Action for Children received an £83,500 donation from Maya Jama after The Celebrity Traitors final, the charity confirmed to the Press Association. Its fundraising director, Katherine Woods, welcomed the contribution, and the organisation’s own website now thanks Jama. The donation follows the BBC series two final broadcast on October 30, 2026.
Jama had been playing as a Traitor and was banished at the final roundtable. Sebastian Croft and Romesh Ranganathan ultimately won as Faithfuls, as the BBC confirmed in its October 30 winner interviews. Jama’s subsequent donation gives her chosen charity support despite her elimination from the competition.
The donation and the show’s prize pot are different amounts
The PA report carried by The Standard gives the donation as £83,500. It separately describes the programme’s £83,000 prize fund, shared by the two winners at £41,500 each. Ranganathan chose the Refugee Council and Croft chose Choose Love; Action for Children is the recipient of Jama’s separate contribution.
In the social post reproduced by PA, Jama said she had donated what she would have won for her chosen charity. That explains the link with the programme, while the amount comes from the recipient’s confirmation. The £83,500 donation and £83,000 television prize should retain their separate labels when the final is recapped.
What Action for Children does
Action for Children describes its work as protection and practical help for children and young people, alongside support for families. Woods told PA the donation would help the charity provide practical and emotional support. That is the organisation’s stated purpose for the contribution; no allocation to a named project was specified in the confirmation.
The charity’s website also gives concrete routes to assistance. Its Parent Talk service offers free online advice for parents of children aged 0–19, including articles and one-to-one live chat with a qualified parenting coach. Its local-service finder is a separate route for families looking for support in their community.
Where to follow the confirmation and the final
Readers checking the donation can use Action for Children’s own public thank-you and the linked PA report for the named recipient confirmation and amount. For the programme outcome, the BBC’s winner interviews identify Croft and Ranganathan and explain Croft’s connection with Choose Love. These sources answer different parts of the story.
The final settled who won the competition; the recipient’s response establishes a further charitable contribution after it. Keeping the three recipients and the two amounts distinct gives a clearer account of where the support is going. Any later claim about how Jama’s donation was spent would need a further report from the charity.
Prepared by the editorial team from the linked primary records and reviewed public originals.
- Action for Children official homepage thanking Maya ↗
- PA recipient interview carried by The Standard ↗
- BBC Media Centre October30 winners and interviews ↗