After multiple episodes of suspense, schemes and backstabbing, The Celebrity Traitors has reached a nail-biting end

Spoiler alert - This piece reveals details from The Celebrity Traitors finale

Throughout the season, viewers witnessed eliminations, double-crosses, serious side-eye, and a memorable moment that cut through all suspense.

However on Thursday night, the final winner of the first Celebrity Traitors emerged triumphant.

Out of nineteen participants, just a handful were left standing: Traitors and faithfuls facing off for the winnings.

Before long, the field narrowed to just three: the final players.

In the end, funny man Alan Carr emerged as the champion, in a surprising outcome that broke the internet and made him tearful.

"This has been destroying me, my apologies," he declared, revealing to the other players that he'd always been one of the deceivers. "I feel terrible about this."

"You played amazingly," they comforted him. "It's all right."

Social media quickly erupted with the news. "The worst deceiver being the best traitor ever," wrote a viewer.

"It couldn't have been a more iconic ending," stated another, while a third called it "the TV moment of the year."

His chosen charity, a cancer charity, gets to keep the entire winnings, with the total amount reaching £87,500.

Alan Carr's transformation from giggle liability to strategic player was among the most memorable aspects of the season.

But his win still shocked viewers in shock, as noted by entertainment reporters.

"The idea of Alan, among everyone, executing a masterclass in deception felt just as probable as him keeping composure through his comedy routines."

On subsequent discussions, the other contestants summed up why no one had truly doubted him.

"He might have appeared to breakfast in a green cloak and I still wouldn't have thought he was a traitor. His humor distracted me," a player said.

"The majority didn't target him because how does one vote for someone who is so charming?" asked another celebrity.

The winner stated he had "absolutely loved" his time on the show.

"I'd like to do it again... I don't think it would work again!"

The final installment was lengthened to over an hour on the network. There was an unusual opening than usual, as all the celebs were aware who would appear at the morning gathering.

There was particularly inspiring, and atypical for the show music, as the episode revisited some moments from each of the finalists' experience in the game.

As ever, Alan Carr gave us some of the most memorable lines.

"To be honest, I started this game a bit of an anxious mess. I've betrayed some really good friends to save myself, I've murdered national treasures in plain sight. Apparently I'm a better liar and traitor than I thought."

At the same time, a different player commented that reaching the conclusion was "way more stressful than competing with England", while someone else said he was "completely amazed" to have lasted this long.

Early on in the episode, several players seemed to be making a bid to become the fashion standout of the competition, replacing an earlier departed fashionable contestant.

Carr emerged at breakfast resembling a 1950s US chat show host in a checked maroon suit, before changing into an embellished light-colored outfit.

But he was out-jacketted by another contestant's burgundy formal wear. Impressive style.

Following this was the challenge, with the remaining contestants boarding a locomotive called - naturally - The Traitors Express.

This task involved destroying portraits of former contestants. Spare a thought for a player who managed to get hit on the head multiple times by the lid of a substantial container.

Before long, the moment arrived for the roundtable.

Two traitors did a pinky promise in advance, vowing to stick together. "We've progressed significantly, I'm not going to betray him," stated one, while their partner simply laughed.

And one adhered to his promise. But, having slipped under the radar for most of the game, the other still got the most votes.

The last deceiver looked like to be experiencing a world of pain to be the last traitor standing. "Now I'm on my own, I'm frightened," he said. "I'm a loose cannon, without direction."

Social media and onlookers were equally disappointed.

"I did NOT want this contestant to be banished. An endearing deceiver," said a commentator.

"You will forever be remembered in the show's legacy," wrote another user.

But there was no time to dwell on their elimination. Soon, the game reached the final stage - which was what we were really all here for.

The last players gathered around the fire pit. Meanwhile, the partnership collapsed, just when it mattered the most, in an absolutely shocking development.

A player was painfully banished - after a shock vote from their partner, who turned against them.

"This pains me to be stabbed in the back at the final moment in that manner," remarked the eliminated player. Later, we learned that when they message, the eliminated contestant calls the other by a betrayer's name.

Ultimately, just three players remained in the game: the last participants.

A contestant, looking incredibly smug, voted to end the competition. The same decision was made by another, and everything depended on the third, who made the identical choice - which meant that the deceiver emerged victorious.

For observers, the moment where remaining contestants comforted the champion was "compelling television". "I anticipate it will be in the running for outstanding scene at television honors," they commented.

Happily, the winner soon recovered from his bout of tears, and was able to enjoy his victory.

"What a rollercoaster. I thought I was terrible at deception, I had no poker face and now I stand a winner," the winner said.

And he even made light of the memorable elimination - his best friend during the initial stages - by reaching over the host in the concluding moments and touching her cheek.

"You've got something on your face," he said, with his characteristic laugh.

The last few weeks of celebrity gossiping, plotting and sometimes surprising incidents may seem like one big crazy jumbled dream. But it really did all happen. And we will miss it.