The Traitors star Alexander Dragonetti has thanked fans for their immense support after they raised over £61,000 for a charity.
During his time on the show, the former British diplomat revealed that if he won the BBC series, he wanted part of his share to go to The Royal Mencap Society.
Although he didn’t win, the 38-year-old has still managed to secure a huge amount of money for the charity which has now received more money than he could have won.
Over the past week fans have donated a jaw-dropping amount to the charity, with Alexander now expressing his gratitude.
‘I want to put on record how grateful I am to people for donating and raising awareness, it makes such a difference,’ he said during an appearance on Good Morning Britain on Thursday.
Speaking about sharing his intentions for the prize money, Alexander said he’d been in ‘two minds about whether to bring it up’.
‘But I’m so glad I did it. It was so sensitively done. I’m so glad I got to that point in the game otherwise I wouldn’t have talked about it. It came up organically,’ he continued.
He then went on to speak about his younger brother, who had global development delay and autism, and died when he was just 17 years old.
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‘My relationship with him was everything. He lit up the room. He was so much cooler than his brother, which isn’t hard. Being his brother was one of the happiest periods of my life. I thought I would be his protector for life. His loss was tough,’ he said.
‘The camp was the week he’d look forward to the most. Society is not necessarily an easy place, but we as a family created a kind of theatre set and that was getting harder as he got older. He could just be himself in that environment and my parents got a break for a week which was so important.’
This week the charity announced on X: ‘Over £61,000 has been donated to Mencap by more than 4,000 amazing people after hearing Alexander Dragonetti’s story.’
The former British diplomat made it to the final of the latest season of the BBC series but was banished by fellow Faithfuls Jake Brown, Leanne Quigley and Francesca Rowan-Plowden.
A few nights before, the remaining contestants had all spoken at a dinner party about what they would spend any of the winnings on if they got to the end.
He revealed that his brother had global development delay and autism, and died when he was just 17 years old.
He said: ‘I would like to give some money to a charity that I really care about. My brother had special needs and used to go to a summer camp, and I’d like to send some money their way to keep it going because it gives parents a break.
‘My parents did an incredible job with my brother and for them to get even a week a year…looking after someone with special needs can be a challenging job…these were a brilliant thing for my family, and I would love to help keep it going.’
Speaking to the camera in an emotional moment, Alexander, who also volunteered as a carer at Mencap for five years, said he was 24 when his brother died and how he’d ‘missed out on a lot’.
In an interview with Metro on January 25, Alexander was asked about people donating to the charity on his behalf.
‘I mean, first of all, if people have shown you support or donated to that cause. Thank you. That is phenomenal.
He then spoke about his personal experience: ‘Being a carer is sort of something that I think sometimes can be under-appreciated or under-seen. And if I can do anything to amplify that cause, I would love to it’s extremely important to me.’
He added: ‘It would be one of the things that I would be most proud of – if not the thing I’d be most proud of – if I could use my experience to amplify that message and to bring support to that cause.
‘I think it’s important for me to say that it shaped me hugely being part of the care team for my brother because it was sort of my family unit was there to make his life a good one. I really think it was, and I’m really proud of that.
‘Going through the show, it was sort of a driving motivation that I draw great strength from that.’
Mencap, a charity that supports people with learning disabilities, spoke about the influx of support from thousands of people.
‘We are really grateful to Alexander for courageously sharing his personal story about his late brother who had a learning disability on The Traitors. Despite not winning on Friday night Alexander remained faithful to the end and captured the hearts of the nation – he is our champion!’ Mencap’s chief executive of learning disability Jon Sparkes OBE told Metro.
‘Telling his story has inspired a tremendous wave of generosity from the public. Their overwhelming support for Mencap has been incredible, with generous donations around £30,000 [which has now more than doubled]. These donations are needed more now than ever as people with a learning disability continue to face extensive inequalities every day.
‘We know that when the experiences of people with a learning disability, and their loved ones, are represented in the media, it helps to change attitudes and make our society more inclusive. We loved watching Alexander’s journey throughout the show and want to thank him for all that he’s done.’
In an update shared earlier this week, Mencap wrote on X: ‘Over £30,000 has been donated since Friday by 2,000 people and the total is going up all the time!’
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If Alexander had split the Traitors cash prize four ways – considering he finished fourth – he’d have won £23,650.
If Frankie had been banished first, and then the prize had been split three ways between Alexander, Leanne and Jake, they would have received £31,533 each.
When watching the final episode of this season, many fans posted on social media about how to support Mencap.
After the donations rolled in, user bigwows wrote on X: ‘Chuffed to little bits to see donations rolling in to Mencap charity, presumably in appreciation of Alexander. It would be great if we could all raise more than the total prize money!’
Although Alexander was seemingly eliminated during the first episode of this season, he then returned and became a fan favourite.
Ahead of the finale he spoke about what he’d learnt about himself taking part in the series.
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‘I’ve always struggled to be somebody who shows their emotions, not least because when my brother died, it was so overwhelming, so deeply emotional, that I just I struggled to go back there,’ he explained.
‘I try to shut all that off and I always think that if I make the best choices, I can avoid ever having to feel like that again. I think the game has really taught me of the importance of being vulnerable.
‘I think that’s something I learnt over the course of the game, that being messy and human and vulnerable is how you actually connect with people, and it’s something I’ll try to do more of.’
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The Traitors is streaming on BBC iPlayer.
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