In the nail-biting finale of The Traitors series 4, Faithful Jack Butler came agonisingly close to claiming the £95,750 prize pot – only to be stabbed in the back at the very last moment by his closest ally Stephen Libby and fellow finalist Rachel Duffy.
The Traitors finalist Jack Butler has revealed that producers were forced to step in and ‘calm him down’ after his furious reaction to being banished
The betrayal hit the personal trainer like a freight train. As Stephen turned his slate to reveal Jack’s name in the final banishment vote, Jack’s composure shattered. Sources close to the production say his reaction was so explosive that producers had to intervene immediately, physically pulling him into a separate room to calm him down before he could rejoin the group.
Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday after the episode aired, Jack didn’t hold back on those raw first minutes: “The first ten minutes after it happened, I was absolutely steaming. I was so angry. I got pulled into a room with the producers and they calmed me down a little bit.”
He admitted the psychological toll of the game had pushed him to the edge: “It’s such a psychological game. You’ve gone through weeks of ‘who can I trust?’ and then it all crashes down in one moment.”
Yet, remarkably, the anger faded fast. “Ten minutes of fury, and then you realise – hang on, it’s not life or death. I just wanted to go home and see my partner and my family.”
Now, with the dust settled, Jack has nothing but praise for the two Traitors who outplayed him. “Stephen acted fantastically – putting on that terrified Faithful facade in the early episodes. We clicked instantly, we’re so similar, and I genuinely thought he was a Faithful because he seemed as scared as me. When he turned that slate… it was a testament to how brilliantly he played. Rachel too. They were both phenomenal. I’m genuinely really happy for them. They absolutely deserved it.”
Fans had been convinced Jack was the winner after he openly shared his plans for the prize money: a house deposit and a proposal to his girlfriend Kay. Though the cash slipped away, Jack made good on the promise anyway. In July – just two months after filming wrapped in Scotland – he whisked Kay to Santorini for a romantic yacht tour.
The proposal nearly didn’t happen. Crippled by severe motion sickness, Jack spent much of the cruise at the back of the boat with a bucket. The crew, all in on the secret, asked if he wanted to call it off. But when they anchored near the volcano, his stomach settled just in time. He dropped to one knee, ring hidden in his pocket, and Kay said yes.
“It all went perfectly in the end,” Jack laughed.
Looking ahead, every single co-star from the series will be invited to the wedding – and Jack has a cheeky request for the winning Traitors: “Stephen and Rachel can definitely chip in.”
Meanwhile, the finale delivered record-breaking numbers, averaging 9.4 million viewers with a peak of 9.6 million and a 54.9% audience share – the biggest overnight figure for the civilian version of The Traitors ever.
What started as ten minutes of pure fury has turned into admiration, friendship, and a real-life happy ending for Jack Butler. Proof that sometimes the real prize is what happens after the game ends.