Always keen to uncover the latest showbiz gossip, heat headed to the TV Choice Awards in London last week. There, we rubbed shoulders with our favourite TV stars to see how 2025 has been treating them so far.
And for The Traitors’ Leanne Quigley and Jake Brown – who clinched victory in the nail-biting final of the Claudia Winkleman-led show – 2025 couldn’t be going much better…
How has your life changed since being crowned the winners?
Jake: Everyone knows who we are now! I can’t go anywhere without someone saying, ‘Are you from The Traitors?’
Leanne: It feels very weird being stopped in the street.
Any strange fan encounters?
J: My weirdest one was when I was in the bathroom, mid-wee, and someone came up and asked for a picture. I was like, ‘Can I just finish first?’
Who are you still in touch with from your series?
J: Everyone.
L: We all keep in touch – we’re in a group chat. Everyone loves everyone and we’re all rooting for each other. There’s so much love with our cast.
What’s the name of the group chat?
J: It’s quite boring, it’s called Castle Crew.
L: When we created it, the show wasn’t out and we were paranoid about someone seeing our phones, so Joe [Scott] called it that.
Is Claudia in it?
L: Maybe one day…
J: Claudia has been amazing, she’s like an auntie. Auntie Claud! She’s always said, ‘If you need me, send me a message’.
Any behind-the-scenes secrets for us?
L: The thing that you don’t see is all the love that everybody has. People won’t pass each other in the castle without giving each other a cuddle, because we’re all missing home and can’t speak to our friends and family. Some great friendships were formed on this show.
J: When you’re off-camera, you’re not allowed to really chat to people, so we learnt lots of dances to fill our free time. The funniest thing was seeing Alexander [Dragonetti] dancing to Usher.
L: We had a few dances, didn’t we? Freddie taught us all the Candy dance – that’s definitely one of my highlights, and I kind of love that no one will get to see it.
