Traitors contestant Charlotte Chilton has said that the singer and YouTuber Conor Maynard is the father of her baby, despite two negative paternity tests.
Chilton says the results could be explained by a rare genetic condition called chimerism.
Jonny Holloway, who appeared on Traitors in 2024 with Charlotte Chilton, now says he may be the child’s father, and would like to take a test.
So, how do paternity tests work and how accurate are they?
Paternity tests are based on DNA, genetic information inside our cells that is often seen as a blueprint for our bodies. We inherit half our DNA from our mother and half from our father.
In a paternity test, the DNA of a child is compared with that of a man who may be the father, by analysing the DNA taken from cheek swabs. “It doesn’t hurt. We just swab the inside of the cheek on each side,” said Lesley Nott, the senior business and case manager at the testing firm, DNA@King’s.
Many parts of our DNA are different from one person to the next. If, in some of these variable regions, the DNA is the same between the child and the man, that shows he is the father.
When paternity tests may be misleading
Paternity tests are highly accurate, because they analyse many regions of DNA. A negative result is sometimes claimed to be 100 per cent accurate, as long as the cheek swabs are taken from the correct people.
But that’s not quite true. Chilton is correct to say that a paternity test can give misleading results if one of the subjects has a rare genetic condition called chimerism.
This essentially leads to someone having DNA from another person in their body. Who is that person? It is their twin brother or sister – who never lived.
Charlotte Chilton says a rare genetic condition could explan negative paternity tests (Photo: Charlotte Chilton/Instagram)Such a phenomenon happens if a pregnancy begins as two non-identical twins, created when a woman releases two eggs at once, which both get fertilised. Non-identical twins share half their genes, just like ordinary siblings.
Occasionally, early on, the two embryos fuse together – creating a chimeric baby.
The resulting person can have varying amounts of the other set of cells in their body, potentially making up even half their body.
“You subsume your twin,” said Professor Denise Syndercombe Court, a forensic genetics expert at King’s College London. “What tissues are affected depends on when it happens in that gestational period.”
Different coloured patches of skin
Many people with chimerism may never know about it. But some of those affected have different coloured eyes or patches of skin. The US singer and model Taylor Muhl, who has chimerism, has different coloured skin on either side of her torso.
If a man has chimerism, potentially his sperm and cheek cells could each originate from a different embryo. If so, they would have DNA that is only 50 per cent the same, as if they come from two siblings.
There is a known case where this led to a false negative paternity test, which wrongly suggested that the father was actually the child’s uncle. But more detailed genetic testing of the father eventually revealed the truth.
Chilton has claimed the results could stem from chimerism in her baby, as twins run in her family. “I could have been carrying twins but lost one very early,” she told The Sun.
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In fact, if the child does have chimerism, then Maynard’s DNA would still show paternity – which would contradict Chilton’s claim to The Sun that the negative paternity tests could be explained by chimerism in her child.
Perhaps more importantly, chimerism is very rare. “In 25 years, I’ve only ever known this come up once,” said Dr Neil Sullivan, manager of testing company Complement Genomics.
And if chimerism really is involved, it could be proven either way with further genetic tests.
A representative of Holloway said: “Jonny has requested a DNA test from Charlotte. Although Charlotte was initially keen to do the test, when it came to organising it, she has as yet been unresponsive.”
Chilton and Maynard were approached for comment.
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