Former Strictly Come Dancing star Pete Wicks says The One Show presenter Roman Kemp aimed a dig towards him when the pair appeared at a glitzy awards show together

Pete Wicks
Pete Wicks says he was ‘mugged off’ by Roman Kemp (Image: ITV)

Pete Wicks says he was “mugged off” by Roman Kemp after The One Show star branded him “weird” and “skint”.

Strictly Come Dancing star Pete and best friend Sam Thompson were presenting an accolade at the 2024 TRIC Awards. Roman, son of Spandau Ballet star Martin, was presenting at the glitzy ceremony.

It came shortly after former Made in Chelsea star Sam, 32, was crowned King of the Jungle on I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!. Sam pipped boxer Tony Bellew and politician Nigel Farage to win the crowd.

Pete, 37, explained it was when Roman introduced the pair on stage that he aimed a dig at him. Speaking on the Staying Relevant podcast, Pete said: “We presented an award at the TRIC Awards last year and I got mugged off by Roman Kemp.

“He introduced me on stage as ‘King of the Jungle Sam Thompson and his weird little mate no one knows’. That’s how Roman Kemp described me and he then told everyone I was skint.”

Roman Kemp

Roman Kemp called Pete Wicks ‘weird’ and said he was ‘skint’ (Image: ITV)
Roman, 32, previously revealed that Pete was “rattled” by his jibe at the event. It led to Roman issuing an apology to the former The Only Way is Essex star.

Speaking on the FFS! My Dad is Martin Kemp podcast, Roman recalled meeting Pete in a coffee shop where the pair discussed the joke. Roman explained: “And he [Pete] goes, ‘It’s rattled me for about three months and I still haven’t got over it’.

“I was like, ‘Mate, I’m so sorry’ and he was like, ‘Na, na, it was great, but it’s absolutely rattled me’.”

Roman went on to explain that Pete tried to prove he wasn’t skint by buying his father a coffee. “He made a point of buying you a coffee, so that you could go back and tell me that he’s not skint,” Roman added, which prompted Martin to laugh.

Anthony Ogogo, Paris Lees, Montana Brown, Roxanne Pallett, Jo Wood, Eric Roberts, Pete Wicks, Martin Kemp and James Cracknell

Pete Wicks and Martin Kemp starred in Celebrity Island with Bear Grylls together (Image: Channel 4)
He continued: “It must’ve come out, like some gag or whatever, like, ‘Ah, don’t ask Pete for money, he’s skint’, he was rattled by it.”

Addressing Roman’s previous comment, Martin humorously claimed that the former Strictly star “didn’t actually pay for the coffee” after all. “He didn’t it came out of the machine,” the singer claimed.

Martin struck up an unlikely friendship with Pete after the pair met while filming Celebrity Island with Bear Grylls in 2018. They starred alongside the likes of Love Island ’s Montana Brown, Olympian James Cracknell, actress Roxanne Pallett and entrepreneur Jo Wood.

Martin said he grew to “love” Pete during their time on the show together. He described it as an “experience you can’t pay for”.