The Traitors finalists on the ultimate betrayal: ‘I trusted the wrong person’
Spoiler alert: This article contains details of the final of the second series of The Traitors. You have been warned.
Judas level treachery, the advent of Jazatha Christie, and death by fizzy rosé – this series of The Traitors has had it all.
After 12 episodes, the nail-biting finale saw baby-faced British army engineer turned arch-manipulator Harry winning the entire prize pot of almost £100,000 – leaving faithful Mollie, his closest friend in the group, with nothing.
Viewers of the hit show have watched Harry, 22, play a near perfect game throughout the series, fooling almost everyone while quietly “murdering” the faithfuls one by one, and hanging his fellow traitors out to dry when the heat was on.
The Traitors finalists (L-R) Harry, Andrew, Evie, host Claudia Winkleman, Jaz and Mollie. Pic: Studio Lambert/Paul Chappells/BBC
Such was the secrecy surrounding the ending that all the contestants – bar the final three – were kept in the dark about the result; they watched the finale together, finding out the outcome at the same time as viewers.
Speaking after the big reveal, Harry admitted he did feel guilty, despite making the daily betrayal seem effortless.
“I feel like everyone deserved the chance of that money,” he said. “And I was the reason none of them got it… so I was sort of hard on myself, but then it was the game and I was like, if the shoe was on the other foot, they would do the same to me.”
‘It makes you feel you’re about to do something naughty’
After telling host Claudia Winkleman at the start that he wanted to be a traitor, Harry said he initially regretted it as he waited to see whether or not he would get the shoulder squeeze inviting him to the dark side.
“I was like, oh my gosh, what have I done? I didn’t want to be tapped. Because of the pressure… how am I going to lie to everyone’s face and keep a poker face? Then as soon as she tapped me, I sort of was like, okay, cool, I’ve got a job to do now, let’s get it done.”
And putting on his traitors cloak each night was a highlight of the game.
“It just makes you feel like you’re about to do something naughty. Every time I put it on I was like, now I feel evil.”
Harry lied his way to winning almost £100,000. Pic: Studio Lambert/BBC
Harry has been applauded for his Machiavellian game play on the BBC show – but how do his family feel about seeing this side to him?
“My mum calls me the dumbest, smartest person she’s ever met,” he said. “They laugh and joke about not being able to ever trust me again, but they know that I would do anything for them.”
Five contestants – faithfuls Evie, Jaz and Mollie, and traitors Harry and Andrew – made it through to the final. Evie and Andrew were banished – leaving Jaz convinced of Harry’s guilt, but Mollie desperate to believe his innocence.
The dramatic last vote saw Mollie, 21, initially picking Harry as a traitor – a move which would have seen the prize pot split between her and Jaz – before changing her mind at the last minute.
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Viewers saw her swear and storm out of the room after it was revealed she had been lied to by her friend.
“My head was scrambled in that moment,” she said, adding that her friendship with Harry “took over for me and I just couldn’t do it to him”, even though there was a niggling doubt.
Throughout the series, the bond between the pair, who were two of the younger contestants, was evident.
“It hurt in the moment,” she said, addressing his betrayal. “I was upset but it was a game… you know that you’re going to have people that betray you in there, you can’t hold a grudge.”
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The Traitors star: ‘It’s like being knighted’
‘He had me totally fooled’
Despite saying before the final reveal that she would never speak to him again should he turn out to be a traitor, there is “no beef” between Mollie and Harry now.
“Watching it back, you can see what a good game he played. He had me totally fooled. I think he had a lot of people fooled in there.”
Away from family and friends and with so much at stake, emotions are high. “Being away from your support system, you do have to trust someone,” Mollie said. “I obviously chose the wrong person to trust in there.”
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Andrew, who was initially a faithful but found himself recruited to the traitors halfway through the series, found it tough – and worried about “disappointing” his mum.
“I struggled with it,” the 45-year-old said. “I knew it was a game, a very intense game, a different game, but even then I still found it hard… every time I was accusing people and I knew they were telling the truth… my insides were turning like a washing machine.”
He also had to contend with a wardrobe malfunction. “It’s a good quality cloak and I struggled because it is quite long… I kept tripping over it at the start. So getting used to wearing it was quite difficult, the first day or so. I think they actually adjusted it, they got it altered for me then after the first night.”
‘I didn’t know who Agatha Christie was’
Perhaps the only person who had Harry sussed was Jaz, now christened Jazatha Christie on social media thanks to his canny detective work.
“I didn’t know who Agatha Christie was,” he said. “I had to Google that person.”
On Harry’s game play, Jaz added: “He started to get everything right. The guy was making no mistakes and I thought, your card’s marked, I’m coming for you. But when the time is right.”
Sadly, his instincts weren’t enough to secure a faithfuls victory. But Evie says there are no hard feelings towards Harry.
