Celebrity Big Brother’s Ryan Thomas has said he’s devastated to have been given a formal warning for ‘punching’ housemate Roxanne Pallett.
In scenes to air on Friday night, the former Coronation Street star tells Psychic Sally he “felt really low” about the accusation, while elsewhere Roxanne claims to have “been in pain all night”.
Ryan is adamant he’d never hurt anybody and he wanted to leave Big Brother after hearing the complaint.
Roxanne, accused Ryan of ‘punching’ her in the kitchen, which led Big Brother to call Ryan to the diary room and issue him with a formal warning.
However, fans of Ryan have insisted he was just play fighting and accused Roxanne of overreacting.
Read more: CBB’s Ryan Thomas given formal warning over ‘punching’ Roxanne Pallett
The morning after, Ryan told Sally: “It’s a lonely place here. These aren’t our family and friends you’ve grown up with. It’s a super lonely place. Big Brother can say one thing to you that’s minor…
“It happened to me. A tiny thing and it’s made me feel really low.”
Ryan added: “It’s all heightened in here. Everything is heightened in here. They’ve all got regulations and stuff in here and have to talk a certain way to you.
“When they spoke to me, they were telling me what they were talking about and it was so minute it makes me not want to be here.
“When they see me, they know I’m not a bad person. They know I’m not causing anyone any harm in here at all. So when they pick up on something that’s nothing, that’s then turned into something massive….
“I’m a soft guy. I don’t ever mean any harm to anyone, do you know what I mean?
“But I’m not a quitter. I’m definitely not a quitter. That’s one thing I’m not.”
Elsewhere, Roxanne, 35, is seen breaking down in tears in the diary room as she claims Ryan “smirked” at her the morning after the incident.
She tells the diary room: “I don’t feel very comfortable or happy today at the moment because I slept separately last night because I felt uncomfortable because Ryan assaulted me.
“And he’s still here and he just smirked at me as I walked past.”
Roxanne also tells Ben Jardine tonight: “Ryan punched me. It wasn’t play fighting. He punched me repeatedly in the ribs, there. I didn’t say anything but I was in so much pain all night.
“It was intentional to hurt me. He went for it. He did it with his fist and it was so sore and so aggressive and I walked off and for the next hour I was in a blur of confusion.”
More than 11,000 people have complained to Ofcom over Thursday night’s episode, with an Ofcom rep saying the complaints will be assessed before a decision is taken over whether or not to investigate.
Viewers saw Ryan making punching gestures with his arms as he jumped around Roxanne in the kitchen.
THE BIG TEASE. You’ve all been waiting to find out what happened after last night’s show… here’s your first glimpse of all the drama to come tonight! Also, your votes will decide who faces tonight’s live eviction! 9pm. @Channel5_tv. 😮 Brought to you by @PinkCasino_. #CBB pic.twitter.com/P7RVcGS3Ed
— Big Brother UK (@bbuk) August 31, 2018
She then asked Big Brother to call her to the diary room where she tearfully said: “I’m just a little bit in shock. I went from being upset to being angry, because a boy has punched me repeatedly unprovoked, he actually punched me like a boxer would punch a bag.
“And we weren’t play fighting, there was no banter, it wasn’t a joke, there was no exchange.”
Roxanne later requested to sleep in a separate bedroom as she felt uncomfortable and said she “couldn’t believe” that Ryan was being allowed to stay on the show.
Big Brother told Roxanne the footage was being reviewed and the matter was being “taken very seriously”.
Ryan was called to the diary room and given a formal warning.
Big Brother told him: “Before you entered the Big Brother house, rules regarding unacceptable behaviour were explained to you. You have broken this rule. At 3.55pm today, Big Brother noticed that whilst almost play fighting, you punched Roxanne in the ribs.
“This caused Roxanne to say ‘ow, that bloody hurt’. Whether you intended to hurt Roxanne or not is irrelevant. Do you understand what you did was unacceptable?”
Ryan apologised and said: “From your point of view, yes, but I think we both know, and Roxanne, that there was no malice or anger in anything I did.”
Big Brother said: “Big Brother is issuing you with a formal warning in regards physical contact in the house. Any repetition, and Big Brother may have no choice but to remove from the house.”
The incident caused outrage among Ryan’s loved ones and co-stars with many taking to social media to defend him, claiming he’d just been playing around and Roxanne had overreacted.
Ryan’s girlfriend Lucy Mecklenburgh accused Roxanne of “making a mockery” of domestic violence, while Corrie’s Kym Marsh backed calls for Roxanne to be evicted next.
Ryan’s brother Scott tweeted: “Trying to damage my brothers reputation over what was blatantly some harmless play fighting. Be a drama queen all you want but don’t try and ruin someone in the process! Nasty that!”
Read more: Ryan Thomas’ brothers outraged over CBB warning
Roxanne’s rep told ED! in a statement: “Roxanne has no contact with the outside world to make her own statement, however we do know that Roxanne has worked closely with various domestic violence charities due to being a victim of domestic violence herself.
“She would be very upset to find out she may have caused offence to others who have been through the same.”
The statement concluded: “We can’t make any more comment at present until such time as Roxanne is out of the Big Brother house and is able to address this situation herself.”
Celebrity Big Brother continues tonight on Channel 5.
Did you watch the incident? What are your thoughts? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think!