The former Coronation Street star said watching his brother Adam during the chaotic live final was the ‘toughest thing’ he’s had to go through
Adam Thomas with family at I’m A Celebrity South Africa final(Image: Caroline Thomas Instagram)
Ryan Thomas has been heard defending his brother Adam over his appearance on I’m A Celebrity… South Africa, saying watching him during the chaotic live final was the ‘toughest thing’ he’s had to go through.
The former Coronation Street star was seen talking to his younger sibling, who is also an actor, about his time on the I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here spin-off show, and the explosive scenes seen during the live final, which aired on ITV on Friday (April 24) night.
It is the first time Adam has been heard speaking since being crowned the winner of the show, which sees former campmates return to take on more Bushtucker Trials in a bid to be named I’m A Celeb’s ultimate ‘legend’. Adam was voted the winner by public vote, but chaos ensued as he was accused of being “abusive, aggressive and intimidating” by Jimmy Bullard.
During the last week of the ITV reality show, there were explosive scenes as Adam almost lost his place in camp after the former footballer quit a paired trial, which meant he forfeited his time on the show. The former Emmerdale star stormed over to the sportsman and, during a heated exchange, said: “Taking the f****** piss, are you taking the f****** piss?”
He added: “I’m in there getting covered in f****** ants!” Jimmy responded by telling him to “calm down” and described his outburst as “pathetic”. While Jimmy’s decision ultimately meant Adam was also out of the show, hosts Ant and Dec gave him a lifeline and revealed that his fellow campmates could decide whether he stayed in camp.
Adam during the final of I’m A Celebrity… South Africa which descended into chaos(Image: ITV)
However, the outburst came after Adam had already made headlines for speaking out about being left “broken” by David’s behaviour towards him while in the South African savanna. Despite the controversy, Adam made it to the final alongside Sir Mo Farrah, Harry Redknapp and Craig Charles.
But as all the campmates reunited for the first time during the final, Jimmy discussed their explosive row on the show, claiming Adam dropped “c-bombs” which were not aired, and asked hosts Ant and Dec for their opinion as they had “front row seats”. But Ant disagreed that the exchange was intimidating and said: “No, it wasn’t, I was there!”
Now, Adam has again addressed his row with Jimmy as he spoke out for the first time since winning the show, and the difficult-to-watch scenes that unfolded during the live final on ITV.
Speaking to his brothers, Ryan and Scott, on their At Home with the Thomas Bros podcast, Adam admitted that it ‘didn’t feel like’ he had won and recalled: “It was like the curtain had just been pulled back. I feel, in all honesty, like I sold my soul. I feel like I sold my soul. You couldn’t pay me a million pound – ten million pound – to do that experience again. Nothing is worth what I went through.
Adam opened up about his experience to his brothers, Ryan and Scott(Image: At Home With The Thomas Bros podcast)
“When I was being crowned the winner – the funny thing is I’ve never won anything in my life – and the one time I do, that’s how it goes out. It’s funny because I got home and my son Teddy had been at a dance competition and he had four trophies, and the joy that he had in his face and in his eyes and I hugged him and started crying because that’s the joy I wanted to feel when I won.”
When Adam spoke about apologising to Jimmy for his outburst on the show, Ryan commented: “I watched as well, like there’s a lot of complaints about, ‘Oh, they didn’t show the whole version. Well, if I’m honest, they didn’t show the whole version of Adam’s journey. You know what I mean? Like, there’s loads of stuff that didn’t make the edit that you know that makes Adam accountable for the way he’s reacting.
“It is what it is. You don’t see him sitting here saying, ‘Oh, they didn’t show that. Didn’t show this.’ It’s like, we know what we’re getting ourselves into. We know he’s a TV show, but we also know that he’s a good guy!”
The actor, famed for playing Jason Grimshaw in ITV’s Corrie, went on to comment: “What I found on that show is, when me, you [Scott] and Caroline went to watch it and correct me if I’m wrong, we were live in the studio that night, and you know it was one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to go through. Like, normally when it’s your brother, you can stand up for them, but you know you don’t know what’s wrong or right in those situations. It’s his journey. It’s his, you know, it’s his show, and you just don’t want to let him down.
“So, you’re there as support. But what I found watching that, and what people should have seen from watching it at home, is that night is exactly what Ada went through for the whole time that he was in the jungle. The whole back and forward, that was a snippet for me of what he went through on that show. Whether it’s the banter, the little jibes, the ittle this and that. I just thought, well, you’ve seen the live show here, and there’s an element of what that was like in the jungle.”