Why does the else condition is being executed no matter what?

correct_answer = "Tushar"
hidden_answer = "------"
lives = 7
correct_answer = correct_answer.split()
hidden_answer = hidden_answer.split()


while lives > 0 :
  guess = input("Please enter your guess \n")
  if guess in correct_answer:
    for characters in correct_answer:
      if guess == characters:
        position = correct_answer.index(characters)
        hidden_answer[position] = guess
    print(hidden_answer)
  else:
    print(hidden_answer)
    lives = lives - 1
    print(lives)
    if lives == 1:
      break

Why does in the above code my else condition is being executed even if correct answer contains my guess?