Inside Ryan Thomas and Roxanne Pallett’s Celebrity Big Brother ‘punch gate’ row

Ryan Thomas was issued with a formal warning when Roxanne Pallett accused him of punching her on Celebrity Big Brother back in 2018.

The pair became embroiled in the celebrity feud of the year when Roxanne claimed the former Coronation Street had "punched her like a boxer punches a bag" during a play fight.

Ryan skipped over to Roxanne and pretended to be a boxer by throwing punches in the air, which is also known as shadowboxing.

But while their co-star Sally Morgan didn't seem too concerned, Roxanne walked away and said: "Ow, woman beater, that bloody hurt!"

After realising he may have hurt the former Emmerdale actress, Ryan apologised before attempting to hug the star.

Moments after the alleged incident, Roxanne secretly spoke to Big Brother and its producers via her microphone.

"I've just been beaten up by Corrie's Jason Grimshaw, ouch, Big Brother, that hurt," she said.

She later demanded producers called her to the diary room, where she said: "Can I speak to a producer, please? I need to speak to a member of production if that's alright?

"I just need to talk to somebody in production about something that's just happened that's made me feel really uncomfortable, I don't really want to go any further and talk about it on camera like this."

Following the accusation, Ryan, who today turns 38, was slapped with a formal warning before being made to sleep in a separate room from the rest of the house.

Roxanne claimed she didn't feel "safe" sleeping in the main house and bedroom if Ryan remained alongside their celebrity co-stars.

After appearing to be okay, Roxanne once again looked stressed as she told Ben Jardine: "I'm not [OK], it wasn't play fighting," before appearing to punch Ben.

While chatting to Ben and Dan Osborne, Roxanne added: "This is why women don't say anything because it's turned around," before Ryan said: "I would never, ever, ever do anything like that, I know what she's doing to me."

Ryan denied the allegations and insisted there were "no malice, no hurt, or anger" behind his actions – protesting his innocence to his Big Brother housemates.

But Roxanne told producers: "He's trying to manipulate them [housemates] in thinking I'm making this up, I'm not making it up.

"He's tarnishing my reputation by saying this is an act."

A devastated Ryan explained to Sally Morgan: "I just don't understand it."

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But Big Brother later hinted to Dan that Ryan was in fact the innocent party, saying: "Dan, it's worth thinking about why Ryan has not been removed from the house."

Roxanne later said she believed Ryan would be "incredibly stupid" to punch her in "a house full of surveillance."

Pallet later apologised to Thomas for her "overreaction to what wasn't a malicious act".

Many viewers flocked to the support of Ryan as they claimed Roxanne had tried to destroy his reputation with her assault claims.

Ofcom received a whopping 25,000 complaints within the space of just four days, making it the most complained about incident on the show since the race row in 2007.

Roxanne decided to leave the house on Day 17 of the series, but after she left the house, Channel 5 bosses made the decision to interview Roxanne away from the glaring eyes of a live audience, with host Emma Willis struggling to remain impartial throughout.

Roxanne said: "I'm the most hated person in Britain.

"I am scared about the future… I just want to say I'm sorry," before Emma explained Roxanne had blown the situation out of proportion.

Ryan went on to win the series after receiving support from over 20 Emmerdale cast members – including Charley Webb and Kelvin Fletcher.

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