The Traitors medical check-up revealed ‘serious heart disease’, says contestant Amanda

The Traitors star Amanda Collier has said the “due diligence” of the series may have saved her life.

The former detective, 57, had been a Faithful on the hit BBC programme before she was banished at the round table earlier this week.

Following her exit, Collier shared that the medical checks required of all the contestants revealed that she had a serious heart condition that she had been previously unaware of.

Collier, who is originally from Bolton but now lives in Brighton, said she was diagnosed with “quite serious heart disease” following a CT scan she underwent before appearing on the show.

The condition runs in Collier’s family, but the former Metropolitan Police detective said she would not have been diagnosed herself without the “due diligence” of the BBC.

Speaking to BBC North West Tonight, she explained that doctors had noted slight damage to her heart during a check-up that was prompted by her sister’s heart attack in 2019. As a result she was put on cholesterol-lowering statin pills.

The Traitors medical check-up, however, revealed that “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,” she said. “The cardiologist said it's quite serious, but I am on the right path and I will hopefully live as long as I can.”

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Speaking about the surprise diagnosis, Collier said: “I would never have noticed it because I keep myself fit and healthy. I am quite a fit person.”

“I used to get out of bed and run a marathon,” she said, adding that she “can’t do that anymore”.

“I have to be really careful about the exercise I do. I still exercise but I do HIIT [high intensity interval training] classes, small sharp bits of exercise. I have had to change my life a bit,” she said.

Collier continued: “The good news is that I'm now on a course of drugs and I've changed my lifestyle, and I'm regularly checked by the NHS so I’m in a good place.”

She added: “I’m very, very grateful for the show.”

Collier became the seventh contestant to be eliminated from the ongoing fourth season of The Traitors. During her time in the castle, she kept her previous profession as a senior detective under wraps to boost her chances of winning the competition.

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Just before her banishment, Collier let fellow player Rachel – who she did not know was a Traitor – in on the secret. The revelation resulted in chaos, however, when Rachel told the contestants what Collier had said and Fiona (a fellow Traitor) accused her of lying.

The group ultimately sided with Rachel and banished Fiona from the competition.

Speaking to Ed Gamble on the Traitors Uncloaked podcast, Fiona has now admitted that she believed Rachel the whole time, and was simply strategising in order to gain an advantage.

The Traitors continues on BBC One at 8pm on Wednesday, with episodes airing each week on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

In light of her heart disease diagnosis, Collier is now an advocate for the British Heart Foundation and said that she wants to use her platform to raise awareness of heart disease.

“I want to use what I’ve got, and what I have unmasked just over the last couple of weeks, to tell people that heart disease doesn't have an age, young and old people can get heart disease,” she said.