Rachel Duffy Wins The Traitors And Captivates The Nation

Rachel Duffy, the newly crowned joint winner of the UK’s hit reality show The Traitors, has found herself thrust into the national spotlight for more than just her cunning gameplay. The gripping finale, aired on January 23, 2026, saw Rachel and fellow Traitor Stephen Libby outmaneuver their rivals and split a hefty prize fund of £97,750 (about €112,000), according to BBC and other reports. But beneath the glitz of television victory, Rachel’s story is one of preparation, family devotion, and a dash of literary ambition.

Rachel, a 42-year-old head of communications from Newry, Northern Ireland, didn’t just stumble into her role as a master deceiver. She took her preparation for The Traitors to extraordinary lengths, investing in a £2,500 online course on body language led by former FBI agent Joe Navarro. As she told The Sun, “It was more of a one-day course and an eBook. But I still did it. So I was still trained by a former FBI agent. I was just very loose with the phrase.” She spent four months honing skills such as spotting micro-expressions, reading blink patterns, and monitoring subtle cues like breathing and swallowing. The result? Even her lawyer husband, Seamus (or Sean, as reported elsewhere), couldn’t always tell if she was telling the truth. “My husband can’t even tell if I’m telling the truth any more, not that I lie to him all that often, but I could wind him up and say something off the cuff, and he’s like, ‘I don’t even know if that’s true!’” Rachel confessed to Evoke.ie.

Her commitment to secrecy extended beyond the show’s strategies. Rachel kept her participation under wraps from her family, telling everyone except her husband that she was attending a work course in London, not filming in Scotland. “My husband, Sean, was the only one that knew. And he’d never watched the show. So when I’d come home and I told him and he says, ‘Oh, good for you, that’s great’, he had no idea of the game or the gravity,” she shared with The Sun. Her children only learned of her triumph when the finale aired, watching in awe as their mother outwitted her competitors.

Yet, Rachel’s motivations for joining The Traitors were deeply personal. She dedicated her participation—and her winnings—to her mother, Anne, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at 47 and now also faces dementia. “Mummy was just 47 when she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, four years older than I am now, and faces dementia, but still amazes me and my family every single day,” Rachel told Evoke.ie. Her intention to use her share of the prize money was clear: “I just want to create memories with her while I’m still lucky enough to have her, and to create memories with my kids.”

Initially, Rachel had hoped to treat her mother to a holiday, but as Anne’s condition has worsened since the show was recorded in May 2025, travel has become more challenging. “It’s a hard one because the show was recorded in May, so at that time her condition wasn’t as severe as it is now, so she’s not fit to travel as much. Now we’re trying to do something closer to home,” Rachel explained to The Sun. She added, “I can’t wait to just sit in front of her, with my kids and the husband, and say, ‘Mummy, what do you wanna do? What can we do that you would just love?’ God only knows what she’s gonna say. Just to give her a treat and just to do something really fun with her. I can’t wait. I haven’t spent any yet.”

Rachel’s journey on The Traitors was not without its nerve-wracking moments. She credits her large Irish family for instilling the resilience that helped her under pressure, especially when Secret Traitor Fiona Hughes exposed her in front of the group. “I’m from a large Irish family. You’re put under pressure on a constant basis. You know, in our house, you have a lot of resilience,” Rachel said. She recounted the moment Fiona revealed herself: “It was a twinkle in her eye and I thought, ‘She’s a ruffian, she’s one to watch’. So I thought she’d give me a couple of days and then she’d come for me. So when she did it straight away I thought, ‘Oh, game on’. She was phenomenal and we had so much fun with that.”

The so-called “FBI training” became a running joke both on and off the show. “It did help because it gave me something in my back pocket that I could bring up. And I knew I was going to bring it up at some point just to divert the attention away from me. I mean, the memes online have been hilarious. I’m not leaving my job to go and join the FBI any time soon,” she joked to The Sun. But not even her training could prepare her for the tense Round Table showdown with former criminal barrister Harriet Tyce. “Harriet blindsided me. I didn’t see that coming. That genuinely scared me. Heights and Harriet were my two biggest fears in that place,” Rachel admitted.

Rachel’s victory has made her a household name, with showbiz agents reportedly clamoring for her attention. One agent told the Daily Mail: “Rachel is a superstar, she’s brilliant and she has been the standout contestant from start to finish. She has won millions and millions of fans and showbiz agents know they can make her a fortune. Already they are thinking about what other reality television programmes they can get her on. She has all of the ingredients for stardom. In a few days she will be inundated with people wanting to represent her. She has been a household name for the last three weeks and she will continue to be so.”

Despite the allure of more television, Rachel insists she won’t be quitting her day job or jumping into further reality TV projects just yet. Instead, she’s turning her attention to another passion—writing. She revealed to The Sun that she has spent ten years crafting a contemporary fantasy novel for young adults, centered around Irish redheads in a magical forest, with “a bit of murder thrown in.” “My focus now is potentially bringing my book to life. It’s taken ten years to write it and it’s about murder and lies so it’s quite appropriate. So maybe now is the time to get that published,” she said.

Rachel’s family and the people of Newry have rallied around her. Her sister Joanne described her as “very smart, independent…quite determined and competitive,” while her friend Nathan McCann noted, “There’s been a great buzz around the community seeing a girl from the area on The Traitors. Rachel’s a real down-to-earth person, very caring and kind and close to her family. Family and friends are everything to her.” Even local businesses have joined the celebration, with Cailim Boyle from a local bakery adding, “She’s a lovely woman, very humble and down to earth. What you see is what you get with her. It’s been great for the whole local community. We’re very proud. It’s been the talk of the town.”

The show’s impact has rippled beyond Rachel’s personal life. Google searches for “Traitors Castle”—Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands where the show is filmed—have surged by 405% since the series began, underscoring just how deeply the program has captivated viewers.

For Rachel Duffy, the journey on The Traitors has been about much more than outsmarting opponents for a cash prize. It’s a story of personal growth, family loyalty, and the promise of new adventures—whether on the page or, perhaps, back on the screen.