Professor Hannah Fry is among the 21 celebrities taking part in the second series of The Celebrity Traitors on BBC One, hosted by Claudia Winkleman. The broadcaster and mathematician joins a line-up that includes Michael Sheen, Richard E Grant, James Blunt, Miranda Hart, Romesh Ranganathan, Joe Lycett and James Acaster.
Born in Essex, the 42-year-old is known for making complex ideas accessible in shows such as Horrible Science and The Secret Genius of Modern Life. She has also dabbled in stand-up comedy, runs a YouTube channel with over 100 million views, and has authored several books.
Divorce and new romance
Hannah, who has more than two million followers on Instagram, was previously married to Phil Lythell, with whom she shares two daughters. The couple divorced in 2022 but maintain a friendly relationship. She told The Times: "There have been very few hiccups, but if such a thing is possible we've basically had a grade A, gold-star divorce."
According to Grazia, Hannah met her new partner, Oli, through the dating platform Hinge. She connected with him using a fresh profile after her initial account was suspended for 'impersonating herself'. She revealed: "Put it this way, I wasn't getting to see men as good as Oli before being banned, and I met him almost immediately afterwards. I mean, correlation isn't causation, except sometimes it is!"
Cancer diagnosis and recovery
Hannah had a hysterectomy following a cervical cancer diagnosis five years ago after a routine smear test. At just 36 years old, as a preventative step, she also had several lymph nodes extracted in case they contained cancer, according to Grazia.
This led to her developing lymphedema – a long-term condition causing limb swelling – which required additional surgery for Hannah to control. She documented her journey in the BBC programme Making Sense of Cancer with Hannah Fry, which featured clips of her receiving test results and eventually getting the all-clear.
Celebrity Traitors experience
Prior to her stint on the programme, Hannah called it "one of the most important, amazing experiences of my life", according to The Scottish Farmer. She continued: "What an absolute treat to be in this beautiful castle, incredible surroundings, and with some of the biggest names in the entire country playing games that a whole team have spent months planning and preparing, all while getting to be involved in strategy and subterfuge. I mean – amazing!"
Speaking about her background in maths, she said: "Have I gone back through the data of all the previous games and tried to find statistically significant patterns? Yes! Are any of these going to help me? Honestly, who knows? !" Celebrity Traitors is on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
