I went from waitress to owning £10m property empire & dating famous footballer thanks to Big Brother, says Imogen Thomas
NOT all Big Brother stars manage to earn big money from the show – and it is a rare few that never need return to the nine-to-five.
But it is clear that Imogen Thomas is among the latter as soon as I walk into her stunning four-bedroom townhouse in West London’s expensive Chelsea.
Originally from Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Imogen was a 23-year-old hotel hostess when she entered Big Brother — which returns to our screens on ITV1 on Sunday — in 2006.
The former Miss Wales lasted 86 days in the house, building friendships with the late Nikki Grahame and fellow Welshman Glyn Wise, who finished runner-up.
As soon as she was evicted, she was commanding five-figure sums for racy lads’ mag shoots — and was named Wales’s Sexiest Woman.
She was also seen at the swankiest showbiz parties and dated high-profile footballers, including a heavily publicised affair with married Wales and Man Utd star Ryan Giggs, who placed a gagging order on her.
In an exclusive interview, Imogen, 40, says: “I came off the show and I just started working from day one.
“It was amazing, I made a lot of money.
“It was just all a bit surreal because I went in as a hostess and came out just making all this money and being wanted by everyone.
“It was pretty crazy to get your head around. But I loved it.
‘He knew it was wrong’
“I was in there for three months, no contact with the outside world, and then all of a sudden everyone knows you, and you’ve got to get used to the fame.”
With the help of a financial adviser, Imogen immediately started investing her money in property.
Her £10million portfolio now includes two houses in Wales, a flat in Notting Hill, West London, and another townhouse in Chelsea over the road from where she lives with her two daughters, Ariana, ten, and Siera, seven.
She tells me: “Because I own properties I have a lot of passive income, so I don’t technically work.”
Every room in Imogen’s home is picture perfect.
Her eldest daughter’s bedroom is bigger than most adults’ and is complete with a pink three-seater sofa and cream Victorian-style dressing table.
Siera’s room is overflowing with cuddly toys from the girls’ dad, Australian City trader Adam Horsley, who Imogen dated for six years until 2018.
Imogen laughs as she points to a giant pink teddy sitting in the corner of the garden and says: “He wins one at every fair he goes to —I think it’s just to wind me up.”
Before her relationship with Adam, Imogen dated several footballers, including Jermain Defoe, and had a six-week fling with shamed comedian Russell Brand, who was presenting Big Brother’s Big Mouth at the time.
But it was her affair with footballer Giggs, who was married to Stacey Cooke from 2007 to 2017, that got the most attention, ironically thanks to a gagging order.
Once news of the relationship broke, she made more than £250,000 from a string of interviews about the scandal.
She also publicly apologised for the affair.
At the time, she said: “I called it off a million times but he kept coming back.
“He knew it was wrong as well, he said as much, but he was pursuing me.”
For Imogen, life after Big Brother was a rollercoaster of red carpet events and showbiz parties.
She says: “The partying never stopped for me because I live in London.
“We got invited to things for a long, long time.
“But like anything with fame, there will be a time where you’re not wanted any more or needed and there’s a next batch of people.
“But I was fortunate enough to have kept going and it was only when I had my children that I thought, ‘OK, I need to calm down now’.”
Ariana and Siera are also one of the reasons she will not be stripping off on OnlyFans any time soon, like her former Big Brother housemate Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace, who is earning millions on the adult content site.
She says: “I was approached to go on there but I just wouldn’t do it because of my girls.
‘I loved Nik’s tantrums’
“Plus, I know that completely getting your kit off earns you the most money, and I don’t know if I could go that far.”
As Big Brother gears up for its big return, Imogen has been reminiscing about her time in the house.
She says: “I can’t believe it’s been nearly 17 years since I was on the show.”
There are many highlights of her time in the series, including a task in which half the housemates became prisoners while the other half were warders, as well as one in which they had to dance as majorettes.
But most of Imogen’s memories are taken up with her friend Nikki, who tragically died aged 38 in 2021 while suffering with anorexia.
She says: “I remember everything she did, and I loved Nik’s little tantrums.
“She was Big Brother.
“Nik was just the most amazing person ever.
“She was full of character.
“Every day, there’d be a new story.
“She was just truly the most great friend you could ever meet — loyal, very strong-headed, and she was amazing. She really was.”
Nikki struggled with anorexia since childhood and had been released from a private clinic treating her eating disorder the day before she died.
Imogen spoke to her that day.
“She was in quite high spirits because she was coming home,” she recalls
“So yeah, it was a big shock when she did actually leave us.
“A couple of her friends and I, we have drinks to remember her, but she never goes from my mind anyway.
“There’s so many memories there, and she’s all over my phone.
“I can’t believe it’s been two years already.
“I mean, time is just flying, isn’t it?”
Aside from the loss of her friend, Imogen is very happy with her life these days.
She says: “My life now is great.
“I have two beautiful girls, I have a beautiful house, I have money in the bank.
“There’s nothing more that I could ask for.”
And when it comes to her dating life, Imogen is keeping her cards close to her chest.
‘No regrets’
She tells me she is dating someone she “met through a mutual friend,” but it is clear there is no man living in her ultra-feminine, spotless home.
Talking of houses, will she be one of the former stars that are rumoured to be entering the new Big Brother home to “stir things up”.
She hints: “Oh my God, when I think about Big Brother, it was the most amazing experience of my life, and there’s nothing that I would change.
“It was definitely something I would 100 per cent do again. I’d love it.
“Imagine going into the house now.
“You have nothing to worry about because you don’t know what’s going on in the outside world and all of your worries go and you’re just literally living in his house.”
She would even let her daughters go on a reality show when they are old enough, too.
She adds: “If my children would want to go on a show like that, I’d be like, ‘Yes do it’.
“I think it’s a great experience.
“I have no regrets whatsoever.
“For me, it was the best thing that ever happened in my life.
“I have nothing but good words to say about the show and I can’t wait for it to start again.”