Ryan Thomas reflects on Roxanne Pallett’s false accusations that nearly ended career

Strictly star Adam Thomas comes from a very showbiz family, with his brother Ryan winning Celebrity Big Brother back in 2018. However, the journey wasn’t smooth sailing for Ryan, who was left devastated after being falsely accused of assaulting Roxanne Pallett on the show. 

Roxanne later admitted that she “got it wrong” and apologised to Ryan for her claims, but the soap star has hardly spoken about the incident since leaving the Big Brother House, until now. In a new episode of the Thomas Brother’s podcast, Mancs on the Mic podcast, Ryan and their other brother Scott discussed their perspectives during the very turbulent time.

Scott said: “You weren't really comfortable with [being in CBB] because you've been an actor all your life and going into reality world is very different, however, this situation with Roxanne Pallet which you've never talked about before came up and I remember watching at home, and I remember like it was yesterday, I even remember the exact video where you just went up to her and you gave her a little play punch, like, in the air and we're all watching at home, as the audience, knowing exactly what's happened, that you never even touched her.

“So obviously we know straight away from the nation's perspective that we're on your side, but obviously being in there, she was making out to the rest of the contestants that you would physically hurt her.”

After noticing the atmosphere in the house had changed, Ryan explained: “I can only describe it as something at school where you get left out, or you're the last to be picked and I was like, it’s really odd, people excluding me from something.”

He continued: “Anyway, I was sitting on the bed and… I just get that feeling I'm being left out and then someone came in and said, ‘it’s  because of you that she didn't want to stay in the house’, well, I'm even getting goose pimples now speaking about it, I was like, ‘what do you mean me?’…I had no idea why.”

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Ryan described the situation as “lonely,” adding: “I sort of broke down because I felt lonely and I felt like everyone else thought that I was the problem and that I'd done something wrong and then I started to question ‘did I do something wrong?’ because it was that intense in that environment… It's so weird I get emotional about it now because it's over.”

Scott clearly felt emotional hearing Ryan recount the story, adding: “The maddest thing was for us watching it was that you were kind of oblivious to what was going on and you were in this house, questioning yourself and I remember when you broke down and it killed me because it was like, the whole nation was on your side and had your back.”

So how does Ryan feel about Roxanne now? He said: “It’s so weird to say this but I actually feel sorry for her because when you're in a show like that, and everything’s highlighted and it's public, it can be quite a lonely place and it can be quite a scary place when you put in that situation, so, we move on.”

Roxanne has stepped back from the public spotlight since the incident, and announced that she was expecting her first child back in 2021, telling the Sunday Mirror: "I now know what ‘happy ever after’ feels like… To have such a beautiful life here and be blessed with the most incredible husband and our little baba on the way… my mum’s already knitting for England."

Mancs on the Mic podcast, available now on Global Player with brand-new episodes every Friday.