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Rachel Duffy has announced the passing of her mother, writing on Instagram that she is “heartbroken” at the death of her “beautiful wee mummy”.
The 42-year-old shared the top prize with Stephen Libby as the winner of the latest series of The Traitors on Friday, becoming the first female Traitor to win the BBC show.
On the final episode, the TV star from Newry in Northern Ireland became emotional as she talked about how she wanted to spend the prize money making memories with her family.
She had spoken fondly of her mum throughout the show and revealed she was the reason she took part.

Duffy spoke about her mum’s battle with Parkinson’s Disease and also dementia, throughout the series.
She even said how she wanted to take her mum on holiday to create memories.
“I rang my mummy this morning… I can’t wait to come home and give her a big hug and say what will we do?”, she said following her win.
“Anything you want let’s go do it. As long as I get to spoil my family that’s all I care about,” she added.
“When you know her memories are going and you have an opportunity to help her create the nicest ones ever, that is very precious,” she said speaking of her mum.
Rachel’s sister Joanne, speaking after the final, said how she wished to spend her winnings showed her sister’s true character.
“Because Rachel wanted to get in there and get that money for mummy and what she wanted it for meant that it meant so much more than just the money”, she said.
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27th January 2026
11:06am GMT