The Traitors' Rachel Duffy relieved meeting Claudia Winkleman was not disappointing
The Traitors 2026 winner Rachel Duffy was worried that host Claudia Winkleman would not live up to her expectations - but Rachel was relieved that the star was as kind and supportive as she had hoped.
The Traitors 2026 winner Rachel Duffy worried that meeting host Claudia Winkleman would be disappointing.
But the 54-year-old broadcaster lived up to the 42-year-old head of communications' expectations when they met last year at Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands, the setting for the BBC's game of backstabbing, deceit and betrayal.
Rachel told the new issue of Closer magazine: "You know when you admire someone, and it's like, 'Don't meet your heroes?' I was going, 'Oh, Claudia, please be nice in real life.'
"I love her - I'm still a massive fan."
Claudia's kindness and supportiveness were evident during Rachel's time of heartbreak in January when she lost her mum, Anne, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's in her 40s and later dementia, at the age of 70.
Rachel said: "I saw Claudia briefly at the BAFTAs. She's really lovely and so supportive. After Mum passed away, she even sent me a message. She's just everything you'd think that she would be.
"And she's so pretty in real life."
Days before Anne died, viewers watched as Rachel and 33-year-old cyber security consultant Stephen Libby, the remaining Traitors in the final, snatch the £95,750 jackpot from Faithful, 29-year-old personal trainer Jack Butler.
The pair split the prize between them, and Rachel has used her chunk to treat herself and her children.
Since winning £47,875, Rachel said her life is "90 per cent mum, 10 per cent glitz and glamour".
She added: "I did the pre-BAFTAs party, then the BAFTAs, then The King's Trust Awards, where I was on the same red carpet as George and Amal Clooney.
"Then I had to fly home the next day in time for the school pick-ups. My kids go, 'Mummy, what are you doing for dinner?'
"So no, it's not a showbiz life!"
Season two of The Celebrity Traitors, which stars the likes of actor Richard E. Grant, 69, comedienne Miranda Hart, 53, and singer Leigh-Anne Pinnock, 34, has finished filming.
And Rachel thinks one star will shine out of everyone.
She shared: "I think [comedienne-and-writer] Joanne McNally. She's hilarious. I used my sarcasm and humour in the castle to get away with quite a lot - I think she could do the same.
"Joanne would be amazing. I don't think she'd be shy about going forward and saying how she feels."
Rachel believes that comic Romesh Ranganathan, 48, and Love Island host Maya Jama, 31, would make "phenomenal" Traitors.
