Meryl Williams Addresses Feud with Co-Star Maddy Smedley

The Traitors champ Meryl Williams has revealed she has finally buried the hatchet with her former on-screen rival, Maddy Smedley.

The reality star, 28, who shot to fame in the hit BBC show’s first series in 2022, walked away with a share of the huge cash prize alongside fellow winners Aaron Evans and Hannah Byczkowski. 

But during her time in the castle, it was her fiery bust-ups with Maddy that stole the headlines.

The pair repeatedly clashed over their clashing strategies and opinions, with tensions boiling over in several explosive episodes. 

Meryl even admitted their spats kicked off as early as episode six, telling Hayley Palmer on her talk show Saturday Night with Hayley Palmer: ‘I thought I wouldn’t come across as intimidating but then obviously me and Maddy started having our own tiffs… that started in episode six so [my plan] didn’t work.’

But the TV star has now confirmed the drama is firmly in the past, revealing the pair are on good terms again. 

‘We are friends now,’ Meryl insisted, making it clear there’s no lingering bad blood.

She also gave fans a peek behind the scenes, praising the BBC for its inclusive casting process. 

‘The one thing I’ll take my hats off to The Traitors for is the casting. They are incredible, they ticked all the boxes, with contestants aged 21 to 75, disabled and non-disabled, visually impaired and non-visually impaired’.

It comes after Meryl shared the results of her forehead surgery in before and after snaps as she made a heartbreaking admission about it being ‘one of my biggest insecurities’. 

Back in May, Meryl – who was born with dwarfism – took to her Instagram to tell her followers that she had wanted it done for years and that not many people knew she went under the knife.

The reality star – who hails from Edinburgh – posted pre-surgery photos in a reel, showing off her forehead from the side, before later unveiling her new look.

After the first snap, she added a mirror selfie, explaining how she was having hairline lowering surgery.

Meryl shared a snap of the mapped out lines on her forehead, where the surgeon would operate.

The video, which had a narrator filter as the voiceover, explained she has a ‘new lease of confidence’ after finally getting the op done.

The video explained how Doctor Greg Bran – who is one of London’s leading plastic surgery specialists – from the GBA London clinic, cut along Meryl’s hairline, then pulled her skin up to remove extra skin, before stitching it all back together.

Meryl confessed that to her, it has been worth it. 

Alongside the emotional transformation, she penned: ‘Sharing my forehead reduction / hairline lowering surgery journey [sparkle emoji].

‘Not a lot of people know I under went the surgery it was something I have wanted for years & dealt with one of my biggest insecurities my forehead #surgery.’

She was greeted with overwhelming support from fans in the comments, who shared how they admire her confidence and that she is looking ‘radiant’.

Meryl has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia which affects the growth of cartilage and can lead to a larger forehead. 

Meryl’s new-found confidence comes some months after she was forced to hide in a toilet after being targeted by feral teenagers on a London-bound train.

The TV star won a share of the BBC show’s £101,050 cash prize after appearing on its first series in 2022.

And she admitted to being an ‘easy target’ for a gang of four youths during a January trip to London – after admitting she has only just gained the confidence to travel by train.

Addressing TikTok followers, she admitted she had retreated to a nearby toilet in a bid to escape their verbal abuse.

‘Living with this condition is something that you can’t hide,’ she explained. ‘People see you straight away; they notice you straight away, you’re just an easy target.

‘I got on the train, they sat opposite me because I’m sitting on the seats with tables, and so far they’ve said that I need a stepladder to get on the train, I’m a midget, they’ve watched dwarf throwing, they’ve taken videos of me, they’ve taken photos of me, they said I’ve got sausage fingers, and they’ve laughed at me.’

The Scottish influencer admitted she was staying in the toilet until they left the train, and condemned fellow passengers for not stepping in.

She added: ‘This is all in the space of 10 minutes. I’m on my own right now. Everyone around me has witnessed this, heard this, and no one’s said anything. I don’t know what to do.

‘So I thought, I know they’re getting off at Durham, and they got on at Newcastle, so if you know these people, let me know, four teenagers… so I’m gonna wait in the toilet until the Durham stop, then I’ll go out.’