OfCom Flooded With Complaints After Upsetting Treatment Of Ryan Thomas

It’s been a tough week inside the Celebrity Big Brother house, with drama and walkouts aplenty. However, as with most things CBB, it seems the chaos is never-ending.

Actress and radio presenter Roxanne Pallett left the house this week, just 24 hours after escaping eviction, after she accused housemate and former Coronation Street star Ryan Thomas of being physically abusive to her.

On Thursday night’s episode (August 30), the 24-year-old could be seen laughing and play fighting with Ryan who appeared to playfully punch her in the ribs as she walked by with some laundry.

Later though, she entered the Diary Room and claimed she’d been ‘punched repeatedly, unprovoked and completely deliberately’ by Ryan and demanded he be removed from the Channel 5 show.

However, shortly after, a Celebrity Big Brother spokesperson confirmed in a statement that Roxanne had decided to leave the house and that the other housemates had been informed of her decision.

OfCom received 11,000 complaints about Roxanne’s accusations towards Ryan after the initial incident.

Now, however, OfCom have been receiving even more complaints following CBB‘s treatment of the actor.

Ryan was forced to defend himself against other housemates after things came to a head on last night’s episode (September 1), when Dan Osborne was warned by CBB not to believe Roxanne’s accusations against Ryan, according to The Sun.

Some housemates had initially been on Roxanne’s side when she told them her version of events. However, after talking it out in the Diary Room, they started to question her story, with CBB revealing that they had reviewed the footage.

Big Brother said:

You should trust that Big Brother has taken the appropriate action.

It’s perhaps worth thinking about why Ryan has not been removed from the house.

However, despite Roxanne leaving the house in the early hours of Saturday morning (September 1), things didn’t end there for Ryan.

Channel 5

Taking to the Diary Room to talk to producers about the allegations against him, the actor burst into tears, saying ‘I didn’t do anything. I just don’t understand it.’

He added:

I have to make amends even if I don’t feel I have make amends. I’ll put myself back together again.

This has broke me. If I have done something wrong. I am so sorry. I had no idea.

I’m going to try and make it a happy household. I will not walk from this. I’m not a quitter.

Viewers complaints to OfCom stemmed from CBB‘s treatment of Ryan in the aftermath of the incident.

One person wrote:

Spent the past hour sobbing for him… seeing how devastated he was was heartbreaking. I am really disappointed with #cbb @bbuk i feel sick to the stomach now; literally feel like I could vomit I am that upset @Ofcom BB took it too far should have stopped 2 days ago when she lied [sic]

In a statement, OfCom have said they are assessing the complaints against broadcasting rules in light of the incident, before deciding whether or not to investigate.

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Charlie Cocksedge

Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.