“We love him,” the 29-year-old said. “I’m like equal parts proud and equal parts annoyed. It’s so difficult to watch yourself be played like that but he did amazing. Hats off to him. If I was in his position I would want to play the game like he did.”
Angelina Jolie says although she appreciates being an artist, she would prefer for her legacy to be “a good mother” and to be known for her “belief in equality and human rights”.
The Oscar-winning actress stars as Maria Callas in the new Pablo Larrain film about the opera singer’s life.
Pic: StudioCanal
She has called Maria “the hardest” and “most challenging” role she has had in her career and put months of preparation into immersing herself into the world of opera.
Jolie, who recently reached a divorce settlement with actor Brad Pitt, told Sky News: “To be very candid, it was the therapy I didn’t realise I needed. I had no idea how much I was holding in and not letting out.
“So, the challenge wasn’t the technical [side of opera], it was an emotional experience to find my voice, to be in my body, to express. You have to give every single part of yourself.”
The biopic combines the voice of the Maleficent actress with recordings of Maria Callas.
Jolie believes it “would be a crime to not have [Callas’] voice through this because, in many ways, she is very present in this film”.
Who was Maria Callas?
Born in New York in 1923, Maria Callas was the daughter of Greek immigrants who moved back to Athens at the age of 13 with her mother and sister.
After enrolling at the Athens Conservatory, she made her professional debut at 17 and went on to become one of the most famous faces of opera, travelling around the world and performing at Covent Garden in London, The Met in New York and La Scala in Milan.
Callas’s final operatic performance took place at Covent Garden in 1965 when she was 41 but she continued to work conducting master classes at Juilliard School, doing concert tours and starring in the 1969 film Medea.
Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, Maria focuses on the artist’s final years in the 1970s when she moved to Paris and disappeared from public view.
She died on 16 September 1977 at the age of 53.
Pic: StudioCanal
Jolie on changing motivations as an actor
Maria follows the life of an artist fully consumed by the art she creates and even remarks that “happiness never developed a beautiful melody”.
Reflecting on her own life in the spotlight, Jolie said she noticed her own career motivations change over the years.
“There’s this kind of study of being human that we do when we create, and we communicate with an audience because our work is not in isolation – it’s a connection.
“I think when I was younger, I had different questions about being human and different feelings and now as I’ve gotten older, I understand some things and now I have different questions.
“It’s a matter of life, right? And so maybe that’s interesting that this now is a character really contemplating death and really contemplating the toll of certain things in life that I, of course, couldn’t have understood in my 20s”.
Jolie at the New York Film Festival in September with three of her children (L-R) Pax, Zahara and Maddox. Pic: AP
A family affair
Two of Jolie’s children, Maddox and Pax, took on production assistant roles during the filming of Maria and witnessed their mother perform opera for the first time in public.
She says the film allowed them to create new experiences together and for her children to see her approach to playing a difficult role.
“Everyone in my home, we all give each other space to be who we are and we’re all different.
“I’m the mom, but I’m also an artist and a person and so my family has been very kind and gives me their understanding. They make fun of me, and they support me and just as you’d hope it would be.”
She adds: “When you play somebody who is dealing with so much pain, it’s very important to come home to some kindness.”
Maria is in cinemas now.
Tom Holland’s dad has confirmed his son’s engagement to Zendaya – revealing how the 28-year-old meticulously planned the proposal.
Zendaya, also 28, sparked engagement rumours when she attended last Sunday’s Golden Globes wearing a sparkling diamond on her ring finger.
Neither star has publicly addressed the rumours but Tom’s comedian father, Dominic Holland, has now confirmed the pair are set to wed.
He wrote in a post on his Patreon account: “Tom, as you know by now was very incredibly well prepared. He had purchased a ring.
“He had spoken with her father and gained permission to propose to his daughter.”
“Tom had everything planned out… When, where, how, what to say, what to wear,” he added.
Zendaya arrived at the Golden Globes with a noticeable piece of new jewellery. Pic: Invision/AP
Dominic also noted that while most men worry about being able to afford an engagement ring, he suspects his actor son was “more concerned with the stone, its size and clarity, its housing, which jeweller”.
Tom and Zendaya met on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2016, when they played the titular hero and his love interest MJ, respectively. Their romance was confirmed in 2021.
In his post, Tom’s father admitted fears over whether being in the spotlight could put a strain on the couple’s relationship.
He wrote: “I do fret that their combined stardom will amplify their spotlight and the commensurate demands on them and yet they continually confound me by handling everything with aplomb.”
“And even though show business is a messy place for relationships and particularly so for famous couples as they crash and burn in public and are too numerous to mention […] yet somehow right at the same time, I am completely confident they will make a successful union.”
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Zendaya rose to fame after landing a role in Disney sitcom Shake It Up, and became a household name after starring in Euphoria.
Holland – who has starred in three Spider-Man films opposite his now-fiancée – made his stage debut in Billy Elliot the Musical in 2008.
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