Seeing Jessie, someone who stammers, on The Traitors

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With the new series of The Traitors featuring a contestant who stammers, our Web Editor Steven asks what it will mean for the stammering community.

If you've been glued to the latest series of the BBC's smash hit show The Traitors, you'll no doubt know that one of its contestants, 28-year-old Jessie, has been open about her stammer.

Three episodes in, here at STAMMA we're thrilled to see someone who stammers on the BBC show, which started its fourth series on New Year's Day. It's a win for inclusion and better representation of people who stammer in the media, something we've been pushing for with our recent campaign 'No Diversity Without Disfluency' (kudos to you, BBC).

With it being one of the BBC's biggest shows – the final of Celebrity Traitors last year was watched by 15 million people – it's also a fantastic chance to raise awareness of some of the challenges and barriers people who stammer can face, and smash some of the stale stereotypes that exist about us.

Saying her name

Viewers were introduced to Jessie when a fellow contestant asked her what her name was on the first episode — a situation likely to have made many viewers who stammer (including me) shudder. The fact that having to say your name can be hugely challenging was brilliantly highlighted by Jessie herself, who, when blocking when answering, stopped and told those around her of her disfluency. Without apologising for it, she coolly said, "You're going to have to bear with me because I have a stammer," before continuing to say her name. She then opened up about how doing so is "one of the biggest tests ever".

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It was really encouraging to see the positive responses from the three people around Jessie, with their friendly smiles, appreciative nods and cheers letting her know that they were on her side. Although some people who stammer might have found the clapping a little patronising, hopefully the positive response was a model for viewers who don't stammer to follow. 

Incidentally, it's worth highlighting research which has found that telling people you stammer can have a positive effect on their perception of you (search online for Courtney Byrd's research).

The fact that Jessie comes across as pretty confident also challenges misconceptions some people might have, as my colleague Kirsten pointed out: "A lot of people think that those who stammer are all nervous or shy. People who stammer have a whole range of personalities. Some of us are shy and some of us are confident, and everything in between. Hopefully, Jessie's appearance will help lots of viewers move past stereotypes they might have about people who stammer and just see us as people with different personalities".

Deception & nervousness

Kirsten's point about the misconception of people who stammer as being nervous also throws up a host of intriguing points, especially with the show's premise being built on trust, deceit and skullduggery. 

In an interview with Cosmopolitan before she went on the show, Jessie spoke about the advantage that stammering could bring to her game: "Well, you have to be trusted. Because I have a stammer, I can't hide who I am. It has helped me be an authentic person, because I just can't hide it". 

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If she hadn’t mentioned her stammer, contestants might see her disfluency as a sign of guilt. A common misconception held by many, one not helped by the countless negative film and TV depictions over the years that have used it as a device to suggest a character's underhandedness, is that people stammer because they're nervous. This is not really the case. If Jessie stammered during the round table discussions, where contestants challenge each other in front of the group in an attempt to expose the traitors, fellow contestants could misread it as a sign of nervousness when being questioned under pressure, and link it to being untruthful. Now they know she stammers in her everyday speech, they're possibly less likely to think that. So far, we haven't heard from Jessie at the round table discussions – which may be due to editing – so it will be interesting to see how this plays out. 

Jessie wasn't chosen as one of the three traitors – although as with others in the 'faithfuls', there's a possibility she might be the 'secret' traitor, so that will be interesting too.

I also wonder what would have happened if Jessie kept her stammer to herself, didn't mention it and did have the ability to use strategies to stammer less. It's something I looked at in my previous Traitors-related blog post 'What if someone who stammers was on the Traitors?'

Now that someone who stammers is on the Traitors, here at STAMMA we're of course all behind Jessie. No matter how far she gets, whether she reaches the final or if she's the next to be 'murdered', she's already sent out some really positive messages that will challenge misconceptions. We wish her all the best and can’t wait to see more!

The next episode of The Traitors is on this Wednesday, BBC One at 8pm.