The Traitors star Meryl Williams has admitted she has been able to shrug off cruel trolls online because she deals with abuse ‘on a day to day basis’.

The 25-year-old reality star became the first person with dwarfism to win a UK reality show after triumphing as a Faithful in the BBC’s hit show of bluff and treachery, and while she is now in the public eye, she insisted she has learned to ignore comments on social media.

Appearing on Friday’s episode of Good Morning Britain, she said: ‘I think because I do experience on a day to day basis before the show, if I was to go out in public, quite a lot people a lot of people are shocked.

‘People do stare, and that was before the show. After the show, I did receive some negative comments but it wasn’t anything I’d never heard before. Because I had such a good experience on the show, I just ignored anything else that was negative.

‘I do experience it so I did know what it’d be like for people to stare and point, because that’s what I’ve experienced before. I thought, by doing this, I can at least change some people’s ideas.’

Indeed, Meryl admitted one of the main reasons she decided to apply for the new reality show, which is fronted by Claudia Winkleman, was to ‘raise awareness’ and dispel misconceptions about people living with her condition.

Meryl Williams admits she suffers abuse ‘day to day’ (Picture: ITV)

‘The whole reason why I wanted to go on the show was to raise awareness. A lot of people don’t think that I can do the same things as they can do,’ she explained.

‘I thought, if I go on the show, if I do the exact same challenges as everyone else, we all had level playing fields. So, a lot of challenges, people were like, “Did you get extra time?” No, we literally started the same. I just wanted to show I could do the exact same.’

Meryl was one of the winners (Picture: BBC/Studio Lambert Associates/Paul Chappells)

She added: ‘I just want to show people of all disabilities, including my condition, that they can do whatever they wanna do… Regardless, do not ever feed into negativity, because I think when you think about it, it eats you up inside.’

Meanwhile, Meryl admitted she would like to go into fashion in a bid to make clothing more accessible and affordable for people with dwarfism, as she explained how her grandmother alters adult clothes to fit her.

‘Clothing, it’s a way of expressing yourself,’ she said. ‘I think I maybe would go into that, making clothes more accessible for people with my condition.’

And she’s also open to the idea of exploring a career in television, noting she’s using her share of the £101,050 prize money – which she’s split with fellow winners Aaron Evans and Hannah Byczkowski – to give herself a bit of time to chase her ‘dream’.

She added: It’s always been my dream to go into presenting and stuff. I thought, I’ll give myself six months, and I’ve got that money as a safety blanket and I can just try different things, and see how to pursue that.’

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV1.

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