Ryan Thomas has confessed he was just ‘looking for a s**g’ when he first tried to woo Lucy Mecklenburgh – who he now shares a child with and is planning to marry.
The 37-year-old former Coronation Street star fell for 30-year-old ex-Towie star Lucy back in 2017 when they spent a month battling for survival on Celebrity Island With Bear Grylls.
The couple welcomed their son, Roman, in March 2020, and have been engaged since Ryan got down on one knee in June 2019.
Ryan and his brothers; Love Island hunk Scott, 33, and Emmerdale star Adam, 33, host a podcast together called Mancs On The Mic and the latest episode saw Lucy join the panel alongside Adam’s wife Caroline Daly, where the boys discussed their relationships.
During the course of the conversation, Lucy explained that Ryan had pursued her for years – direct messaging her via social media but she rejected his early advances, and she was anxious about joining the cast of Bear Grylls show knowing that Ryan was also taking part.
And while Lucy says she is glad the show brought them together, her initial plan was to keep their relationship strictly professional – while Ryan confessed he anticipated an easy sexual conquest.
Lucy explained: “We were there for a job, so in my head I was just trying to focus on that. But we we had a laugh. We had dinner a few times before we went in, but as a group, and then on our own. We had a night, dancing on a rooftop in Panama. We had fun! I liked him. I liked his company."
Ryan then recalled: “You have that butterfly feeling in your stomach when you like someone. I had it before I had Lucy. Even on the training days I was looking at her and she’d look at me and she was just thinking ‘oh, we’re just working together’. But I was thinking…”
Jumping in, Scott then said: “That’s a credit to Lucy though. She’s so professional in the way that she approaches everything that literally, this was business.”
And at this point Ryan crassly announced: “Yeah. And I just wanted a shag!”
While the boys could then be heard erupting into raucous laughter, there was deafening silence coming from Lucy as well as Caroline – who, as Adam’s wife, had also joined the podcast.
As the laughter rattled on, it was suggested that former Towie star Lucy was deeply offended by Ryan’s laddish quip – with Adam noticing the tension and quickly informing listeners: “If you could see Lucy now!”
Ryan then hastily apologised saying: “Sorry babe!”
During the podcast, Lucy and Ryan explained that their experience on the island ignited their romantic relationship as battling to survive every day brought them inexplicably close.
Lucy explained that they shared their first kiss while filming the reality series, saying: “We hadn’t showered or brushed our teeth for a month. That’s disgusting!”
Recalling that they did actually kiss while all sweaty and unwashed on the show, Lucy said: “We found pineapple [on the island] and I think it was the first time where we were kind of like; ‘Ooh. My breath probably doesn’t smell too bad today!’
“So it was after we had pineapple, we snuck down onto the beach for a snog.”
The ex-Towie star also revealed that Ryan made an ill judged move to kiss Lucy while they were alone in an elevator the night before they flew out to the deserted island where the series was shot.
She recalls: “We had a night in Panama which was really fun. We all went dancing on a rooftop and everyone went home and me and Ryan were bit of party animals, back then.
“We were the last to leave and we were in the lift in the hotel and Ryan leant in to kiss me, and I was like; ‘What?!’ And I just leaned my head to the side and he face-planted into the lift mirror.”
Ryan confirmed the story, cringing: “I was absolutely mortified.”
And Lucy added: “And I was like ‘What are you doing? We’re working together! We cannot do this and something go wrong and we’re about to spend a month on a deserted island together.’ I didn’t want to spoil it.”
Listen to the full episode of Mancs On The Mic: Relationships - Caroline & Lucy tell all! via apple podcasts now.
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