The Traitors winners reveal difficult 'paranoia' struggles after ‘overwhelming’ ending to show

Another series of The Traitors is over and we (presumably) have to wait another year for the best reality show on TV to return... life is going to seem a bit empty now without the show but we'll do our best to plod on.

Now at least we know who our winners are - Jake Brown and Leanne Quigley were left as the last two players in the game and split the prize pot equally to take home £47,000 each.

Tragically, the UK's new hedge-falling heartthrob Alexander Dragonetti and mum-of-four Francesca Rowan-Plowden were banished from the show despite also being Faithful as the players were no longer told which team the people they had eliminated were on.

In a dramatic ending the Faithfuls had actually dispensed with the last of the Traitors after Francesca used her 'seer' power to reveal that the secretly not-Welsh Charlotte Berman was a Traitor.

The Faithfuls could have won with a four-way split of the money but alas it was not to be as they all voted to banish again at the final firepit, evicting Alexander and then Francesca.

There could have been four people in this hug, but alas. (BBC)

While Jake and Leanne won the show they faced a very long wait before they could tell anybody about it.

Speaking to The Times, the pair talked about the difficulty of keeping the results under wraps for so long.

See, The Traitors films things many months before the show actually goes out on our screens so the winners have to keep shtum about their victory for a very long time.

Jake said he became 'paranoid' after the show was over and even before the episodes were aired he was plagued with the thought 'I need to tell someone because I was going insane in my own head'.

He said: "It was filmed back in the springtime so it’s been a long time to keep it quiet. It’s been really difficult.

"I mean, I was paranoid in my head because before the show even came on, I kept thinking people were looking at me, but obviously at that point no one knew who I was."

In the end he spilled the beans to his wife Shannon.

Winning The Traitors means you've got to spend months keeping the secret, fortunately the welfare team is there to help. (BBC)

Jake also praised the welfare team behind The Traitors, which includes a psychologist and psychotherapist, saying they were 'amazing' and checking in with the players 'constantly'.

Considering the show puts a bunch of strangers together long enough to form bonds and makes some of them have to constantly lie to others in the hopes of beating them to prize money, it's the sort of thing that could mess with someone's head.

You wouldn't know who to trust, and then there's having to deal with the more dramatic moments of the show as the audience form their own opinions based on an hour-long edit of the day's shenanigans.

Leanne said she felt 'overwhelmed' by the way the show ended, though she's got a clear idea of what she wants to spend some of her winnings from the show on.

The Traitors victor plans to go through a course of IVF with her fiancée Sophie, the couple have twins born prematurely in 2023.

She said: "I would love to go through IVF again with me and my partner and hopefully have a bit of a nicer experience."

It's been months since she actually won, but the winners don't get their money until the broadcast is over.

If you think you can handle The Traitors and everything that comes afterwards, applications for the show remain open until 9 February.