The Traitors Harry Clark reveals burning desire that drove him to victory & £95k prize – and what he’ll do with the cash

HE was the baby-faced assassin who used all his guile and charm to triumph on The Traitors.

Now Harry Clark has revealed how becoming “Jekyll and Hyde” to win the BBC whodunnit was driven by his desire to escape the life for which he seemed destined.

The 23-year-old told The Sun: “I’m from Slough and a lot of us have the same life mapped out.

“You marry young, have kids and then hate your life and are in the pub Thursday, Friday and Saturday — and I didn’t want that life.

“My whole life I have felt like the wonky pancake. I wasn’t really sure where I fitted in sometimes.

“It’s the first time my dad has really said how proud of me he is, which is emotional for me.”

Harry has told how his Army training helped him to get the job done after host Claudia Winkleman recruited him as a Traitor.

His single-minded, strategic approach saw Harry steal £95,150 from under the nose of Faithful Mollie Pearce in Friday’s gripping final.

But now he has opened up for the first time about how his childhood growing up alongside 12 siblings has shaped him.

Harry said: “Compared to my brothers and sisters I’ve always kind of been the one getting told off or in trouble.

“I was an angry kid because I felt lost — I was angry with myself, not with others.

“I looked at my brothers and sisters and thought why couldn’t I be more like them. I didn’t feel like I fit in.

“I always felt lost and struggled with my mental health. I always felt the devil on my shoulder, but I have made peace with it.”

‘Disconnect emotions’

Harry joined the Army at 16 and became an engineer, which has a famously tough entry requirement.

He went on: “I started working part-time in a butchers at 13 to sort myself out. I had too much energy to be sitting behind a desk doing a normal job so I joined the Army.

“The trade I went into has an 11 per cent pass rate.

“I don’t know where I would be without the Army. I would probably be on the side of the road somewhere, or in trouble.”

As he approached the final of The Traitors, Harry says guilt over slaying his friends on the show took hold and he had to draw on his Army training to focus on the end goal.

In the show’s diary room, he said: “It probably looks like I’ve not felt guilty at all, but 100 per cent I have.

“I am human, by the way — I do have feelings, and I feel guilty getting rid of these people. I needed to ­disconnect my emotions and feelings, like I have to do in the Army.”

The lance corporal also outlined how the Forces shaped him.

He said: “When I went into the Army they helped mould me.

“They taught me discipline and respect and boxing and helped me understand how to put together all my qualities.

“Without the Army I would have just been one big ball of mess.

“The Army gave me a sense of being in control.”

The tough regime wasn’t an ­immediate fit for Harry, though.

He added: “When I was 16 I joined the Army and had to be Corporal Clark and a man Monday to Friday, and then I needed a release on the weekend to be a big kid. It was like I was living two lives.”

Little did that teenager know that having to balance these two sides would one day help him to win the best part of £100,000.

The tense finale — watched live by more than six million people — saw Andrew Jenkins, Jaz Singh, Mollie and Harry left to decide whether they should end the game, or continue to banish players in the hope of outing the remaining Traitors. 

If any Traitors made it to the final line-up, the prize pot would be handed to them and they would be crowned winners.

Having wrongly voted out Faithful Evie Morrison earlier in the last episode, the decision was made to vote once again — banishing Andrew, a Traitor.

They then opted to oust a further player — Faithful Jaz — leaving Traitor Harry and Faithful Mollie as the final two players, meaning Harry took home the jackpot.

Harry said: “I was joking to ­Claudia I could do it like Jekyll and Hyde. I have always felt a bit like Jekyll and Hyde all my life.

“Even as a kid, I was always a bit cheeky and pushed my luck.

“I would tell my sister one thing then tell my mum another. It’s always been like I have an alter ego and that’s why I thought I would be good on the show.

“I loved playing an evil character but I did feel really guilty at the same time. It was driving me nuts.”

Harry has now revealed that he leant on the BBC show’s psychologist to ­handle his turbulent emotions.

He added: “The psychologist helped me a lot. I don’t think I would have won without her.

“The longer the show went on the more the guilt started to affect me.

“We were building genuine friendships and I felt like I was robbing people of the chance to change their lives.

"I felt responsible for taking away their dreams which is quite a burden to carry. The psychologist reminded me why I was there.

“She reminded me it was a game and that’s why I was there.”

This weekend Harry was finally able to celebrate his win, splashing £2,000 on friends and family at a party at a pub near his home town.

On Saturday, he told how he had yet to even receive his prize money from the BBC and “still hadn’t got a pot to p**s in”.

But on TV’s This Morning yesterday, he confirmed that he had now received the huge cash prize.

He said: “I wish I was that evil that I didn’t care, but I really do.

“I have felt guilty celebrating because I don’t want to celebrate other peoples’ heartbreak.

"It would be so much easier if I didn’t care. I just want my family to be proud of me and my brothers and sisters to think ‘If Harry can do it, so can I’.”

Fans were quick to point out online photos of Harry sitting on a private jet, arguing that he did not need the ­windfall.

But the trip had been organised by his influencer girlfriend Anna Maynard’s pop star brother Conor.

‘Work like a donkey’

Harry said: “We come from a big family but we have always just scraped by. We’ve never really had anything.

“My mum is a nurse and has always wanted the best for us all. My dad has worked all his life.

"They have both struggled to do the best for us all. There has been some trolling but I honestly don’t care. I’m pretty headstrong.

“Everyone has their opinions but I know who I am.”

Harry does, however, want to make amends with Mollie, whose blind faith in her new pal proved to be her downfall.

He has promised to take her on holiday with their partners.

He added: “The plan is to put the money in the bank for a year or so.

“Work like a donkey and make as much money as possible and then go on holiday to Bali or Thailand and take Mollie and her boyfriend with me and my other half.”

On romance rumours between the pair, he added on This Morning: “There is no romance involved.

"I’ve got an amazing girlfriend, who I love dearly. Mollie has an amazing boyfriend who I have met, he’s a legend.

"So I feel a bit sorry for them as we are just two young people who built a genuine connection.

“I know more about her boyfriend then I do about Mollie and she knows more about my girlfriend then she does about me, because that’s how we connected.”

Touching on what was said after the cameras stopped rolling, Harry added: “I was a bit worried going in thinking, ‘She is going to be behind the door and she’s going to put me out of my misery’, but she just gave me a massive hug and said, ‘I love and hate you at the same time!’ ”

Elsewhere, Harry has revealed his celebrity connections almost saw him turn down The Traitors.

He explained: “I didn’t want to do it because Anna, my other half, is in the public eye and I already get loads of hate for that so I thought why would I put us both through more of that?

“But it was Anna who said I should do it. Now I want to do everything.

“I want to do panto as an evil villain. I want to do a celebrity boxing fight. I want to do the panel shows, more reality TV, I would love to do Strictly.

“To go on I’m A Celeb after The Traitors would be incredible — I would love all the trials just like I loved to do the Traitors missions.

“I need control in my life, which is funny because I don’t feel like I have any control.

“Everything feels up in the air but this time in a good way. Winning £100,000 helps!”