‘They’ve always been arrogant’: Truth behind the Thomas brothers’ TV empire as insiders reveal their VERY well-placed connection, whispers of favoritism… and obsession with money

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The Thomas brothers have appeared on some of the UK’s biggest reality TV shows, including Strictly Come Dancing, Love Island, and I’m A Celebrity.

As someone who follows the lifestyle of reality TV stars closely, I’ve noticed a pattern: it’s becoming harder and harder to deny that lasting happiness isn’t usually the outcome. It rarely ends well for them, honestly.

Viewers of I’m A Celebrity’s All Stars series were surprised this week when Adam Thomas, who had previously come across as friendly and likeable, suddenly lost his temper and angrily confronted fellow contestant Jimmy Bullard.

And once-loyal fans were quick to turn on him.

Many viewers are starting to think the Thomas brothers aren’t suited for reality TV and should stop appearing in shows. Some people are even wondering if they have an agreement to be included in as many reality programs as possible.

Adam became well-known after playing Adam Barton on Emmerdale for nine years. This continued a family tradition of success in British soap operas, as his older brother Ryan had previously starred on Coronation Street for sixteen years in the early 2000s.

Adam’s twin brother, Scott, works in public relations but gained wider recognition as a finalist on the reality show Love Island in 2016. The brothers have since leveraged their family connection, starring in the 2020 ITV documentary Mancs In Mumbai, and now co-host a podcast together.

However, people are now questioning not just the brothers’ recent offensive language, but also how they keep getting prominent TV jobs considering their history of causing trouble.

It seems their continued success in the entertainment industry might be thanks to having strong connections with influential people.

Adam’s representative, Madison Lygo, has a notable family connection: her father, Kevin Lygo, is a key executive at ITV, in charge of deciding what programs the network buys and creates.

It’s certainly a striking coincidence that this family has been featured on so many different shows on ITV.

And one that is unlikely to quieten whispers of favouritism.

According to a source in the entertainment industry, Adam and his brothers have always been quite ambitious and controlling. They’ve consistently sought the biggest opportunities and highest paychecks, but what they really want is to be in charge. With Jimmy, Adam hasn’t had that level of control.

This week on ‘I’m A Celebrity,’ a major argument erupted between Adam, 37, and Jimmy, 47. It started after Jimmy quit the challenging ‘Rancid Run’ trial, which required the pair to use their mouths to collect cogs from an abacus filled with ants.

“Are you kidding me?” Adam shouted, then angrily approached his fellow camper, yelling, “I’m in there getting covered in ants!”

Ashley Roberts from the Pussycat Dolls and Scarlett Moffatt, who stars on Gogglebox, looked confused as the argument unfolded. Ant and Dec, the show’s hosts, had to intervene and stop the disagreement from escalating.

The decision that followed caused even more disagreement. Even though the rules said both contestants should have been removed from camp if they didn’t succeed in the challenge, Adam was allowed to stay, leading to accusations that the show was rigged to help him.

And if that decision raised eyebrows, what ITV chose not to broadcast may lift them even higher.

Although viewers saw a tense argument, people familiar with the situation say the broadcast only showed a small part of what actually happened, and ITV executives are working hard to prevent the full story from becoming public.

According to sources who spoke with the Daily Mail on Wednesday, Adam reportedly called Jimmy a highly offensive name and attempted to physically attack him. ITV maintains that Adam only kicked a door, and not another contestant.

An insider said they were stunned by Adam’s behavior, describing him as cruel and aggressive. However, much of this was edited out of the ITV show to protect viewers from seeing how bad it really was.

According to a source, the incident was very upsetting and impacted everyone else involved in the production. Now, it appears Adam is behaving as if it never happened.

Even with everything that happened, ITV has said Adam will be at the live final on Friday night in London, but Jimmy won’t be attending.

People on social media quickly noticed that the Thomas brothers often seem to be involved in dramatic situations.

‘Always seems to be a problem with these Thomas brothers when they go on reality shows,’ one wrote.

This isn’t the first time someone in the family has publicly lost their cool. Scott has also been known to have a quick temper.

