Celebrity Big Brother's Ryan Thomas traumatised after Roxanne Punchgate scandal
Ryan Thomas has recounted his experience of being on Celebrity Big Brother in 2018 where he faced false accusations of violence from fellow contestant Roxanne Pallett.
The 39-year-old soap star featured on the last ever celebrity version of the iconic reality show alongside 40-year-old Roxanne and a host of other stars including Cheers actress Kirstie Alley, who died last year aged 71, celebrity psychic Sally Morgan, 72, Apprentice star Ben Jardine, 41, TV host Nick Leeson, 56, and reality star Dan Osborne, 32. But Ryan's life was turned upside down during the course of the season when he playfully punched the air beside Roxanne - who manipulated the situation and argued he had physically assaulted her and left her in fear of further violence.
Roxanne refused to sleep in the same room the night of the alleged incident and confided in other contestants that she was scared of physical assault. However, her lies spectacularly backfired as cameras caught the incident as it happened and there was proof Ryan had not attacked her like she had claimed.
The public turned on the former Emmerdale star and she quit the limelight after becoming a national hate figure. Ryan was traumatised by the experience and was often in tears while inside the house - and he was only left in relief when he could hear the public changing "Get Roxanne out!" at the subsequent eviction night.
Ryan Thomas had a dramatic experience on Celebrity Big Brother in 2018 (James Gourley/REX/Shutterstock)Now Ryan has relived his experience while discussing the return of Big Brother - which has been revived by ITV - with his brother, Scott Thomas, on their podcast Mancs on the Mic. Addressing the 2018 season, Scott explained that Ryan had been on the show for money more than any other reason. The former Love Island star said: "Let's be honest at the time you only went into Big Brother for the money, and you got paid? You hated reality TV... Your gameplan was, I'm just gonna go in there, keep my head down and get out."
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Ryan confessed this had indeed been his plan, admitting: "I wanted to be the first in and the first out, I was so nervous going into that show because it's the first time I'm showing me for me and I knew that the cameras were on me 24/7, that's quite a daunting thing to go through."
The conversation then turned to the incident involving Roxanne, with Scott saying: "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.
Roxanne Pallett claimed she was physically assaulted by Ryan inside the CBB house (REX/Shutterstock)
Roxanne's lies threatened to ruin Ryan's life and career - but the truth was captured on camera (Five)"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 to the rest of the contestants that you would physically hurt her."
Ryan then spoke in detail about the incident that left him shaken and in tears while in the Big Brother house. He explained that show organisers through the 'Big Brother' persona failed to explain what had been said about him and why he was to be penalised. While he put the night Roxanne opted to sleep in a separate room from the other contestants down to her feeling uncomfortable with a different participant for a totally different reason. He recalled: "From what you see on the telly and from what I see in the show they’re two different perspectives so I'll tell you how it looked from where I was standing.
"So Roxanne and Ben [Jardine] were getting on really well; Roxanne had a fella, she was engaged and Ben was sort of pushing it on her, he really fancied her and he was trying everything in his in his power to sort of whisk her off her feet. So from where I was standing, it looked a little bit uncomfortable like she didn't want it and he wanted more and then the next thing you know, Roxanne decides she's gonna go and stay in the spare room, which is away from the rest of the house.
"From my point of view that was it, that's why she stayed in there and I just let it go…. but every day we used to train together all the housemates used to go in the garden do a group workout and I woke up this one morning and we were doing the group workout and it felt odd, the atmosphere just didn't feel right. I had no understanding of why it felt this way, maybe it was because I felt a certain way, maybe I woke up in a bad mood and then, this was the bit that hurt and I had no idea why - people were getting drinks of water for everybody and everyone was handing them out to everybody after the gym workout and no one give me a drink.
"I know it sounds really strange, but 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. I don't know why and then I just left it and I thought, okay, I went into the bedroom and I was sat there just contemplating, I felt a little bit lonely.
