Hannah Fry: Celebrity Traitors star’s career, family and cancer diagnosis
Celebrity Traitors season two will soon be at everyone's door to watch on in shock, frustrations, and deep investment. And along with that, will come the introduction of Professor Hannah Fry.
For those who don't know who she is, or perhaps want to know more about her, Hannah Fry is a mathematician, who has appeared on TV shows such as Trainspotting Live, and also some radio work. But above all else, Hannah Fry's life, career and illness ahead of the BBC show has been laid out bare, and it's immensely interesting.
Her switch to national TV has come as a bit of a change from the academic, who seems to have swapped the halls of Cambridge University as a professor, for Celebrity Traitors.
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READ MORE: Celebrity Traitors season 2 cast, start date, TV schedule, and favourite to win
And if her previous roles have anything to so with it, it can only prove that Hannah Fry is the best person to bet on winning the whole thing.
Professor Hannah Fry is highly sought after thanks to her academic skills, but while her professional life has been on the up lately, personally, Hannah has had a tough time with her cervical cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Who is Hannah Fry and what does she do?
Hannah Mary Fry is an Essex born mathematician, author and broadcaster, who is currently serving under Cambridge University's professorship.
Previously an academic at the University College London, Hannah, 42, isn't just smart. She actually holds a PhD in fluid dynamics, which is the study of physics and engineering and its fluids in motion.
Fry joined Cambridge as its first Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics in 2025, where the uni said she is one of the nation's best.
"Hannah is an outstanding mathematician and researcher, and one of the UK’s best maths communicators," said Professor Colm-cille Caulfield, Head of DAMTP. "Mathematics affects so many aspects of our everyday lives in interesting and exciting ways, and Hannah will strengthen the excellent work already being done at Cambridge in this area. We in DAMTP, along with our Faculty of Mathematics colleagues in the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics, are so excited to have her join us."
What does Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics mean?
To help the public understand what the Public Understanding of Mathematics means, it can be boiled down to this: It helps to make mathematics more understandable to wider audiences via demonstrating how data and patterns can impact daily life, be seen in things like television shows, radio, podcasts and books to encourage people to be interested in math. Like watching Countdown.
When it comes to Hannah's work, she has done a lot, from communicating mathematics and engaging diverse audiences, which earned her a Christopher Zeeman Medal in 2018 and also the Royal Society David Attenborough Award in 2024.
She is also the President of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications.
However, she previously researched the mathematics of cities and patterns in human behaviour, and it's the human behaviour part that can be a great tool for her whilst on the show.
What TV programmes has Hannah Fry presented?
While this might be your first time being introduced to Hannah, she's actually been on TV for some time.
For example, you may have seen her on things revisiting mathematics, health, and science.
This includes TV shows, documentaries and radio segments such as:
• The Secret Genius of Modern Life
• Making Sense of Cancer with Hannah Fry
• Curious Cases on BBC Radio 4
• The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures
• Horizon documentaries
• The Great British Intelligence Test
• Have I Got News for You
• The Rest Is Science
Considering her job and studies focus on making mathematics understandable to you and me, the above shows have utilised her particular skillset, and personally, I'm hoping she throws in a few math problems to get people thinking.
She's even written some books for people who want to learn more, too.
What books has Hannah Fry written?
If you’ve been staring at your book shelf and noticed there aren’t many academic books – it's time to get online.
Hannah’s books have received a lot of praise for the way she’s able to concisely explain things to be more digestible (who’d have thought?).
For example, she wrote The Mathematics of Love to help people understand their love life through a science and calculations, Hello World, which talks about algorithms and the limitations of technology.
Then there's The Indisputable Existence of Santa Claus – a story about Christmas traditions, but using probability and math.
Lastly, you might enjoy The Complete Guide to Absolutely Everything. This book looks at human nature in a way that's very niche and fresh.
Is Hannah Fry related to Stephen Fry?
She is not related to Stephen Fry.
Despite the pair sharing the same last name, both being cast in different seasons of Celebrity Traitors, and both sharing similar backgrounds in academia... they're simply not kin.
Could Hannah Fry’s math expertise help on Celebrity Traitors?
Absolutely. When it comes to watching celebs try to deceive one another, it's all really about math, isn't it? For example, it's a game of probabilities. Who could be a Traitor, and who is likely to be one based on who is voted off time and time again.
There's also the case of having to study human behaviour, something Hannah is fluent in. Who is lying, who is telling the truth, what are they giving away? These are things Hannah may be able to figure out with ease.
Then, because she has so much experience with finding patterns within complex data, and communicating those things in a more simplified way – she could easily separate the useful information and even get people to band together if she wanted to divide and conquer.
As everyone who has watched the show will know – nothing is easy to understand in the castle, and trickery is common.
So maybe she'd be able to suss out what's real and what's not thanks to her credentials. However, she could also be seen as a threat thanks to her intelligence and framed to be voted out.
Is Hannah Fry a Traitor or a Faithful?
Hannah's role has not been revealed yet. Stay tuned.
Is Hannah Fry married and does she have children?
Hannah was previously married to mathematician Phil Lythell until separating in 2022 in the wake of her cervical cancer diagnosis and treatments back in 2021, at 36.
Before splitting, the pair had been married for nine years, and share two daughters together.
In previous interviews, Hannah has shared her positive co-parenting experience with her ex, and has since moved on with a new partner, Oli Sanger.
Hannah Fry’s cervical cancer diagnosis and recovery
Hannah has been open about her cervical cancer journey, which led to the academic to need a radical hysterectomy to treat.
However, her treatment left her with lymphoedema, a 'long-term (chronic) condition that causes swelling in the body's tissues', per the NHS.
In the aftermath of her cancer diagnosis, Hannah went on to explore the statistics, realities and risks involved in treatment, which she talks about in Making Sense of Cancer with Hannah Fry.
She told Wired of the ordeal: “It looked as though the cancer was in four of the nodes, but we weren’t totally sure. The surgeons decided to do a very radical and aggressive surgery. They essentially took out about a third of my abdomen.”
Despite trying to calculate her treatment risks, she went on to say that it was difficult.
“These are not nice treatments—they have life-changing repercussions,” she said. “With cancer, you’re often fighting an invisible enemy that may or may not be there. And even if it is there, it may or may not pose a real threat.”
However, she revealed that they unknowingly 'took a very risk-averse route that we didn’t need to'.
She told the outlet: “It’s not really about regret. It’s just that I feel like the calculation was made without me having the chance to put what I really cared about into the equation.”
Topics: Celebrity, Health, The Traitors, TV
Britt Jones