THE Traitors star Amanda Collier has revealed the BBC One show “saved her life” after medical checks uncovered a serious heart condition.
The former detective, 57, was diagnosed with “quite serious heart disease” after undergoing a CT scan as part of routine health checks for contestants.
Speaking to BBC North West Tonight, Amanda said doctors had first spotted slight heart damage after her sister suffered a heart attack in 2019.
She was put on cholesterol-lowering statins, but when she applied for The Traitors, producers asked her to have another CT scan “just to be sure”.
She said: “It has got a lot worse in the last five years.
“I have a gene which is causing issues with my heart, but I am now on a course of drugs, I have changed my lifestyle, and it has changed my life.
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“The cardiologist said it’s quite serious, but I am on the right path and I will hopefully live as long as I can.”
The former Faithful said heart disease runs in her family and without the show’s “due diligence” she would never have known how serious her condition had become.
‘Very grateful’
“I would never have noticed it because I keep myself fit and healthy. I am quite a fit person,” she said.
“I used to get out of bed and run a marathon, and I can’t do that anymore.
“I have to be really careful about the exercise I do. I still exercise but I do HIIT classes, small sharp bits of exercise. I have had to change my life a bit.”
Amanda added: “I’m regularly checked by the NHS so I’m in a good place.”
She said: “I’m very, very grateful for the show.”
She now volunteers, taking people with disabilities or conditions such as dementia out on trips.
An advocate for the British Heart Foundation (BHF), Amanda said she wants to use her platform to raise awareness of heart disease.
She said: “Heart disease doesn’t have an age.”
As well as her life-changing diagnosis, Collier said she had an “amazing” time on the show.
She described the experience as “intense, fun and nerve-wracking”, adding that the missions were “absolutely hilarious”.
Amanda, who is originally from Bolton and Farnworth but now lives in Brighton, was eliminated from the show at the round table on Thursday.
A now-retired senior Metropolitan Police detective, she was banished from the castle shortly after revealing her secret identity to her closest friend in the game, traitor Rachel Duffy.
She became the seventh contestant to leave the castle in the fourth UK series of the hit show, hosted by Claudia Winkleman, which sees players split into Faithfuls and Traitors as the latter attempt to “murder” the rest.
