The Traitors finalists on if Charlotte would have won with no seer surprise

How much did the final twist really change the game?

Charlotte McLaughlin
Tuesday 28 January 2025 03:26 EST
Alexander, Frankie, Charlotte, Claudia Winkleman, Ed Gamble, Leanne, and Jake during a photocall at BBC’s New Broadcasting House, for the finale of The Traitors
Alexander, Frankie, Charlotte, Claudia Winkleman, Ed Gamble, Leanne, and Jake during a photocall at BBC’s New Broadcasting House, for the finale of The Traitors (Ian West/PA Wire)

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Could Charlotte Berman, the ‘Welsh’ contestant on The Traitors, have secured victory if not for the last twist?

The finale of series three sparked debate among the remaining players, leaving the question hanging in the air.

Just before the final showdown on Friday, a new layer of intrigue was introduced. The contestant who amassed the most gold in a pre-finale challenge was designated the “seer,” gaining the power to uncover a fellow player’s true allegiance.

Francesca “Frankie” Rowan-Plowden, a faithful contestant, earned this power. Trusting her intuition, Frankie chose her close friend Charlotte, hoping for confirmation of her assumed faithfulness.

However, the secret meeting delivered a shocking revelation. The envelope Frankie opened contained the damning word: “traitor.” Charlotte’s deception, hidden throughout the game, was finally exposed, altering the course of the finale and leaving viewers to ponder what might have been.

She had to burn the card, and so had no proof when she disclosed this to the other players during Friday’s finale.

Jake; Alexander; Charlotte; Leanne
Jake; Alexander; Charlotte; Leanne

Charlotte had been viewed as a strong faithful by her fellow finalists, but she did not think she was set to win, telling the PA news agency: “I don’t think you can ever think you’re going to win this sort of game, there are so many twists and turns.

“I mean, obviously I didn’t see the seer thing coming…  (traitor) Freddie (Fraser) voted for me at the roundtable. I think that, given the way the game was ending this year, with the lack of revealing if you were traitor or faithful, that vote alone would have been enough to cast the doubt.”

She also said she was “thrilled” the faithfuls, project manager Jake Brown and former soldier Leanne Quigley, won the prize pot of £94,600.

The final week also saw Charlotte recruit Freddie as a traitor and set him up to be caught after she convinced him that they should murder Leanne, despite knowing she had a shield protecting her.

When asked whether she thinks without the seer reveal if Charlotte could have walked away with the money, Leanne said: “Absolutely, she was so well trusted by all of us. None of us would have expected it was her.”

The Traitors s3,22-01-2025,10,Charlotte; Freddie;,Studio Lambert,Euan Cherry
The Traitors s3,22-01-2025,10,Charlotte; Freddie;,Studio Lambert,Euan Cherry

She also said that the power “flipped the whole game on its head”, before adding: “None of us realised how difficult it would be for the seer.

“We all wanted it so bad, but we didn’t realise how much it would backfire, and Charlotte played a great game as a traitor, as you should, and was very convincing (when she lied and said) ‘Actually, no, it was Frankie’.”

The programme, which is based on a Dutch format called De Verraders and produced by Studio Lambert, saw Charlotte tearfully claim that she had told Francesca that she was a faithful, and not a traitor during their secret meeting.

Leanne said that the seer position also meant her seeing faithful Francesca as a traitor, because “that final round table before Charlotte left, (she said) ‘don’t trust this woman, don’t take her to end game'”.

Interior designer Francesca and former British diplomat Alexander Dragonetti were then banished as their fellow faithfuls did not believe that they were not traitors.

Alexander said: “You’ve got to get as sure as you can, and that always encourages people to sort of act on their doubts, rather than not, because they’ve seen previous series and they’ve seen people being deprived of the money, so no wonder people want to de-risk as much as they can.”

Leanne, who had told her fellow contestants that she was a nail technician and not a soldier, also said she would spend her share of the prize pot on going through fertility procedure in vitro fertilisation (IVF) again, and spend it on an wedding to her fiancee, Sophie.

Charlotte, one of the contestants in the series three of BBC1’s The Traitors. (Cody Burridge/BBC)
Charlotte, one of the contestants in the series three of BBC1’s The Traitors. (Cody Burridge/BBC) (PA Media)

Elsewhere, 33-year-old Londoner Charlotte said people think her pretending to have a Welsh accent is either “hilariously idiotically bonkers or kind of inspired genius”.

“Honestly, I’ve had some people tell me it was spot on, and then I’ve had other people tell me that they can’t tell the difference,” she added.

“I mean, whatever (way) it’s hilarious, because I don’t know if you’ve seen but Wales and various places have really embraced it, like there’s all this research being done into the nature of the accents being trustworthy, there was an amazing billboard put up being like, ‘Welcome to Wales, home of the most trustworthy accent’.

“I’m so glad that people have embraced it because I think it taps into the spirit of the show, which is just so camp and pantomime.”

The hit psychological reality series sees strangers compete in a Scottish castle to win a prize pot of up to £120,000, by trying to avoid being killed by the traitors or banished.

The faithfuls must figure out who is a traitor and vote them out so they can take the prize money for themselves.

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