Ryan Thomas has shared an insight into his unique living arrangement with fiancée Lucy Mecklenburgh.
The couple have been together since 2017 after meeting and falling in love on Celebrity Island with Bear Grylls. Former Coronation Street star Ryan, 42, then popped the question to ex-Towie cast member Lucy, 34, two years later with a romantic proposal on the Amalfi Coast.
They now split their time between two homes: a family home in Manchester and a smaller London property, which they share with their two children, Roman, six, and Lilah, four, and Ryan’s daughter Scarlett, 17, from his previous relationship with actress Tina O’Brien.
With so many heads under one roof, it’s perhaps no surprise that Ryan and Lucy need their own space, even if that means away from each other.
Explaining their living situation on his podcast At Home With the Thomas Bros, with his brothers Adam and Scott, Ryan said: ‘In Manchester, we stay in separate beds and we have separate living rooms.’
I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here star Adam, 38, didn’t hold back in sharing his feelings and replied: ‘Which I think is f****d up personally as well. You need to stay in the same bed as her.’
Ryan then explained that while they simply ‘haven’t got enough rooms in London’ to have their own quarters, their Manchester home has ample space.
‘Two living rooms. We watch telly separately. We don’t really like each other… I try and spend as little time with Lucy as possible,’ he quipped.
‘She likes to watch these American TV series and I like to watch crime.’
He then recalled one occasion when he was ‘feeling a little frisky’ and tried to instigate sex in Lucy’s living room.
‘I stand over her growling like a little puppy dog. I started stroking her and she just looked at me like “what are you doing”,’ he told his siblings.
‘She’s like Ryan “can you at least sit in the same room as me and watch a series with me”. I’m like “I don’t really want to watch the series with you, you know exactly what I want and I’m here”.’
Ryan then explained how he and the family ‘have to watch telly together’ when they’re in London due to the lack of room.
‘I’m sitting there thinking “this is a bit weird”. We don’t sit in the same room together. We only had sex twice and got two kids,’ he joked.
Former Love Island star Scott, 38, wondered if his older brother thinks it’s normal to live this way, to which Ryan replied: ‘I don’t know, but it is in my house.
Do you have separate beds with your partner?
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Yes – we need our space
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No – it wouldn’t work for us
‘What is normal? Who’s got the rulebook of what you’re supposed to do? It’s my house, my rules and that’s how it is. Well it’s Lucy’s rules actually.’
Ryan does have a point, as a 2025 study by Bedstar found that one in five couples in the UK now sleep in separate rooms, with about two-thirds doing so every night. More than 40% put it down to sleep issues.
Lucy previously opened up about their living situation while appearing on the podcast.
She told listeners: ‘Basically we sleep in separate bedrooms because Ryan is a nightmare sleeper. Ryan snores, he sleep talks, he whacks me in his sleep.’
Fortunately, Ryan still seems to be more smitten than ever with Lucy, as he recently admitted he ‘still fancies her’ as much as he did when they first started dating.
The couple recently enjoyed a romantic holiday to Crete and Ryan was all in his feels, writing a heartfelt Instagram caption about his long-time partner.
‘When we first met on Bear Grylls 10 years ago, one of our favourite things to do was sneak off down the beach to watch sunsets,’ he told his followers.
‘Every holiday we’d find the best spot, and before the kids we’d even stay up to watch the sunrise with a bottle of champagne. These days im lucky to get her past midnight!’
Ryan continued: ‘Those have always been some of my favourite memories with Luce. This holiday we discovered the hotel had a babysitting service, so we got to do our favourite thing again… find a beautiful restaurant, watch the sunset, and just be us for a few hours.
‘I love my kids more than anything, but every now and then I love having Lucy Meck all to myself.’