Harry Clark: Yours faithfully

Previous Traitors winner Harry Clark reflects on his own experiences of the competition and reveals how a pilgrimage set him back on the right path.

Let the mind games begin! A new group of guests have arrived at Ardross Castle in the hauntingly beautiful Scottish Highlands for BBC1’s Celebrity Traitors. But some will meet an untimely end as they take part in the murder mystery-style game based on subterfuge, betrayal and instinct.

There are 19 contestants who have signed up for the psychological reality competition, with the prize pot – of up to £100,000 – being split between the charities chosen by whoever survives ‘murder’ or ‘banishment’ and makes it to the end.

An important skill needed to succeed in the show is the ability to ask the right questions. It’s an art which, as a journalist, I like to think I’ve mastered. 

But when I meet Harry Clark, who won the second series of the regular format of The Traitors, I start our Zoom call with an obvious one: What was your favourite part of being in the show?

He replies with a refreshingly honest, if bemused: ‘I think it’s pretty easy isn’t it? Winning.’

But he softens, elaborating: ‘I was overwhelmed and grateful for the whole experience. Getting chosen as a “traitor” meant that I could play my game, but all it takes is for someone to tell a lie and try to get you out, so there was a God watching over me.’

God has played an important role in Harry’s life – a subject which he talks about in his autobiography, Staying Faithful. As well as exploring his upbringing, his experiences of military life and his appearance on The Traitors, the book highlights how he grew up going to church with his family. 

He was interested in faith from a young age and enjoyed discussing the Bible at Sunday school and on Christian retreats with his friends.

Although Harry has moved on from The Traitors to other projects, I’m intrigued to find out what role his faith played in the TV show that catapulted him into the public eye. 

I wonder how he reconciled his beliefs with the programme’s requirement to deceive. He equates it to playing Monopoly with his family – albeit with higher financial stakes.

‘I just saw The Traitors as a game,’ he explains. ‘Some people go wrong and lose their heads because they take it too seriously. 

'But I always knew that I wasn’t physically murdering people – and if the shoe was on the other foot, other contestants would do the same. I wasn’t stressed, because I gave it everything and I couldn’t have done any different.’

Harry’s faith also contributed to his healthy perspective on the competition.

‘It kept me strong,’ he says. ‘When I was in the castle, I was praying for God to keep my mind clear, provide strength and watch over me. It gave me a sense of calmness, because that’s what faith has always been in my life.

‘Prayer also gave me a sense of relief and took me away from the game. I think that was the biggest help, because I wasn’t overthinking or overcomplicating it.

'And, because I had an escape through my faith, it allowed me to sleep when I could and be re-energised for the next day.’

It would be tempting to typecast Harry as the traitor depicted on our TV screens. But, aged 24, he has crammed a lot of other experiences into his life, including years spent serving as a helicopter engineer in the British Army.

At one point during his army career, he went through an exceptionally tough time. His school sweetheart broke up with him, and he spiralled into unhealthy eating and drinking. He was sent home as unfit for work. 

Not long after, in October 2021, he was physically assaulted and taken to hospital with an orbital fracture and a bleed on the brain.

‘During my darkest times, it seemed like one thing went bad, then things got worse and worse,’ he tells me. ‘I dug a deep hole and I became lost in it. I lost confidence in myself. And if you can’t love yourself, how can you love the people around you? I felt like a burden on everyone that loved me.

‘My mum, being the superwoman she is, said: “Well, what’s the one thing you know how to do?” And it was to pray.

'Initially I was just angry while praying, like: “I’ve always had faith, I’ve always trusted in you, God, so why is this happening to me?” But gradually, I’d go into thanking God. 

'I realised that I was much luckier than a lot of people in the world who are getting on with it. I had so much love to give, and I had so much love that had been given to me.

‘Increasingly, I was no longer praying for stuff I needed or wanted. Subconsciously, I was thanking God for everything good in my life – my family, having a bed and access to clean water. I would also pray for strength, and that he would be by my side.

‘I began praying to see my little sister’s birthday. And that’s how it was: just let me see this next milestone. When I got there, I felt stronger. Then I would ask God to see tomorrow, next week or my next sister’s birthday. That was essentially what saved me.’

Gradually, Harry began piecing his life back together.

‘Through the grace of God,’ he says, 'I went on a boxing camp, which made me sort myself out physically. So now I was saved not just mentally, but physically as well. I started getting stronger.

‘I like to think that God tests his toughest soldiers. I’ve been through a lot of tests in my life, but now I wear God as my armour, as my shield.’

Shortly after his recovery, Harry met his girlfriend, Anna, and returned to the army. But within a couple of years, he realised that he wasn’t enjoying his job as much as he used to. He wanted to live closer to Anna so they could spend more time together.

Then, out of the blue, he received a social media message from one of the casting team of The Traitors.

Initially suspecting it was a scam, he ignored it. But after verifying that the message was legitimate, he decided to pursue the opportunity, as he craved a new adventure. 

In the summer of 2023 – after a vigorous selection process – Harry boarded a train to Inverness to take part in the TV show. ‘

The Traitors was one of the most amazing things,’ he reflects. ‘It changed my life massively. It has allowed me to do things not just for myself but my family that I would never have been able to do before.’

The public profile that came with his win prompted other offers of TV work, including Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins. Sadly, he was unceremoniously booted off the programme, for allegedly lying.

He confides: ‘After that show was the worst I’d ever been mentally. I felt like I had let everyone down: the Army, my family, myself. I thought that everyone was going to hate me when the show came out. 

'After having probably one of the worst summers of my life, I put on so much weight, and I was lost – I prayed for a sign.’

It’s said that God works in mysterious ways. The sign Harry received was an invitation to take part in the BBC2 series Pilgrimage, where he would join other celebrities in walking a 300km medieval Christian pilgrimage route through the Alps.

He remembers: 'My manager rang me and said: “Are you religious by any chance? We’ve just had Pilgrimage come across our desk.” I couldn’t have asked for a better sign. My faith was always strong, but it was sort of foggy, so Pilgrimage was like the wipe that cleared that lens.

‘The pilgrimage made me feel like I was on the right path, but also that my religion and faith felt right. I knew who I was, what I was supposed to be and what I wanted to do with my life.

Pilgrimage was one of my favourite things ever, because it didn’t feel like a TV show. It felt true to who I was.’

Harry stays true to who he is by connecting with his faith, through prayer and going to church with his family.

‘I speak to God, even while I’m driving my car,’ he says. ‘I treat God like my mate, and say: “I’ve messed up here, I’m sorry about that.” It helps make my faith my own, and personal.

‘Community in church also makes me feel closer to God. Again, there’s that sense of calmness. I go to church with my mum or my little brother. It’s great, because we’re connected to God through prayer. So I feel close to God through prayer and church. But in everyday life, I do too.’

Harry expands on what his faith means to him – being someone who is fully known and loved by God.

‘I like to think of myself as a vase that someone has pushed off a table and which has shattered into multiple glass shards. But they’re all different sizes and shapes. 

'Each person in my life has a different shard of glass or knows a version of me. But they don’t truly know what all the shards put back together looks like.

‘So I put my faith in God, who is the only one who knows what that vase looks like with every shard stuck back together. Trusting in him gives me the calmness to keep going, to know that there is a plan for me.’ 

Harry’s faith also gives him optimism for the future.

‘Everything happens for a reason and can make me strong, because I can learn from my experiences,’ he asserts. ‘God always knows what’s going to happen down each path, and that gives me a sense that, no matter how bad things get, I’ll be all right.’

• Harry Clark's Staying Faithful is published by SPCK