Former Traitors champion Meryl Williams appeared on Channel 4's First Dates tonight for her first-ever blind date, during which she opened up about living with achondroplasia. The 30-year-old, who won the first civilian series of the BBC show in 2022, became emotional while discussing her condition.
From the round table to the First Dates restaurant
Williams found fame as one of three winners on the debut civilian series of The Traitors, alongside Hannah Byczkowski and Aaron Evans, sharing the £101,050 prize pot. In the four years since, she has remained active on social media, keeping followers updated on her life.
Tonight's episode of First Dates sees Williams enter the restaurant hoping to find her perfect match, with Fred Sirieix and his team on hand. An official synopsis for the episode teased that the doors to the restaurant are open once again, with connections at the centre of the series.
Opening up about achondroplasia
During the episode, Williams confided in her date about her condition, saying: "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 directly to camera, she added: "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."
Brushing away tears, she continued: "I think it's just accepting something you're born with and having no control."
Turning attention into education
Williams, who was born with achondroplasia, a genetic condition that results in the most prevalent type of dwarfism, also spoke about the attention her condition brings. She 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."
First Dates airs Wednesdays at 10pm on Channel 4.
