Sebastian Croft Game Of Thrones turned into a live talking point when Croft won the first Celebrity Traitors challenge in the season 2 premiere and then drew attention for the way he sprinted through the water. The result put the 24-year-old actor in an early lead for the episode’s opening task, but the clip that spread was his run, not the key he claimed.
Scottish Highlands water run
The first challenge took place in the cold waters of a loch in the Scottish Highlands, where the celebrities raced to rescue crates from a pirate shipwreck. Croft pulled on a rope at a sailing mast to claim a key attached to it, and that move made him the first winner of the night’s challenge.
That setup matters because the task was part of the prize pot for the winner’s chosen charity after the game ended, so the opening round carried more than bragging rights. For a premiere built around competition, Croft’s early success gave him immediate screen time before the season settled into its larger game.
Reddit and the run
Viewers on Reddit latched onto the sprint instead of the win. One viewer wrote, "Please tell me someone has made a GIF of Sebastian 'running' towards the mast. I laughed out loud," while another said, "He was like a marionette; it was physics-defying!"
A separate account called it "The most Muppety run I've ever seen" and another added "graceful like a gazelle!" The reaction turned a standard challenge completion into a shareable moment, which is exactly how early reality-TV clips escape the episode and start doing the work of promotion for the rest of the season.
Bash after Heartstopper
Croft, who is otherwise known as Bash, came into Celebrity Traitors with a recognisable screen profile. He played Ben Hope in Netflix's 2022 series Heartstopper, appeared in Dampyr, How to Date Billy Walsh and Get Away, and received a BAFTA Children's Award nomination in 2019 for Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans.
He has also launched an independent music career in late 2025 with his debut single Tokyo, and he has 1.6million followers on social media. That combination of acting credits and online reach helps explain why a sprint through freezing water became a clip people were ready to replay, and why the first challenge gave him an early share of attention alongside Bella Ramsey, Sharon Rooney, Richard E Grant, Michael Sheen, Jerry Hall, Ross Kemp and James Blunt.
The early read on Croft is simple: he already has the season’s most replayed moment, even if the mission outcome beyond the key is still not laid out. In a game designed to reward quick reads and sharper instincts, starting with a win and a viral run is a better opening than most contestants get.