He caused a major argument with Luca Bish while back on Love Island for the 2025 All Stars season, during the show’s memorable ‘Vegas Night’ episode.

He exploded in anger, shouting obscenities and demanding to know who the other person was addressing. He accused them of being foolish, all while claiming he was attempting to remain respectful. Other islanders had to intervene to separate them.

The argument quickly led to him leaving the villa, marking yet another appearance on the show that ended in drama rather than success.

But even those scenes were not without precedent.

Scott previously dated Kady McDermott, 30, from Love Islander, but their relationship ended after several intense arguments.

Scott and Kady broke up after Scott reportedly physically assaulted Kady during an argument fueled by alcohol. This happened in June 2017 when he woke her up in the middle of the night.

According to a source, Kady became very angry when Scott returned home intoxicated. They had a major argument that escalated into a physical altercation with some pushing and shoving.

Kady contacted the police, and Scott ended up spending the night in jail. The situation was much more dramatic than it needed to be, and both of them were deeply embarrassed the following day.

Police initially arrested a 28-year-old man in connection with an assault. However, he was later released and won’t face any charges, and the investigation has been closed.

Let me tell you, working in the lifestyle space, you see all sorts of drama! Back in 2018, I remember Ryan being right in the middle of a huge controversy during his time on Celebrity Big Brother – it was one of the biggest reality TV scandals in years, honestly.

Ryan, now 41, was wrongly accused by actress Roxanne Pallett of intentionally hitting her. Although she later acknowledged she’d overreacted, the accusation left him worried it could ruin his career.

Although he ultimately won thanks to public backing, the situation showed how easily things could go wrong for a member of the Thomas family.

Off-screen, too, their personal lives are far from squeaky clean.

Okay, so the Daily Mail dug up some stuff about the brothers back in Manchester, and honestly, it’s a bit upsetting. Apparently, some people there say they’re totally different on TV – that the nice guys we see aren’t really who they are in real life! It’s hard to believe, I’m a huge fan, but it’s definitely got me wondering if everything is as perfect as it seems.

From what I’ve gathered, this family really knows how to navigate tricky situations. People who’ve dealt with these brothers will tell you – it definitely takes a strong personality and a lot of resilience to stand your ground with them. It’s not a battle for the easily intimidated!

Some people even say the brothers were quite harsh, pointing to the time they abruptly fired a long-time agent who had significantly helped build their careers. They replaced him with a more famous management group.

Adam, Ryan, and Scott have all become successful not just through traditional acting or presenting, but by consistently appearing on reality TV shows across the UK.

The brothers have become familiar faces on a wide range of popular TV shows, including I’m A Celebrity, Strictly Come Dancing, Love Island, Celebrity Big Brother, Dancing On Ice, Celebrity MasterChef, and even the briefly-aired game show 99 To Beat. It seems they’ve been successful on just about everything they’ve tried.

Their personal lives, too, have become enmeshed in the world of reality television.

Ryan and his fiancée, Lucy Mecklenburgh, first connected in 2017 while appearing on the reality show Celebrity Island with Bear Grylls. Their relationship began on TV and has remained largely public ever since.

Adam is married to Caroline Daly, a former dancer. They met in 2007 when Adam was 19 years old.

Yet for all the air-time the brothers soak up, success has proved far more elusive.

Honestly, Adam totally confessed it himself on the podcast! He said his TV parts just…vanish. Like, he’ll get a role, and then poof! It’s gone. It’s so frustrating to hear, but also, I hang on every word he says, so… yeah, it’s a thing.

‘Honestly, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong,’ he said.

I hosted a show called Extra Camp for one season, but it was cancelled. My next hosting gig was with Ryan on ’99 To Beat,’ and unfortunately, that was cancelled too.

Instead of showing three lighthearted TV stars, the full story reveals a family whose quest for fame has frequently involved trouble, disagreements, and negative attention.

Which perhaps explains why Adam’s jungle meltdown has struck such a chord.

For a brief moment, without the polished persona he usually presents, viewers saw something truly genuine – much more than just a typical reality TV argument.

They saw a crack in the carefully cultivated Thomas facade.

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2026-04-23 03:09