I came for The Celebrity Traitors. I stayed for Hannah Fry – the kind of role model we need more of

I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that I had no idea who Hannah Fry was before she went on The Celebrity Traitors. Turns out, I’d been severely missing out on the kind of woman we should all be paying more attention to. 

When the lineup for The Celebrity Traitors series two was released, everyone was excited about the same names. Miranda Hart. Michael Sheen. Richard E Grant. All great people. But Professor Hannah Fry flew under the radar, and I wasn’t the only one who’d never heard of her. 

Some people thought she was Stephen Fry’s daughter. A lot of people actually. Just because two people are highly educated and have the same surname doesn’t mean they’re related. But I see where the mistake was made. Others saw her title “mathematician” and were instantly confused. 

Credit: BBC

But as soon as she came on screen, everything changed. Fry, a Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, best-selling author and broadcaster, instantly won everyone over with her relatable personality, intelligence, humour and infectious zest for life. 

She came in with a plan. Use her complex mathematical theories to suss out the Traitors. And everyone was instantly invested. Even when she was made a Traitor and unfortunately banished, people were still using her formula to identify patterns in behaviour and try to work out how the show would end. 

Now, she’s the most followed person after the show, gaining a very impressive 200,000 followers on Instagram despite exiting the show pretty early on. A whole new audience of young people has discovered who she is thanks to The Traitors, and her iconic Claudia Winkleman Halloween costume at Maya Jama’s Halloween party, and I couldn’t think of a better role model for today’s youth. 

hannah fry can we please go for a pint. i can do mon, tues, weds, thurs, fri, sat or sun. thanks https://t.co/q58vwhRGlL

— gee (@geeeeooorgia) November 1, 2026

Most Read

It’s out! Who gets married and who doesn’t at Love Is Blind season 11 weddings has leaked

The 14 UK universities producing the most employable grads in 2027, according to hiring managers

I know where it went wrong with American Horror Story, and it’s all about Ryan Murphy’s ‘type’

Born in 1984 in Harlow, Essex, Hannah came from a working-class family. Her father was a factory worker who made hydraulic lifts for lorries, and her mother stayed at home. Her love for maths started one summer when she was 11 years old, when her mum made her solve a page of maths problems every day before she went back to school. When she returned, she realised she was way ahead all the other kids. 

Fry went on to study mathematics at University College London (UCL) for her undergraduate degree. Then, she got her PHD in fluid dynamics and Navier-Stokes equations from the same university in 2011. If, like me, you have no idea what that is, it’s all about analysing how fluids move using maths. 

She gained public fame in 2014 after a stand-up comedy night which led to a viral TED Talk called The Mathematics of Love, where she explored how maths could be applied to relationships. This kickstarted a book with the same name and a whole host of different BBC documentaries. 

Credit: BBC

On top of a YouTube channel with almost 1.5 million subscribers, podcasts, best-selling books, eight prestigious mathematics and science awards and being a professor at Cambridge, Fry is a mother of two daughters with her ex-husband, British sports writer Phil Lythell. She helped thousands of women after opening up and creating a documentary about her cervical cancer diagnosis in 2020 too, for which she underwent a radical hysterectomy. 

The 42-year-old has spent her life dedicated to making complex mathematical and scientific processes not only accessible but entertaining for everyone. And in a world where being educated is no longer regarded so highly and many young people play down their academic abilities to try and fit in, Hannah is such a refreshing example of female representation. 

Amongst the influencers getting famous for doing nothing and everyone wanting their 15 minutes of fame, we need more role models like Hannah. Her Instagram bio really says it all: “Maths Professor @cambridgeuniversity, science writer and all round bad ass.” 

For all the latest news about The Celebrity Traitors, like The Holy Church of The Traitors on Facebook. Featured image credit: BBC