Conor Maynard, 32, has posted a video on Instagram with the hope of showing ‘there’s a high likelihood’ he is not the father of Charlotte Chilton’s child, and someone else is.
The Traitors star, 32, is insistent that Conor is the father of her child Penelope, despite the singer revealing that a paternity test taken in March and August shows that he isn’t.
Charlotte’s representative at the time said she had ‘fought an extraordinary battle for truth and justice with heartfelt conviction’.
It was at a wrap party for The Traitors series 2 where Conor and Charlotte met, and she claims the baby was conceived with the singer on January 26, 2024.
In an interview with The Sun, Charlotte says there isn’t anybody else who could be the father, unless her baby was ‘Jesus 2.0’.
However, in the latest claim to hit the paternity row, Conor alleges he got a message claiming that Charlotte slept with a fellow Traitors contestant, around the same time he slept with her.
Conor posted a video titled: ‘Responding further to the recent news. At this point I feel like I’ve been left with no choice.’
Join Metro’s The Traitors community on WhatsApp
Want to get all the latest news and predictions for the best and most dramatic show this new year? Join our The Traitors WhatsApp channel for live episode coverage, behind-the-scenes gossip and a place to recover from all the cliffhangers.
Simply click on this link, select ‘Join Chat’ and you’re in! Don’t forget to turn on notifications!
In it, he claims he received a message from the contestant’s ex-wife.
He showed the message on screen, which read: ‘He told me he slept with Charlotte around the same time as yourself [Conor] / she fell pregnant.’
Conor said: ‘I hope with this new information that I’ve been given, you can see that there is just a high likelihood that Penelope is someone else’s daughter.’
He admitted he wasn’t saying the other contestant is clearly the father.
But what he is saying is: ‘While it’s not 100% [the other contestant], it is 100% not me’.
Since Conor posted the video, Charlotte reposted a meme onto her Instagram story saying: ‘You ever heard a rumour about yourself and actually wanted to hear more? Like damn… what did I do next.’
While these DNA tests are highly accurate, Charlotte claims that they aren’t showing Conor as the father because of a rare medical condition.
She told The Sun: ‘Finally, after speaking to experts, I have found out that what might have happened is I could have been carrying twins but lost one very early.’
‘Then strange genetics come into play, which means that twin could have taken certain DNA so her father could never show up on a paternity test. It is something called chimerism because of a vanished twin in the womb’.
What is chimerism?
Chimerism is a condition where an organism has two different sets of DNA and can occur naturally through the fusion of two fertilised eggs.
It often happens as a result of ‘vanishing twin syndrome’, where an individual has absorbed a twin in the womb. The absorbed twin’s cells are integrated into the surviving twin’s body.
It can complicate paternity tests by causing a mismatch if a person has two or more distinct sets of DNA from different cell lines.
If it goes undiagnosed, it may result in false-negative parental DNA paternity tests.
There have been several high-profile cases of chimerism.
In 2015, an American man failed a paternity test after doctors revealed his dead twin, whose DNA the man absorbed in the womb, was the genetic father of the child.
That was the first ever reported case of a paternity test being fooled by a human chimera.
Meanwhile, the case of Lydia Fairchild (born 1976) saw the American woman discover she had two distinct populations of DNA among the cells of her body after a DNA test concluded she wasn’t the mother of her children.
Her ex-husband then accused her of fraud, while prosecutors in their custody case called for her two children to be taken away from her.
She was pregnant at the time, and while blood samples were taken immediately after she gave birth to her third child, DNA tests also indicated she was not the mother.
Two weeks later, DNA tests seemed to indicate that she was also not the mother of that child. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that Fairchild was carrying two different sets of DNA, the defining characteristic of chimerism.
In the video, Conor alludes to this. He says: ‘I can understand with Charlotte saying “It can only be Conor”, that a lot of you are gonna be looking for your own explanations as to why two separate court-accredited DNA tests showed that I am not the father.
‘You’re gonna be looking at rare medical biological cases of someone that carries two sets of DNA.
You’re gonna be thinking “Oh Conor must’ve paid off these multiple multiple billion dollar DNA testing companies.”‘
He went on: ‘And also money aside, I wouldn’t do that.
‘If the DNA test showed that I’m the father, then I’m the father. And then this whole timeline would be different. But that isn’t what happened.’
Conor has previously expressed this sympathy for the child. On This Morning in May, he said: ‘More importantly than me there was a child in this whole situation who will grow up and one day see this situation for herself.’
Metro has reached out to Charlotte Chilton and the BBC for comment.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.