{"id":408763,"date":"2026-01-12T18:21:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T18:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/408763\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T18:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T18:21:10","slug":"jessie-is-showing-us-its-normal-to-stammer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/408763\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Jessie is showing us it’s normal to stammer’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BBC\/PABBC\/PA<\/p>\n

Jessie Stride is the first Traitors contestant to have a stammer<\/p>\n

Spoiler warning: This article contains details of the ongoing series of The Traitors.<\/p>\n

The new series of The Traitors has had more than its fair share of twists and turns – plus a secret traitor to top it off.<\/p>\n

But while tactics and deceit are dominating conversations about the show, it is contestant Jessie Stride who has got others talking.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old has a stammer and in episode one said introducing herself was “one of the biggest tests ever”.<\/p>\n

For people like Hayley Rawlings, from Newport, who has had a stammer since she was four, this is a familiar feeling.<\/p>\n

She said the representation goes a long way, particularly for young women who she feels are often overlooked.<\/p>\n

“I think people at home will watch that and think, ‘oh, actually, they’re not going to laugh or think I’m stupid’,” said Hayley.<\/p>\n

Stammering, or stuttering,<\/a> is a type of speech disorder where the flow of spoken words is altered by repetitions or prolonged sounds.<\/p>\n

It affects 8% of children and at least 1% of adults, according to stammer charity STAMMA, with some people not declaring it or realising they have one.<\/p>\n

Stammers or stutters are also thought to affect more males than females.<\/p>\n

The second week of the new series showed Jessie, a hairdresser from Hull, successfully identifying Stephen as a traitor and leading during challenges.<\/p>\n

Hayley, 34, said Jessie being good at the game and her stammer not being the focus gave people “something to relate to”.<\/p>\n

\"HayleyHayley Rawlings<\/p>\n

Hayley Rawlings says it is refreshing to see a woman with a stammer be confident on TV<\/p>\n

“It was really good to see her say her name is the hardest thing, which if you spoke to 99% of people who stammer that is the case,” said Hayley, who believes that might be because it is not a word you can swap out.<\/p>\n

Hayley said people’s reactions to Jessie showed how much progress was being made.<\/p>\n

“It wasn’t a big deal,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s just really nice to see that everybody there is just giving her time to talk and they’re doing the right things, probably without even knowing that they’re are.”<\/p>\n

Hayley said people with stammers were often mocked or villainised in the media and sometimes portrayed as having them as a result of trauma.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s going to teach people a lot about what [stammering] is and that it’s normal,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Also as a female who stammers, it’s amazing to see, because we are a minority in a minority.<\/p>\n

“In the past I’ve done a lot of work for charities and it was often older men and no disrespect but I just didn’t relate to them.<\/p>\n

“So it’s so nice to see a young female and think the people can relate to her.”<\/p>\n

As for Jessie’s game, Hayley wants to see her under some pressure, adding it would be “quite interesting to see”.<\/p>\n

“I’ve thought in the past I wonder what a stammer would be like on [the show] because people naturally stumble over their words when they lie,” said Hayley.<\/p>\n

“I want her to get accused to see how they [the other contestants] take it.”<\/p>\n

‘I don’t like The Traitors – but I tune in for Jessie’<\/p>\n

\"JoeJoe Dilling<\/p>\n

Joe Dilling says normalising stammers means people feel more confident day to day<\/p>\n

Joe Dilling, a physiotherapy technical instructor from St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan, has had a stammer since he was six-years-old.<\/p>\n

Now 26, he said it had been “quite up and down” adding he also related to Jessie.<\/p>\n

“The worst thing for most people is introducing themselves.<\/p>\n

“That must have been one of the more anxiety inducing things for her,” he said.<\/p>\n

“People who have got a stammer are underrepresented in TV and most of the time if you see someone who has got one it’s the main focal point, so its good to see no-one has made a point of it and Jessie is just shown to be a normal person.<\/p>\n

“It is good to see no-one is making an issue because it’s not – it just might take her longer to talk at times.”<\/p>\n

Joe has not watched The Traitors before, but is tuning in to see Jessie.<\/p>\n

“I do think people who have got a stammer are better at picking [social cues] up,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Raising awareness is the most important thing because there’s still quite a lot of people who don’t really understand it and you do get awkward situations sometimes.<\/p>\n

“I just think it’s good to see someone represented but that’s not the only thing about them.<\/p>\n

“People have a perception that people with a stammer are not capable and that’s obviously the case.”<\/p>\n

Deputy chief executive of STAMMA, Kirsten Howells, told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast<\/a> it was really normal for lots of people who stammer to struggle to say their own name, as Jessie highlighted in the first episode.<\/p>\n

“Having to say your name or post code or account number, something you can’t say in a different way, having to say that on demand for someone who stammers tends to give you quite a big moment of stammering.<\/p>\n

“The general public are really not aware of that so it’s great that Jessie was on there talking to an audience of millions explaining that,” she said.<\/p>\n

“She’s [Jessie] saying this is normal for people who stammer so let’s make space for that, let’s expect it, let’s give people who stammer some time to talk.”<\/p>\n

The Traitors continues on BBC One and iPlayer on 14 January at 8pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BBC\/PA Jessie Stride is the first Traitors contestant to have a stammer Spoiler warning: This article contains details…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-408763","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}