The Traitors star Meryl Williams has set her sights on appearing on Celebs Go Dating after winning the BBC series changed her life.
Meryl, 29, became an overnight star when she won series one of the hit show alongside Hannah Byczkowski and Aaron Evans in December 2022.
Three years on, Meryl revealed how much her life has changed since she scooped £33,000, giving her the freedom to quit her job, relocate from Edinburgh to London and undergo cosmetic surgery.
She has remained a fan favourite from the show and has now revealed she’d be open for more reality TV, expressing an interest in the E4 dating show.
‘I’ve never dated anyone, so I’ve never had a boyfriend,’ Meryl told Daily Mail, admitting that she feared being fetishised because of being born with dwarfism.
‘It’s my biggest fear, so I’ve just never put myself out there,’ she explained. ‘Plus being raised by a single parent – my mum’s like “you will have everything [you need] on you own, never rely on a man!”‘
The Traitors star Meryl Williams has set her sights on appearing on Celebs Go Datingafter winning the BBC series in 2022 changed her life
Meryl continued: ‘I turn 30 this year, so for me it it’s about figuring out dating.’
She also revealed she’d be keen to return to The Traitors if there was ever an All Stars spin-off, but this time, she wouldn’t want to be a Faithful.
‘I wanted to be a Traitor when I first went on,’ she explained. ‘I feel like now after watching four seasons of the show and the celebrity version, I think I’m ready to be a Traitor.’
Meryl also revealed she’d be keen to challenge herself on other shows such as I’m A Celebrity or Race Across The World, having been given the confidence to push herself to try new things after The Traitors.
The prize fund was more than Meryl’s yearly income working at a call centre in Scotland, yet she admitted she didn’t think about the prize fund at the start.
‘We never went on for the money aspect at all but I think around episode 10 me and Hannah looked at each other like “oh s**t, we can actually win.”‘
Meryl dipped into her winnings to undergo forehead reduction surgery after years of insecurity about her brow.
She was open and honest about the procedure on social media, with Meryl explaining she was transparent about her surgery in order to help others considering the operation and answer questions.
Meryl revealed how much her life has changed since she scooped £33,000, giving her the freedom to quit her job, relocate from Edinburgh to London and undergo cosmetic surgery
Celebs Go Dating sees relationship experts Dr Tara Suwinyattichaiporn, Paul C Brunson and Anna Williamson help celebrities using their matchmaking services
Last year, Meryl went under the knife again for breast implants and an uplift at Cosmedicare, revealing it had given her a new lease of confidence.
Meryl had undergone a breast reduction aged 16 because her FF cup chest was out of proportion with her stature, leaving her struggling to find bras that fit.
‘I think people shouldn’t judge other people’s decisions and for me, I just wanted to feel better. I didn’t want to hide myself anymore. I should be confident.
Now Meryl says she’s finished with her cosmetic surgery plans and is preparing to enter her 30s happy and confident.
‘I just feel like I’m living, I’ve got everything I wanted,’ she mused.
‘I’ve now moved down to London, there’s my mum, my gran and my three dogs and we’re just exploring this together so I feel content.
Meryl revealed that watching the latest series of The Traitors brought back memories of her own time in the castle but said that it looked ‘a billion times harder’ than her experience.
‘Even my mum said I wouldn’t have got on the show this season!’ she laughed. ‘The missions are harder, the round table’s a lot more tense.
‘People have got game plans, they’ve watched the other seasons, they’re clued up.
‘Even the Faithfuls are going for the Faithfuls a lot more in this season as well, in our series we had genuine friendship and we all stayed friends after.’
Meryl, 29, became an overnight star when she won series one of the hit show alongside Hannah Byczkowski and Aaron Evans (pictured alongside Claudia Winkleman)
Meryl revealed her one regret from her series was not ‘listening enough’, admitting she was shocked watching back how many clues she missed when the show aired.
‘The hard thing is a lot of people are throwing so much stuff and information at you and a lot of it is gobbledygook but some is key information.’
She joked that the cast had ‘trauma bonded’ over their experience on the show, revealing they keep in touch to this day and discussed the latest series of the show in a group WhatsApp chat.
Meryl added that it was initially a struggle adjusting to be recognised after the show, admitting she struggled because ‘it was hard to differentiate between if someone is looking at me because I’m little or if they’re looking at me because I was on the show.’
Yet she praised the BBC’s aftercare team, revealing they had access to a welfare team and that they’d be given a heads up if there were any inflammatory moments set to air that evening.
Meryl also praised ‘lovely’ host Claudia Winkleman, noting: ‘She actually wants to get to know you as an individual, not just be like “hi, what’s your name” and read off cards.
Nowadays, Meryl spends her days volunteering at Borders Pet Rescue, a Scottish animal rescue centre where she is ambassador, as well as working as a content creator.
She often teams up with comedian Fats Timbo, who was also born with dwarfism, to make humorous but informative videos about their experiences with the condition.
Meryl often teams up with comedian Fats Timbo, who was also born with dwarfism, to make humorous but informative videos about their experiences with the condition
‘A lot of the time people think that I want to talk about my condition but it’s like no – I just want to talk about animals!’ Meryl mused. ‘So I feel like that’s why we do those videos.
‘It’s a sly way of educating without educating. A lot of people watch those videos and think “oh s**t, I’ve done that”, like stared at me or made patronising comments.
‘I relate to Fats completely and she fully gets it. I’d love to do a show or something with her because I feel like there’s a lot of curiosity around the condition but there’s not a lot of advocacy around it.
‘You see a lot of different disabilities on TV which is amazing but not so much with my condition. There needs to be more education.’
Yet as Meryl’s star power continues to rise and she shows no signs of slowing down it seems like she’s doing the perfect job of helping to spread awareness and educate the public.
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