WINNER of BBC programme The Traitors, Meryl Williams, has quit her job to follow her dream of hosting her own show.

The former Ross High School pupil was one of the stars of the television series that gripped the nation in the lead-up to Christmas.

The dozen episodes were watched by millions of people as 22 strangers played the ultimate game of detection and trust.

Meryl, who shared the £101,050 prize pot with fellow contestants Aaron and Hannah, has now left her role as a customer service agent with H&M.

She said: “I would love to do presenting.

“It has always been my dream from such a young age to have my own show – Minutes with Meryl.

“From the age of primary school, I would want to set up a studio and have someone being the weather presenter, someone being the news person and I would be the presenter.

“That has always been my dream and that would be the end goal.”

East Lothian Courier: Meryl Williams (second from left) is aiming to start a career in television after success on The Traitors. Image: BBC/Studio LambertMeryl Williams (second from left) is aiming to start a career in television after success on The Traitors. Image: BBC/Studio Lambert

The Traitors was filmed in Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands and was hosted by Claudia Winkleman.

Each of the contestants took on a series of missions while they tried to decipher who the traitors were or risk being eliminated.

The series came to a thrilling finale shortly before Christmas.

After a final spectacular mission involving jumping out of helicopters, speedboats and wild boar, it was The Faithful who managed to win this game.

Viewers were treated to a dramatic round table as the other finalists turned on Kieran and banished him, but he left a parting clue for The Faithful by dramatically voting for fellow Traitor Wilfred.

East Lothian Courier: Meryl Williams is aiming to start a career in television after success on The Traitors. Image: BBC/Studio LambertMeryl Williams is aiming to start a career in television after success on The Traitors. Image: BBC/Studio Lambert

Kieran’s gameplay made the others suspect there was still a Traitor in their midst and, around an emotionally charged firepit, they banished Wilfred from the game.

Meryl, who lives in Haddington after growing up in Tranent and attending the town’s Sanderson’s Wynd Primary School, was in “shock” when she found out she was a winner and said: “I was genuinely in shock.

“I think my knees fell to the floor when I found that Wilfred was a Traitor too!

“I was in shock with it all.

“I never expected to win so I never prepared myself for it.

“My brain was in overdrive.

“I just felt in complete and utter shock and it’s still now an utter ‘pinch me’ moment.”

The 26-year-old applied for the show in a bid to raise awareness about her condition, achondroplasia, a type of dwarfism.

East Lothian Courier: Meryl Williams is aiming to start a career in television after success on The Traitors. Image: BBC/Studio LambertMeryl Williams is aiming to start a career in television after success on The Traitors. Image: BBC/Studio Lambert

The condition means that Meryl has short legs and arms but an average-sized torso.

She told the Courier: “People with my condition, in movies it is more comedy.

“When people see somebody in real life, they automatically think it is the same.

“There can be a lot of derogatory comments made, pointing, staring, and I don’t think people have seen a lot of people with my condition and are taken aback.

“Most of the time, children don’t really understand.

“I went on the show to raise awareness and show people I can do exactly the same as everybody else and I did all the missions.”