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Traitors star returns to castle to kick off charity walk

John Baikie Photography Andrew Jenkins standing in front of Ardross CastleJohn Baikie Photography
Andrew Jenkins intends to walk from Scotland to Wales for charity

A Traitors contestant has returned to the famous castle where the TV programme was filmed to begin a charity trek from Scotland to Wales.

Andrew Jenkins, from Talbot Green, is aiming to walk almost 750 miles over 42 days to raise money for brain injury charity Headway.

The 46-year-old started off at Ardross Castle, about 25 miles north of Inverness, on Sunday and will end the journey at Cardiff Castle in his native Wales in November.

He will walk for about seven or eight hours every day and will visit Lancaster Castle in England and Carrickfergus Castle in Northern Ireland, having set a target to raise £100,000.

Andrew Jenkins in a promotional image from the second season of the Traitors - he is front of Ardross Castle with his arms folded , with two robed figures behind and flames on either side.
Andrew Jenkins reached the final of the second season of The Traitors

He said that Ardross Castle was the "perfect" starting point for the walk, as it was "a place that changed my life".

Andrew, who reached the final in the second season of the popular BBC programme, sustained a serious brain injury in a car accident when he was 21.

It forced him to give up a promising rugby career but he made a full recovery, and his personal experience made him want to fundraise for Headway.

He said: "Headway does incredible work to support survivors of brain injuries and their families as it can have a huge impact on all of their lives too, as my family and I found out following my accident.

“I’m also undertaking this challenge for everyone out there who has been told they can’t do something, who think they can’t achieve anything, and who have lost their self-belief.

"I want to show them that even though life can feel impossibly hard at times, there’s always a way forward - literally one step after the next can take you a long way."

John Baikie Photography Andrew Jenkins standing on the steps in front of Ardross CastleJohn Baikie Photography

During the trek Andrew will also give talks on wellbeing and mental health to a number of sports and community groups.

Jen Murgatroyd, Headway’s director of fundraising, said the charity was "immensely grateful" for Andrew's efforts, with donations made through an online fundraiser.

A third series of the Traitors has already been filmed, with a celebrity edition and a fourth series already commissioned.

The programme has proved extremely popular for the BBC since it launched in 2022, with nearly seven million people watching the final episode of the second season earlier this year.