behaviour: how people judge others, and how they can convince themselves that they’re right when they’re really 100 per cent wrong.
It’s just a shame that this series had a disappointing denouement. We had to make do with the BBC’s follow-up programme, The Traitors: Uncloaked, revealing Charlotte’s fake identity to the other contestants. In the end, it was a victory for the faithful. And, this year, where’s the fun in that?