CELEBRITY Big Brother presenter Emma Willis says the fall-out from allegations made by Carlisle actress Roxanne Pallett against Coronation Street star Ryan Thomas was 'like watching a soap opera'.

Former Emmerdale star Pallett, 35, had claimed that Thomas had deliberately hurt her with a punch whilst the pair were both housemates on the Channel 5 reality show in August.

Viewers defended it as play-fighting. Pallett later quit the show, apologising for making a "massive, horrible mistake" whilst Thomas received overwhelming support from the public.

Emma spoke about the scandal when she appeared as a guest on Saturday night's The Jonathan Ross Show.

She said: "It was like watching a soap opera. The way it all unravelled was just baffling."

When host Ross stated that it would be 'life changing' for Thomas had the cameras not captured the incident on camera, Emma agreed.

She added: "What was so hard about watching it was that you could see him crumbling and his tears in the Diary Room and him just being baffled by what was going on."

Emma was also praised by Mikey Graham, a member of pop five-piece Boyzone who were also on the primetime talk show, for the way she handled Pallett's post-exit interview on Celebrity Big Brother.

Since the punch row, Pallett has left social media and quit her job as a co-host on Minster FM’s breakfast show. She also also stepped back from panto commitments this Christmas.

Ofcom received more than 25,000 complaints about the allegation of physical abuse and has launched an investigation.

Pallett apologised after her departure and told Willis: “I was wrong, massively wrong. I wish I had the words to say how gutted.

“Only I can go away now and figure out why I became that sensitive that I manufactured a different version in my mind.”

Thomas later said that he feared he would have to face the police over Pallett’s claim.