What Roxanne Pallett could lose after becoming Britain’s most hated celebrity

FORMER soap star Roxanne Pallett is set to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential income after levelling a false accusation at a male actor.

WHEN former Emmerdale actor Roxanne Pallett entered the Celebrity Big Brother house in the UK, she would never have believed she would be leaving two weeks later as Britain’s most hated celebrity.

According to The Sun, the 35-year-old looked set to raise her profile after a quiet few months away from the acting industry, netting a massive fee — rumoured to be $1.3 million — for taking part in the reality TV show, and thousands more in potential brand endorsements on Instagram and media opportunities.

But following a row in which she accused Ryan Thomas of punching her during a play fight, describing him as a “woman beater” and causing him to get a formal warning — she has turned this opportunity into a PR disaster.

She quit the hit TV show following the “punch” row and has been condemned by celebrities and viewers of the show for lying about the incident (which you can see in the video player above) and for making a mockery of real domestic abuse victims.

This is the clip that Big Brother showed to Roxanne before her interview with @EmmaWillis, summarising what the viewers saw of the incident with @ryanjamesthomas. #CBB pic.twitter.com/LWFvMtuM6o

— Big Brother UK (@bbuk) September 3, 2018

And after quitting the show and leaving the house on Saturday, she faced more blows to her reputation, with a former friend going viral on Twitter revealing Pallett had bullied her to the point where she’d had to switch schools — and EastEnders’ star Sam Attwater said she had falsely accused him of hitting her too.

In a bid to clear her name, Pallett appeared on UK TV show Jeremy Vine this morning, saying she had “got things wrong”. But will the apology be enough?

Given that she walked from the show, it is unlikely Pallett will be pocketing her huge $1.3 million fee from Channel 5, but her financial losses — and reputational damage — will go way beyond that.

Here, Sun Online asks celebrity PR expert Mischa Joslin, managing director of leading branding and PR agency EdenCancan, to talk us through what Pallett stands to lose due to her new-found infamy.

$140K A YEAR LOST FROM INSTAGRAM DEALS

Joslin says that Celebrity Big Brother was a “gateway to getting Roxanne’s name back on the public radar” and a chance to bag herself tons of brand endorsements.

She tells Sun Online: “Before the show I imagine she would have been charging around $1300 for a branded post on Instagram.

“Had she succeeded on the show and boosted her followers and reputation she easily could have doubled that fee.

“That means if she’d done one branded post a week she could have netted herself around $140,000 a year just from social media posts.”

But, after being trolled by furious viewers, Pallett was forced to delete her social media channels — meaning that earning opportunity is now out of the window.

Roxanne Pallett can kiss future modelling deals goodbye. Picture: Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images

FASHION BRANDS WON’T WORK WITH HER — COSTING ROXY $178K

If Pallett had come across well in the house and played the “sweetheart” role, she would have been “super attractive” to fashion brands looking to invest in her as an ambassador, according to Joslin.

“With her good looks, she easily could have grabbed fashion campaigns and I think high street retailers would have loved her gorgeous girl next door appeal,” she says.

However, her reputation is now on the line — and Joslin describes her as “public enemy number one”.

The punch incident — where Pallett claimed that Neighbours actor Ryan Thomas had punched her “several times in the ribs” has dominated the showbiz news agenda, and while his career is now set to soar following his exit — or potential win — on CBB after receiving support from many fans and ex-colleagues, Pallett’s image is damaged.

“I can’t imagine a brand will want to risk their own reputation to associate with her image,” Joslin says.

“These kinds of campaigns would have paid anything between $9000 and $44,500 so this would have been big money — potentially $178,000 a year — if she’d had three or four.”

Ryan Thomas was devastated when he heard about Pallett’s claims. Picture: Channel 5

ANOTHER $178K A YEAR LOST FROM TV WORK

“I really could have seen Roxanne being able to break into TV presenting, but the negativity surrounding her will make any producer nervous,” Joslin says.

And while Pallett had previously stated she was quitting soap acting, she could have been tempted back into this lucrative career.

There has been an outpouring of negative comments from fellow co-stars about the actor — and this could have put the final nail in her career coffin.

A staggering 20 of Pallett’s final Emmerdale co-stars have slammed her on Twitter.

Sammy Winward, who played Katie Sugden in the hit ITV show said, “It’s been a long time coming,” while Danny Miller who plays Aaron Dingle wrote: “Roxanne’s a known, compulsive liar. Ryan wouldn’t harm a fly. Horrible, attention-seeking little liar.”

Eastenders’ star Sam Allwater said Roxanne was “dangerous” and revealed she previously accused him of hitting her during their Rocky Horror tour.

“She did this to me on Rocky Horror tour. Except she hit me and ran off stage saying I’d hit her,” he said.

“It’s rare that those in the industry would shame a fellow co-star so publicly,” Joslin says.

“Their comments really build a difficult picture of an actress that clearly wasn’t someone they enjoyed working with.

“This ‘pack like’ take down is hard to watch and I imagine won’t endear her to casting agents, especially at other soaps.”

Joslin says that had things gone well on CBB she could have seen Pallett taking a role on Hollyoaks or Holby City.

“However, they are both shows that pride themselves on their cast getting on and I think this negativity from the industry will sadly hinder any acting ambitions.

“A show like that could have paid her around $178,000 a year to be a cast regular, so she’s potentially lost a lot of money,” she says.

Roxanne Pallett crying in the Big Brother house.

$130K LOSS FROM BEING CUT FROM PANTO

Pallett is a panto regular — and is set to appear in Cinderella later this year.

Co-star Rhydian Roberts has joked to concerned fans that he will have to wear a bodycam at all times when around the shamed star while performing.

But it’s possible she could lose out on her role and be replaced, especially after she faced bullying accusations from a former school friend.

Sophie Banks’s Twitter post went viral over the weekend, with the former classmate of Pallett saying: “So 24 years ago I was bullied at school and left because it was so bad. Today the entire nation sees my school bully’s true colours.”

Banks’ claims she was forced to move schools due to Pallett making her life “miserable”.

It is unlikely that family-friendly panto producers would want to hire a former bully.

“A fee of $130,000 would have been realistic for her Cinderella panto role,” Joslin says.

“However, these shows want family friendly actors that have that likability factor.

“Unless she rebrands as the villain, she’ll be missing out on those acting spots.”

CAN SHE TURN THINGS AROUND?

Still, Joslin believes it may not be all negative for the star — and says that owning up to her mistakes in today’s television appearances is a “great start”.

“Her appearances on TV this week may be able to turn it around a little for Roxanne,” she says.

“She has apologised and noted that she overreacted and many have connected her sensitivity to her previous experience of abuse when she was younger.”

Joslin believes if she touches on that connection she may be able to “show a human side of her that viewers will understand”.

However, Joslin says: “Obviously if that connection isn’t authentic, viewers will see through it and it could do more harm to her public persona.”

And Pallett has already been accused of her interviews being a “PR stunt” by fans on Twitter, who have messaged Celebrity Big Brother host Emma Willis, begging her to “go in hard” and “grill” Roxanne in a prerecorded interview set to air in the UK tonight.

However, it is the savage critiques from former co-workers and former friends that will be harder for Pallett to get away with, and she will need a robust crisis communications plan put into place to fix things.

It seems only time will tell if she can forge a new narrative that will allow her to rebuild her career for the better.

This article was originally published on The Sun and is reproduced with permission.