The Celebrity Traitors winners Romesh Ranganathan and Sebastian “Bash” Croft have discussed the reaction to their choice of charities in a new conversation on Croft’s Sunday Scaries podcast. Their comments add a fresh chapter to the story of the BBC competition’s 2026 final: rather than revisiting who won, the pair have explained why their decisions mattered to them and how they have responded to the attention that followed.
What Romesh Ranganathan said after the final
Ranganathan and Croft emerged as the two winning Faithfuls after the final round of the BBC reality contest. The £83,000 prize fund was divided between their selected charities, with £41,500 going to each. Ranganathan chose the Refugee Council, while Croft chose Choose Love. Their selections attracted both criticism and messages of support after the finale.
Speaking on Sunday Scaries, Ranganathan said the attention paid to critical voices did not represent the whole response. He explained that many people had supported their decisions and that the debate had encouraged further backing for the causes. His remarks were reported by The Independent on 9 November, following coverage of the podcast conversation.
Ranganathan also described his own reasons for becoming involved with the Refugee Council. His comments were presented as his personal perspective, not as an announcement of a change to the BBC programme or its rules. That distinction matters: the development here is a post-final interview with the winners, not another twist in the competition itself.
Why the winners chose different organisations
Croft explained that contestants had not spent the competition discussing their chosen charities in detail. The actor said it was only when they reached the end that the two winners discovered how closely their choices aligned. He had previously volunteered with Choose Love, while Ranganathan described an existing connection to the Refugee Council.
Both organisations work with refugees and displaced people, but they are separate charities. The winning contestants did not announce a joint fundraising initiative or a new television project during this discussion. Their comments instead shed light on the choices already revealed during the final and the public reaction to them.
The podcast conversation is especially relevant for viewers who watched the final and wondered whether the winners had coordinated their decisions. According to Croft’s account, they had not planned the overlap. It was a discovery made at the end of a game in which neither contestant could be certain of winning.
How this differs from the final-night result
The finale, broadcast on 30 October, established that Ranganathan and Croft were the last Faithfuls standing. The programme had built towards a tense conclusion involving the remaining players, including James Blunt, Maya Jama and King Kenny. The outcome was already known before the new podcast discussion.
Subsequent coverage has included interviews about the final votes and the relationships between contestants. The latest conversation concerns something distinct: how the two winners feel about the response to their charitable choices, and what motivated those choices in the first place.
It is important not to confuse criticism from some commentators with a verdict from the entire audience. The winners acknowledged disagreement while also describing supportive reactions. Neither the podcast nor the reporting provides a representative poll of viewers, so claims about what “all fans” think would be misleading.
What viewers can take from the new interview
The central new detail is the winners’ own explanation. Ranganathan believes the attention has encouraged supporters, while Croft says the similarity of their charity choices came as a surprise. Those are statements from the people directly involved, rather than speculation about what might have happened behind the scenes.
For fans of The Celebrity Traitors, the interview provides a more personal conclusion to the season. The series asked players to navigate suspicion, loyalty and difficult decisions under pressure. Once the game ended, the winners faced a different sort of scrutiny over how its prize money would be used.
The BBC final remains available to revisit through the broadcaster’s usual viewing service, subject to availability. No new episode, casting decision or broadcast date has been announced in connection with these remarks. The story is about the winners speaking after the competition, and that is where the confirmed information ends.
Sources and verification
This report draws on The Independent’s 9 November report on the podcast comments and the accompanying report of the same interview, with earlier final-result context checked against the 30 October final coverage. The two reports of the podcast are not treated as independent eyewitness accounts.