"It's the first time I've really gone back to that place and talked about it but it was just weird, I just couldn't put my finger on why this was happening but I didn't want to make a thing of it and go, ‘why are you not all talking to me?’ because I thought it was me. I thought it was something that that I had a problem with and it was it just a normal day for them guys. Anyway, I was sat on the bed and Kirsty [Alley] on one side, there was Sally [Morgan] on the other there was Nick [Leeson] and there was Dan [Osborne] and I just get that feeling I'm being left out."
He then explained how shocked he was to learn Roxanne had moved into a different room to avoid him. Ryan recalled: "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 goosepimples now speaking about it, I was like, ‘what do you mean me?’ I had no idea why, I just got in my head it was all about Ben and their relationship, their bond with each other and then I was like, ‘it's something that I've done’."
He then explained how Big Brother refused to shed light on the scenario. He recalled: "I went into the diary room to speak to them, but bearing in mind before this I’d been taken into the diary room to be told that I'm on my last warning. I was like, ‘wow, my last warning?’ they said there's been an incident and you're on your last warning, and I didn't really grasp it but I was just being myself and going ‘okay, I'm not going to argue with the Big Brother House."
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Ryan opened up to his brother Scott on their podcast, Manc on the MicScott opened up about how distressed he and his family were to see Ryan going through the strain on national TV. He recalled: "This is mad, this is why the nation was baffled because Big Brother could actually look though at the tapes but they were treating you as if you had done something wrong."
Ryan defended the show, explaining: "I just feel like it's a science experiment and they don't interfere with what's going on. They know if something was wrong, then they would have intervened, but they wanted to see how it played out and sort of get it, but a lot of people saying I shouldn’t have gone through what I went through, but you’re there to be tested."
Scott then insisted: "Not like that though bro." Ryan then continued: "To a point, but anyway when I went back into the room and then he was about me and I knew that, you know, I was the problem for Roxanne. 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 start to question ‘did I do something wrong?’ because it was that intense in that environment.
"Then it was eviction night and you get your family's messages from home and I got a message from Scott and I was really happy it was Scott because Scott's amazing words, [jokes] he’s not really good in person. He wrote this message saying, ‘we're all here for you, bro..., we all know the truth’. It's so weird I get emotional about it now because it's over. And I don't even think about it.
Scott confessed: "I'm getting emotional. 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. 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."
Ryan added: "But I didn't know this Scott and the only time I knew this is when it came to eviction night, the night of you sending me that message which was emotional enough as was, they then did the eviction. I got to hear the words, ‘get Roxanne out’ and I just released because I knew it wasn't about me, I knew it was about her, but when you're in there, it's one of the most lonely places that you can ever go to because you don't know these people from day one.
"You're building a relationship with people that you've never really met before, you’re in an environment where you're being put out your comfort zone on all levels. You have to go in a diary room and say horrible things about people where you don't actually mean it because you've got to put them up for eviction which is horrible anyway, and the show you have to win, so it changed the dynamic of a group of people.
"Like you said in the start I’d already won from the beginning because I went in there for a pay cheque and I wanted to get out the show so in my eyes I'd already won. I did not expect to be there to the end, and then you get to the end and you’re sat there with Kirstie Alley and you’re thinking ‘how the hell has this happened?"
Scott said: "That situation actually showed off all your best qualities… as bad as it was, it was actually the best thing that could have happened to you because it showed off your kind heart, your understanding, your calmness."
And in a final comment, Ryan showed his own compassion and integrity as he hinted he has forgiven Roxanne. The star stated: "You can’t hide from who you really are in a show like that, 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."
While in the house, Ryan was supported by Sally Morgan who comforted him at the time of the eviction where it became clear the public were backing him as they chanted "Get Roxanne out". She said the chants proved the public were on his side and that "they know" the truth. She also confronted Roxanne in the house and made it clear she didn't believe her version of events as she argued the soap actress would have left the house entirely if she felt threatened rather than remain there.
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