Island pride and joy as Stephen wins Traitors in honourable style

Double-crossing Rachel ‘wasn’t worth the money’

Stephen, 32, a cyber security consultant who now lives in London, had ‘Team Stephen’ on the edge of their seats and sick with nerves in the finale of the BBC game show, as they wondered whether he would give it to temptation and vote fellow traitor Rachel out, taking all the prize money for himself, or keep the promise they made to each other to split the money.

Stephen had a clear path to winning on his own but kept the pact they had made to each other early on in the turret to never write each other’s names down – winning them £47,875 each.

Stephen got emotional in the final round as he banished Jack, whom he had become friends with across the 12 episodes, and told him he was doing so for “reasons that will become clear” and that he had come into the show determined to play “a fair and honest game”.

Afterwards, Rachel told Stephen: “I thought when you weren’t looking me in the eye that you decided to change your mind at the last minute.”

Stephen told her he was “just pulling your leg” but added: “I’ll be honest. I had moments when I was doubting what I was going to do tonight but I couldn’t go back on my word to you. It just wasn’t worth the money. I couldn’t have walked out of here by lying to you.”

There was widespread pride and joy on social media at Stephen’s decision to do the right thing. On Instagram, where Stephen has amassed a great following and posted about being home in Lewis last weekend, many said him resisting temptation had “restored their faith in humanity”.

It was the first time in the show’s history that two traitors had won together and the first time a female traitor had won. It also rewrote the rule book on traitor behaviour, shocking many including Traitors Uncloaked host Ed Gamble who had been adamant “no traitor sticks to a pact”.

There had been trust issues between them in the final week, after Rachel told Stephen she would be discussing suspicions about him with the others to avoid looking suspicious herself.

As a result, in the penultimate banishment before the finale, he “so almost put Rachel’s name down in that final vote”. She survived by the skin of her teeth, having received an equal number of votes for banishment to James and that was settled by chance.

He said after: “If we got Rachel out tonight knowing how the room was feeling abut me in general, I think it would have just been easier to get to the end game by myself… I really put my neck on the line to keep Rachel in the game and I told myself from the very beginning I had to make it through this experience as a traitor with my moral compass still intact but I need to start putting myself first and make sure that I have the best chance of winning this game.”

The inner struggle was clear as he also said: “This is the toughest thing I have ever done but I have had so much fun. I see two paths through this endgame. One is with Rachel. One is without. £47,500 and something is better than nothing but £95,750 is so much more…”

Rachel had said: “We made a promise and I really would like to win with him. Whether or not that pact stays true to the end, we’ll see. I’m going to win it if Stephen’s head doesn’t get turned by the money.”

After the champagne celebrations, Stephen said: “I can’t believe I’ve just won The Traitors. I’m just a wee boy from the Isle of Lewis. This kind of stuff doesn’t really happen to me. This isn’t the kind of money that me and my family deal with, you know. It’s going to make such a difference and I just know they’re going to be so proud.”

ends