Traitors winner Rachel Duffy reveals her mum has died days after show finale and pocketing £47k for ‘making memories’
THE Traitors winner Rachel Duffy has announced her mum has tragically died.
Rachel, who won the latest series of the BBC show on Friday, shared the sad news that Anne had died aged 70 on Instagram this morning.
Posting on her story, Rachel wrote: “We are heartbroken to share the passing of our beautiful wee mummy.
“We kindly ask for privacy as our family grieves during this difficult time.”
The TV star took home half of the £95,750 prize pot after winning alongside fellow traitor Stephen – and vowed to spend the cash on her mum.
Rachel said: “I just want to create memories with her while I’m still lucky enough to have her, and to create memories with my kids, because they just love their nanny.”
In a poignant photograph shared during the show, Anne was seen proudly holding up a T-shirt which says “My daughter’s a traitor” on the front.
Rachel previously revealed that she would use her winnings to treat her mum Anne – who suffered from Parkinson’s and dementia – to a holiday.
Following her win, Rachel spoke about her mum and said: “It’s a hard one because the show was recorded in May, so at that time her condition wasn’t as severe as it is now, so she’s not fit to travel as much. Now we’re trying to do something closer to home.
“I can’t wait to just sit in front of her, with my kids and the husband, and say, ‘Mummy, what do you wanna do? What can we do that you would just love?’.
“God only knows what she’s gonna say. Just to give her a treat and just to do something really fun with her. I can’t wait. I haven’t spent any yet.”
Rachel even admitted on the show that she got training from an ex FBI agent on the art of lying.
She said she practised keeping a straight face while lying to her lawyer husband, Seamus, until she became so good even he couldn’t tell if she was telling fibs.
Rachel made it no secret she wanted to win the show and she made history with former cyber security consultant Stephen Libby.
During the series, the Head of Communications managed to bag an impressive 123,000 followers on Instagram and approximately 62,200 on TikTok.
Following her win, Rachel said: “It’s the best feeling in the world. I’m really looking forward to not having to lie.
“That’s a lot, that’s a lot of lying, so I’m looking forward to just breathing and just making the nicest memories with my mum that I will remember forever.”
Rachel and Stephen recently became the first pair of traitors to win the series as they took part in the most thrilling endgame yet.
For a while fans were left on tenterhooks convinced Stephen, 32, was going to throw Rachel under the bus and claim the full prize fund but he later admitted he couldn’t go back on his promise – to never vote for her at the round table.
They took part in their final mission — soaring over the lakes of the Scottish Highlands in a helicopter in an effort to boost the prize pot, which had been £76,750 at the start of the episode.
The players then faced off for the last time.
They had to decide whether to end the game to claim the cash prize or vote to banish others in the hope of weeding out any Traitors.
If the Faithfuls eliminated all the Traitors, they would have shared the prize. But if any Traitors made it to the end, they would get the cash instead.
Rachel and Stephen maintained their alliance until the very end, weeding out all the Faithfuls to claim victory for themselves in a first for the BBC show.
Rachel also lost her beloved father, Raymond Mullen, in 2016 when he was 67.
The pair were exceptionally close and she was devastated when he died.
Her older brother is Darren Mullen, who was the manager of football club Newry City, and she also has two other brothers, Neil and Shane, and a sister called Joanne.
