Ryan Thomas’ girlfriend Lucy Mecklenburgh has criticised Channel 5 for the way they handled the debacle involving her boyfriend in the ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ house.
Last week, in an incident described by producers as “almost play-fighting”, Ryan was accused by fellow housemate Roxanne Pallett of “punching” her in the ribs “repeatedly” and “deliberately”.
While Roxanne has now expressed her regret over the way things played out after walking out of the the ‘CBB’ house, Lucy has told Victoria Derbyshire that Channel 5 should not have let things carry on as long as they did.
Lucy accused Channel 5 of “fuelling” the aftermath by issuing Ryan with a formal warning and allowing Roxanne to sleep in a separate bedroom, suggesting the former ‘Emmerdale’ actress was given “special treatment”.
“I want Big Brother to revoke his warning and make an apology,” Lucy said. “I think when they give warnings in the past it is for serious things and he didn’t do anything.
“That’s why there are so many Ofcom complaints, everyone can see with their eyes that nothing happened.”
She later said: “I think he was in too much distress for too long. I understand they have to let stories unravel naturally, but they did have the proof, and they didn’t do anything with it. And they let Ryan, for two or three days, be in that much distress... we all saw him break down in tears four or five times.”
A ‘CBB’ spokesperson declined to comment when contacted by HuffPost UK.
Similarly to Lucy’s comments, ‘Bit On The Side’ presenter Rylan Clark-Neal has put pressure on bosses to show the housemates the full footage of what transpired between Roxanne and Ryan, so they can make up their own minds.
Victoria Derbyshire said at the beginning of the live BBC interview that Roxanne had declined to take part in the debate or offer a comment. At the time of the programme, she was appearing in ‘Jeremy Vine’ over on Channel 5.
On Monday morning, Roxanne told Jeremy Vine, in her first interview since quitting the series on Friday: “Since I’ve been out of the house, the first thing I did was view the clip and reflect in a normal environment, because it’s not a normal environment [in the ‘CBB’ house]...
“My mind was clouded and my sensitivity was heightened, I wasn’t thinking straight, and that’s something I need to work on.”
Ryan and Lucy have been together since last year, when they met on another reality show, ‘Celebrity Island With Bear Grylls’.
‘Celebrity Big Brother’ continues on Monday night, when host Emma Willis will also grill Roxanne about her time in the house.