The Traitors star Matthew Hyndman has spoken out about his experience of escaping gay conversion therapy during his twenties. The creative director, who made headlines last week on the BBC show, claimed his church in Northern Ireland tried to 'cure' his sexuality while he worked as a missionary.
Growing up in a close-knit congregation, Hyndman described his coming out as 'catastrophic'. He wrote in a column for The Independent that he was wrestling with a growing awareness of his sexuality, which he had been told would lead to eternal damnation. Mission leaders demanded he undergo therapy and publicly confess and repent in front of 400 fellow missionaries.
Hyndman refused the 'counselling' and is glad he had the strength of mind to do so, as he did not need to change or cure himself. In 2020, he founded the Ben Conversion Therapy movement, which called on the UK government to ban any effort to change or suppress a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.
He later moved to London to build a new life and endured years of silence from his family, with nothing of his old life remaining. In 2024, Labour revealed plans to ban conversion therapy for gay and transgender people, but the promised UK-wide ban has since been delayed.
Hyndman also made Traitors history last week when he asked the Traitors to 'seduce' him, taking what he called a 'massive risk' by offering himself up for recruitment during a challenge.
