Meryl won The Traitors alongside Aaron Evans and Hannah Bychowski, splitting the £101,050 jackpot between them.
The 26-year-old is 4ft 2inches and has achondroplasia. She’s consistently praised the show for its inclusivity, believing she might be the only person with her condition to have won a reality TV show.
But following her triumph, Meryl has detailed horrific experiences she’s faced while doing everyday things such as food shopping or just walking down the street and wants to ‘defy’ her bullies.
‘Throughout school I was lucky and I was treated the same as everyone else, but in public I face discrimination on an every day basis,’ she said.
Speaking to the Scottish Daily Express, she continued: ‘There’s not enough awareness of my condition. I think people often see some sort of hilarity in it because often dwarfs are in pantomimes and because of the Oompa-Loompas in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
‘A lot of people are taken aback – they point and laugh. I’ve had people film me and hysterically laugh when I’m doing a weekly shop.
‘I feel on edge when I walk past a group of teenage boys, and don’t leave the house on my own. People sometimes mistake me for a child and ask where my mum is.’
Since winning The Traitors, Meryl told Metro.co.uk all about her next goals, hoping to land her own TV talk show.
‘I’d like to work in a different career path and I would really like to break into the television industry – I’d love to do presenting, something like that,’ she said.
‘But I’m going to use that money for flexibility to try and get into that industry and keep on trying.
‘It’s definitely going to give me some options now to try and use this time and definitely use this exposure to try and ride the wave.’
The Traitors is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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