Imogen Mary Thomas (born 29 November 1982) is a Welsh model and television personality. She won the

Miss Wales Miss Wales is a national beauty pageant in Wales. Rules Miss Wales is open to unmarried women from age 16 to age 24, and is organized by Vibe Models. Contestants must not have had children, must be British citizens and must reside in Wales. ...

award in 2003, and appeared on the seventh series of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

reality television programme ''

Big Brother Big Brother may refer to: * Big Brother (''Nineteen Eighty-Four''), a character from George Orwell's novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' ** Authoritarian personality, any omnipresent figure representing oppressive control ** Big Brother Awards, a sat ...

'' in 2006. In 2011, her alleged extramarital relationship with footballer

Ryan Giggs Ryan Joseph Giggs (né Wilson; 29 November 1973) is a Welsh association football, football coach and former player. Regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Giggs played his List of one-club men in association football, entir ...

was the subject of a

gagging order A gag order (also known as a gagging order or suppression order) is an order, typically a legal order by a court or government, restricting information or comment from being made public or passed onto any unauthorized third party. The phrase may ...

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

Early life

Imogen Mary Thomas was born 29 November 1982 in Llanelli, Wales. She started working as a model at age 13, and at the age of 17 moved to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to become a professional model. Working in bars to pay for her living costs, she was rejected by many modelling agencies due to her height (5ft 6"). She was crowned Miss Wales in 2003, beating future ''Big Brother'' 9 winner

Rachel Rice Rachel Rice (born 7 March 1984) is a Welsh television personality, model, actress and teacher. She is known for winning the ninth series of the Channel 4 reality series '' Big Brother''. She has a degree in English and Drama, and is now a teac ...

, who came third. She went on to represent Wales at Miss World in China. This prompted her to return to London to try glamour modelling, and also working as a bar hostess at London's

Sanderson Hotel The Sanderson Hotel is a hotel on Berners Street, London, built in 1958 as the new headquarters and showroom for Arthur Sanderson and Sons, manufacturers of wallpaper, fabrics and paint, for the company's centennial. The building was designed ...

''Big Brother'' and modelling

In 2006, Thomas was selected as a housemate for the seventh series of ''

''. She was evicted on Day 86 with 62% of the public vote. Since her time on ''Big Brother'', Thomas has become a

glamour model A model is a person with a role either to promote, display or advertise commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as a visual aid for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography. Though mo ...

Television work

Like other contestants, Thomas has taken part in many ''Big Brother'' spin-off programmes, including ''

Big Brother's Little Brother This is a complete list of shows about and relating to ''Big Brother UK'' and ''Celebrity Big Brother''. The civilian edition ran from 2000 to 2018 and the celebrity edition ran from 2001 to 2018. ''Big Brother'' ''Big Brother'' was a daily sho ...

'' and ''

Big Brother's Big Mouth This is a complete list of shows about and relating to ''Big Brother UK'' and ''Celebrity Big Brother''. The civilian edition ran from 2000 to 2018 and the celebrity edition ran from 2001 to 2018. ''Big Brother'' ''Big Brother'' was a daily sho ...

''. She also co-presented with other housemates for '' T4''.

Other work

Imogen appeared on the

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking ...

Planed Plant ''Planed Plant'' ("Children's Planet") was a strand of Welsh-language television programming for children broadcast by S4C. It first aired on 1 November 1982. Background ''Planed Plant'' included imported animated programmes such as ''Yu-Gi-O ...

ghost hunting Ghost hunting is the process of investigating locations that are reported to be haunted by ghosts. Typically, a ghost-hunting team will attempt to collect evidence supporting the existence of paranormal activity. Ghost hunters use a variety of ...

show '' Ofn'', filmed at

Chirk Castle Chirk Castle ( cy, Castell y Waun) is a Grade I listed castle located in Chirk, Wrexham County Borough, Wales. History The castle was built in 1295 by Roger Mortimer de Chirk, uncle of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March as part of King Edward ...

alongside fellow Big Brother contestant

Glyn Wise ''Big Brother 2006'', also known as ''Big Brother 7'', was the seventh series of the British reality television series '' Big Brother''. The show followed a total of twenty-two contestants, known as housemates, who were isolated from the outside ...

. She also portrayed herself in a cameo performance on the S4C soap opera ''

Pobol y Cwm ''Pobol y Cwm'' (''People of the Valley''; ) is a Welsh-language soap opera produced by the BBC since October 1974. The longest-running television soap opera produced by the BBC, ''Pobol y Cwm'' was originally transmitted on BBC One Wales and l ...

''.

References

External links