Stephen and Rachel became the first pair of Traitors to win the popular BBC competition show
The final of The Traitors aired on Friday night (January 23) on BBC One(Image: Paul Chappells/Studio Lambert/BBC/PA Wire)
Islanders on Lewis are celebrating after local “happy chappy” Stephen Libby won The Traitors in a tense final episode on Friday night (January 24). Stephen, 32, and fellow traitor Rachel Duffy, 42, split a whopping £95,750 prize when they became the two remaining players in the BBC game.
The pair – who were made Traitors by host Claudia Winkleman in the first episode – made a pact at the beginning of the series that they would stick together, and not vote for each other to be banished. Their partnership held up throughout the whole series, and won them each a life-altering £47,875.
After becoming the first pair of Traitors to ever win the show, people who know Stephen – who hails from the Outer Hebrides island of Lewis – have said that they think his honest nature will have made it ‘quite difficult’ for him to deceive his fellow contestants.
People who know Stephen from his home island of Lewis have said he will have found it ‘quite difficult’ to deceive his fellow contestants (Image: Paul Chappells/Studio Lambert/BBC/PA Wire)
Stephen, a cyber security consultant, returned home to the island’s capital Stornoway last week ahead of the final episode being aired, visiting the Blue Lobster café which is displaying some of his father Donald’s artwork.
The café shared a video of a cloaked Stephen winking at the camera while drinking a coffee, posting online that they are “so extremely proud of this island lad for representing the Isle of Lewis with such impeccable style & so very graciously”.
Jayne Macritchie, who owns the Blue Lobster, said Stephen’s family are “ecstatic” at his win and the island community was riveted by the final episode on Friday evening.
She told the Press Association: “I was completely glued, I’ve never watched it before. We were all glued.”
Ms Macritchie knows Stephen from his time on Lewis and said he would have struggled with the deceptive nature of the show. She “He’s just such a lovely, happy chappy. He’s such a genuine person. I’m pretty sure he would have found it quite difficult.”
She said she never doubted that Stephen would stick to his pact with fellow traitor Rachel, who is a director of communications from Newry in Northern Ireland.
“I think as an islander, keeping a promise to someone is quite important,” Mrs Macritchie said. “I feel the Celts are all similar in their ways and their loyalties.”
Stephen and Rachel won The Traitors after a tense series finale, which aired on Friday night(Image: BBC)
Stephen’s father Donald makes woodwork art pieces from driftwood which washes up on the shores around Stornoway. Other businesses around Lewis have also been celebrating Stephen’s win. A gift shop Sandwick Bay Candles posted a picture of one of their products with the message “there’s a traitor on this island” written on the side of the candle.
The shop said: “Think I may have to make some more of these now.”
Tour company Heb360 also posted online to congratulate Stephen, saying: “The Islands are full of surprises.”
Eilidh Laing is vice-chairwoman of the HebCelt festival, which celebrates music and culture in the Outer Hebrides. She said it was a “fantastic surprise” for the close-knit island community on Lewis to see Stephen enter the hit BBC show.
She said Stephen’s ethical dilemma was etched across his face throughout the series, saying: “He had the internal moral conflict happening, you can see that happening right to the end.”
She continued: “I’m so pleased he did it, he’s such a lovely guy and I think that really came through. The whole community was completely behind him.”
Ms Laing added: “I think islanders might be underestimated a lot of the time. I think he proved a lot of people wrong about that. Islanders are incredibly resilient people.”
