Ryan Thomas 'emotional' as he breaks silence on Celebrity Big Brother 'punch' row with Roxanne Pallett for first time

Ryan Thomas found himself getting 'emotional' after speaking about the headline-dominating 'punchgate' incident that occured with actress Roxanne Pallett during his time on Celebrity Big Brother. The actor, who is best known for playing the role of Jason Grimshaw on Coronation Street for 16 years, broke his silence after being wrongly accused of physically assaulting Roxanne whilst on the Channel 4 show back in 2018.

The 39-year-old spoke out on the incident in the latest episode of his Mancs on the Mic podcast, which he hosts with his brothers - former Love Island star Scott Thomas and Waterloo Road actor Adam Thomas, who is currently competing on Strictly Come Dancing.

The scandal, which became Ofcom's most complained-about TV moment of the decade, saw Ryan issued with a formal warning after Emmerdale actress Roxanne claimed he deliberately punched her “like a boxer punches a bag”. But millions of viewers who witnessed it flocked to Ryan’s defence and Roxanne later admitted she 'got it wrong' and left the house.

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After going on to win the last ever series of Celebrity Big Brother, Ryan has only ever spoken out about the incident during his exit interview with Emma Willis. But five years on, the actor has now weighed in on how he really felt.

Talking about the incident, Scott said: "This situation with Roxanne Pallett 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