The Imposter ending explained: Who dies as the truth of Amanda’s lies are exposed?

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What started as a promising family get-together quickly became dangerous. After just four episodes, a scheming individual and a huge business deal created tension for the O’Riley family, ultimately leading to a tragic outcome in the final episode of The Imposter.

From the beginning, it was clear ‘Amanda’ (played by Kym Marsh) was hiding something – the show’s title hinted at it. However, no one, particularly the O’Riley family, could have predicted the trouble she would cause when she came to their quiet neighborhood in Melbourne.

Claire, a resourceful woman working as a receptionist and occasionally using deception, met Simon O’Riley in England. He offered her an unusual proposition: travel to Australia and pose as the daughter his mother had lost years ago.

Simon and Claire have a straightforward scheme: split up their family, take control of the family business, and then sell it for a huge profit. It started well, too – Helen was overjoyed to reconnect with the daughter she’d given up for adoption and didn’t suspect a thing about her true identity.

Simon’s siblings, Kate and Ian, weren’t happy with the plan, particularly because it made them look greedy to their strict mother. Rumors even spread that they were giving their mother too much medication to hasten her death. Their husbands, Todd and Lee, quickly became involved in the drama as well.

Honestly, as a movie fan, I was completely hooked! The more the story unfolded, the more complicated it got – bodies were turning up, everyone had something to hide, and the actual Amanda just seemed to vanish into thin air. It was a total mess, but in the best way!

Here’s how the show reached its gripping conclusion.

The Imposter Ending Explained

Who is the real Amanda?

Okay, so things really start to unravel when Kate figures out this ‘Amanda’ isn’t who she seems. It’s a total deception, and Kate’s determined to find out the truth. She takes matters into her own hands and bravely contacts Bill, Amanda’s actual father, hoping he can shed some light on everything.

Everyone initially hoped Bill could spend some time with Amanda, giving Kate a chance to repair her strained relationship with her. However, things quickly escalated, and a series of dramatic events unfolded instead.

It turned out Bill had already spoken with the real Amanda and knew she was living in Perth with her son. Upset that she was in Melbourne and hadn’t told him, he emailed her asking to meet. This made the real Amanda – Dannii Minogue – realize someone was impersonating her.

Who dies before the finale?

People start dying early and often in the four episodes of the show. The first victim is Ryder, a local criminal who was pressuring Todd about his work. Todd is shown getting rid of the body, but surprisingly, it was actually Claire (who is also Amanda) who committed the murder.

After Ryder caught Todd moving a body, he confronted him and then turned his attention to Todd’s girlfriend, Eden. Ryder tried to blackmail her into silence, and even gave her the drug GHB to calm her down. However, he later regretted it when Todd, under the influence of the drug, showed up at the house where Eden was staying and tragically drowned her in the pool.

The family is devastated by a third death. Ian, the youngest O’Riley sibling, discovers Claire/Amanda’s true identity when he’s caught looking through her purse and finds her passport. To prevent him from revealing who she really is, she poisons him with GHB – a drug Todd had previously discarded – and stages the scene to look like a tragic accident involving autoerotic asphyxiation.

The family is heartbroken by the death, and Helen believes Lee, Ian’s husband, is responsible, pointing to his past struggles with drugs and partying. Meanwhile, Claire/Amanda seems to thrive on the drama, using the funeral as an opportunity to manipulate and get closer to her sick mother.

How does The Imposter end?

Helen is heartbroken over her son’s death, but doubts about ‘Amanda’ are increasing. Kate is puzzled by ‘Amanda’s’ request for Ian to obtain a passport and why she left Ian’s house so quickly. However, Claire, who is secretly ‘Amanda’, is anticipating this and has already obtained a fake passport under her assumed identity to replace her original one.

Kate’s husband, Todd, is confused to discover the drug GHB – which he also uses – in Ian’s system. When Ryder and Eden are found dead on the beach, Todd uses this as a chance to blame Lee, knowing about their connection. He sneaks into Ian’s house to plant more drugs, but is shocked to find Claire/Amanda already there, and neither of them will explain what they’re doing.

Simon, who used to fully support the complex plan, begins to doubt Claire, particularly when she asks him to cover for her on the night Ian passed away.

Claire’s carefully constructed deception begins to fall apart when Helen receives an unexpected visit from Bill. Claire had previously encountered Bill in the UK while working at an adoption agency, where she assisted him in his search for the real Amanda. To avoid facing him, she invents a complicated story to convince Helen to ask him to leave.

With conflicts escalating, Claire/Amanda quickly arranges legal documents giving Simon control of the hotel. She claims Helen’s worsening eyesight makes her unfit to manage the business and pressures her into signing a medical power of attorney and a court order to transfer control.

Bill, still puzzled by everything, goes to Kate’s house and shows Todd a picture of the actual Amanda. Once Todd realizes Claire is pretending to be Amanda, he immediately goes to the hotel to expose her. However, he arrives just as she’s getting into a car, ready to leave on a trip with Simon and Helen.

After publicly revealing that Claire is a fake, she shockingly runs over Todd with her car while Simon watches in horror, leaving him seriously injured. Simon is stuck, though – if he tries to help Todd or explain what happened, he’ll expose his own involvement in the deception.

Claire and Simon collect Helen and drive away, almost colliding with Amanda and her son, Thomas, as they arrive at the hotel. Amanda quickly meets Kate through Bill, and the secret is now out to most people.

Simon finally confronts Claire, and she confesses to murdering Ryder and Ian. She also reveals she planned to kill Helen by making it look like a tragic accident. However, things escalate quickly, and Simon unexpectedly foils her plan, ultimately causing her to fall to her death. When the police arrive, Helen claims she didn’t witness anything, using her blindness as an explanation.

What comes next?

At the hospital, they discover Todd survived the car accident, and Simon is there when he regains consciousness. Simon urges Todd to agree on a consistent story, and later tells others that Claire admitted everything to Todd right before she hit him with her car.

Soon after, Helen was finally able to meet the real Amanda and her grandson, completing their family. The mother and daughter shared a heartfelt embrace as they watched the sunset together.

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The Imposter aired on 5.

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Authors

Tilly PearceFreelance Writer

Tilly Pearce is a freelance TV journalist who covers a wide range of shows, from popular reality series like Love Is Blind to science fiction hits like Fallout. She’s a highly qualified journalist, holding NCTJ Gold Standard accreditation, and has experience working at Digital Spy and Daily Express US, where she previously served as a deputy editor.

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2025-12-19 01:36