As Celebrity Traitors' Miranda Hart opens up on health issues - her chronic illness explained

The Celebrity Traitors star Miranda Hart has become a breakout favourite on the show this season, after appointing herself the Miss Marple of the castle and proving herself to be a successful Traitor catcher.

On the show tonight (16 October), she mentioned how "exciting" she found it to be taking part in a physically demanding challenge, given her experience with ill-health over recent years.

The sitcom icon has spoken publicly in the past about being diagnosed with Lyme disease, and later with Myalgic encephalomyelitis, or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).

Related: The Celebrity Traitors stars "turned to show's psychotherapist for support" during filming

ME causes obstacles such as extreme fatigue, insomnia and brain fog.

According to Lyme Disease UK, Miranda said she became unwell as a teenager and had never since had a normal level of energy. This, in turn, led to an ME/CFS diagnosis - with Lyme disease not being confirmed as that initial root cause until 2020.

Speaking to the BBC ahead of her appearance on The Celebrity Traitors, she said: "I haven't done much TV work for a long time, having only recently come out of long-term ill health issues and when I was offered this, my whole body sort of relaxed, I smiled, and I just wanted to jump about like a schoolgirl with joy.

"It's just fun. It's outdoors, it’s games. All the stuff I love. It's play basically. And I'm passionate about encouraging people to play more generally, and this game is that in spades.

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"It’s a brilliant television show – the only flaw in taking part is that as a fan of the show it will be less fun to watch it with myself in it!"

Asked how she's feeling now, she said: "I'm still living with elements of ME, and that brings fatigue and pain to manage, but I have come to a point where I feel well enough to step out, and that's also partly why I'm doing this.

"The joy of mucking about on television again will hopefully outweigh some of the challenges. And I think it will be challenging on my body, so it'll be interesting, and it'll take some courage as this is a big next step."

She added: "When you live with a chronic illness, it's invisible, so people don't know that you're sitting there in pain. But then it reminds you that everybody's got their thing.

"So, I'm also really looking forward to making friends and looking after each other and hopefully they can carry me up a hill or whatever we're going to have to do!"

On tonight's show, during the latest Mission, she said: "I mean, three or four years ago, due to illness, I thought I may not ever have a gentle walk around a park again.

"I find myself up a Scottish highland, wheelbarrowing along a very large head... It's very exciting."

Celebrity Traitors is available to watch on BBC One and iPlayer.

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Shaun is an Evening News Editor at Digital Spy, with over a decade of experience reporting on all things pop culture. He has written for outlets including Metro, Attitude, Huffington Post, The Mirror, Yahoo!, Pink News and Express Online, specialising in TV, movies, soaps, music and LGBTQ+ issues. He is also a BAFTA Rocliffe-winning scriptwriter, having written episodes of the soap Hollyoaks, the official Steps musical Here & Now and multiple Offie Award-nominated plays. He studied English Literature and Drama at the University of East Anglia, and will happily talk at length about Desperate Housewives to anyone who'll listen.