Meryl Williams, one of the three winners of the first civilian series of BBC's The Traitors, broke down in tears as she returned to television screens on First Dates, opening up about her genetic condition and her struggles with self-acceptance.
The 30-year-old appeared on the Channel 4 dating show on October 28, heading to the First Dates restaurant for her first ever blind date. She won The Traitors in 2022 alongside Hannah Byczkowski and Aaron Evans, taking home her share of the £101,050 prize pot.
Emotional admission about her condition
In the episode, Meryl was seen in tears as she spoke about being born with achondroplasia, a genetic condition that causes the most common form of dwarfism. She told her date: "I think with my condition I've never really put myself out there so a lot of the times I've been quite apprehensive like what's people's intentions and yeah so I've kind of limited myself. I've had a lot of troubles when I was growing up about accepting myself."
Speaking to cameras, she admitted: "I hated myself, like I physically hated my condition. I was so angry at the world because I was like why me, and I know that it's such a victim mentality but I was so cross because my mum and my dad were average height, everyone in my family was average height, I should have been average height."
Why she joined The Traitors
Wiping away her tears, she added: "I think it's just accepting something you're born with and having no control." She later said: "It does cause a lot of people to look at me because I am noticeably different so I do get stares or points or laughs, but the reason I went on The Traitors and social media is I thought I'm going to be looked at regardless, why not do something and hope it would educate more people and eliminate that happening to anyone else."
An official synopsis for the episode teased: "The doors to the nation's most romantic restaurant are flying wide open once again — and this series, it's all about one thing: connections. Maître d' Fred Sirieix is back with his trusty team, but tonight there's a connection from the past waiting to be rekindled." It added: "Then there's Meryl, one of the original Traitors, who is stepping away from the round table to find her very own Faithful. There's just one problem: she has never been on a date before. With nerves running high, flight attendant Tom has his work cut out trying to make Meryl feel at ease."
First Dates airs Wednesdays at 10pm on Channel 4.
