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As a member of The Traitors cast, Jade Scott has become good at keeping secrets.
But while the PHD student is being watched by millions as she tries to win the BBC One show, she is hiding a heartbreaking family tragedy that left her bereft when she was just a teenager.
The Daily Mail can reveal that Ms Scott’s mother Maggie Fung, and seven-year-old half-sister died in a murder suicide at their home in the Hong Kong town of Kowloon’s Tai Kok Tsui in August 2018.
They were both found dead by firefighters who broke into the apartment after a domestic worker raised the alarm. Heartbreakingly, the mother and daughter were found unconscious in one another’s arms, lying on a bed, and were pronounced dead at the scene. Officers found a suicide note in the apartment.
Ms Fung, 44, had recently split from her boyfriend, and it was suspected that she was overwhelmed by the shock.
Ms Fung, who worked at a medical clinic, had arranged for her domestic worker to go home for a holiday as she and her daughter were due to go overseas, it was reported. But when the worker returned to Hong Kong two days earlier, they could not contact Ms Fung and assumed she was still overseas.
Paramedics confirmed that the mother and daughter had been dead for some time – perhaps as long as a week.
In Friday’s episode, the student, who is studying at Warwick University, revealed that her mother and half-sibling had passed away after Ms Fung and her father, Stuart, a financier, divorced, and she returned to her native Hong Kong, where she had another child.
Ms Scott, 26, revealed her secret when host Claudia Winkleman threw a dinner party for the final eight players, where they sat down and shared about how they would spend the prize money.
She said: ‘I would like to buy my own home. My parents got divorced when I was 7. My mum moved back to Hong Kong.
‘She had a kid, and then in 2018, they were both found dead. I’ve had to really rebuild myself from that point onwards, and I’m proud of myself for getting this far. I’d just like somewhere I can call my own.’
Ms Scott, who is conducting research into women’s health and pregnancy, added: ‘I was very close with her, so it was a shock to the system.
‘Our parents form a part of our own identity. I had to rebuild myself. It takes me time to let people in because it takes me a minute to get comfortable. I think it comes across as standoffish at first.’
In what is understood to be a tribute to her mother, Ms Scott has a dainty tattoo on her arm of Ginkgo leaves, often used as a sign to loved ones or overcoming adversity.
After hearing Ms Scott’s devastating story, fellow player Rachel Duffy admitted: ‘As a Traitor listening to people pour their hearts out at that table, it is hard to make your next decision knowing what people have gone through.’
Meanwhile, Ms Scott’s father Stuart is HSBC’s former head of currency trading and, in 2016, he was accused of using inside information to profit from a $3.5billion (£2.6billion) currency deal, along with HSBC colleague Mark Johnson.
He strongly denied the allegations, and two years later, he won a last-ditch battle to block his extradition to the US.
He faced 11 charges of foreign exchange rigging, each carrying a maximum 30-year prison sentence, but he was cleared when American prosecutors dropped the case in August 2023.
Ms Scott is in a relationship and regularly posts loved-up pictures to Instagram with her boyfriend, Sam Brown Light. He is a business owner, funding a company called FEM, which sells the ‘first nutritional bars aimed solely at women’.
Ms Scott is still going strong on series four of The Traitors, but has come under a lot of suspicion, despite being a Faithful.
Her name was once again raised during last night’s roundtable, but in the end, it was Dr Ellie Buckley, 33, who received the most votes and was banished from Ardross Castle.
The psychologist broke down in tears as she tried to defend herself, and left the group shocked with her final speech.
Along with announcing she is a Faithful, Dr Buckley revealed that she is in a relationship with Ross Garshong, 37, who has already been voted off the BBC show.
‘I do have a confession I’d like to make before I go. I didn’t come in here alone. I actually came in with my boyfriend, Ross!’ she said.
Elsewhere, Jessie Roux was brutally murdered by the Traitors, leaving only eight contestants in the competition.
The episode ended with Traitors Stephen Libby and Mrs Duffy having to pick a Faithful to give the ceremonial dagger to.
