How bad boy Pete Wicks recovered from love rat shame with ‘secret weapon’ but now risks ‘dangerous’ Olivia Attwood move

SPAT at by strangers in the street and sent haunting videos of burning effigies hanging from a tree, reality TV star Pete Wicks felt like “public enemy number one” just a mere 10 years ago. He had just been exposed as a love rat, having cheated on girlfriend Megan McKenna after sending explicit messages to an ex, and the explosive fallout played out in front of a million-plus viewers on TOWIE. PDA-loving Pete Wicks and Olivia Attwood have been dating since March Credit: Getty A decade ago, Pete’s cheating scandal unfolded on TOWIE before more than a million viewers Credit: Fame Flynet Back then, in 2016, Pete described being a “national hate figure” due to his lothario ways, but flash forward a decade and now he’s among the nation’s most beloved TV presenters. This week, the tattooed hunk, now 37, alongside his Staying Relevant podcast co-host Sam Thompson, have this week been confirmed as the National Television Awards (NTAs) red-carpet hosts for a third year running. Sign up for the Showbiz newsletter Thank you! On top of that, his show Pete Wicks: For Dogs’ Sake is nationally beloved, his podcast series’s stadium tour was largely sold-out and now with his KISS radio co-presenter Olivia Attwood, 35, on his arm, he is tipped for even bigger TV opportunities. The couple, who started dating in March, after the ex-Love Islander’s split from Bradley Dack, could be a ‘secret weapon’ to further his career – but PR guru Carla Speight warns it would be a “highly dangerous” move. Furthermore, she predicts his star is on such a rise that he could “give Louis Theroux a run for his money” on hard-hitting documentaries and believes his real transformation is down to one person who isn’t his special lady Olivia. Carla tells us: “Pete has gone from being a bad boy and completely untouchable to fronting popular shows including For Dogs’ Sake, where we have never seen him so open, adorable and loved by the nation. “He has been shaking off his TOWIE lothario image and becoming his own entity and he will certainly learn a lot about progressing his career further from Olivia. “She has done so remarkably well that you don’t even think of her as a former Love Islander anymore. She’s a TV presenter, documentary maker and business founder. Most read in Showbiz “But it would be highly dangerous for them to mix too much work and pleasure. I don’t think they will become the next Richard and Judy. They would be smart to keep in their own lanes. “If they split up, Olivia would be fine. But it depends on the circumstances of the break-up for Pete. He would really need to keep going the way he is now and opening himself up. “Their relationship ending would leave Pete vulnerable in terms of it leading to old stories about his bad boy behaviour resurfacing. It would be a feeding frenzy and the speculation would be wild.” The evolution of Pete from 2016 to now has certainly been a sight to behold. It has seen him slog through the lower-rung reality TV trenches to emerge as a top talens. Pete has appeared on Celebrity SAS twice – a show which helped rehabilitate his image Credit: PA Last year, he was ‘dating’ ex Love Island star Maura Higgins Credit: Instagram “He would have really struggled brand wise back then because he wasn’t as famous as say Johnny Depp, who is socially acceptable as a bad boy,” Carla says. “Pete had this chaotic entry into TV through TOWIE. He was a bad boy but guarded, private and closed off, which would have hurt his brand. “If you imagine what reality shows like TOWIE are like, all the time producers are stirring up the drama, which can make you very guarded. “They ask you ‘do this, do that again’, drop in ‘so and so said this’ and ‘did this person tell you about that?’ It rattles your mental health, you don’t know who you can trust, who is real, who is fake? “Pete retreated in on himself back then, whereas now you see Pete running through fields with hordes of puppies and everyone has fallen in love with him. Now everyone sees who he really is.” Following the cheating scandal, Pete ran the gauntlet of reality TV shows, appearing on everything from Ex On The Beach to Celebs Go Dating three times and Celebrity MasterChef. It was a slow move to break away from TOWIE, which he finally quit in 2022, and would take self-flagellation on the highly-challenging adventure show Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins to emerge clean of drama and relatable. Prior to that, his fortuitous friendship with ex Made In Chelsea star Sam Thompson changed him considerably. Carla considers his “golden egg” and true secret weapon. They bonded on Celebs Go Dating back in 2019 and would launch the successful Staying Relevant podcast. Pete considers him “my best friend and my brother”. Carla says: “Sam helped to soften him and the evolution has been remarkable. It has made him incredibly attractive to brands and TV shows. “I believe Sam’s happy little soul rubbed off on Pete and allowed him to almost wear his heart on his sleeve now. Before he was a bit more in a pandora’s box. “Sam has definitely been the golden egg for him. All of the walls he built around himself for protection melted away.” Appearing on Celebrity SAS in 2022 and 2024 was a “masterstroke” according to Carla because it “exposed him like never before” – making him ever-more desirable in the showbiz world. “Remember ‘bad boy’ Calum Best did Celebrity SAS and it did the world of good for him, because the public got to see the real him,” she says. “It did the same for Pete.” It would pave the way to appear on Strictly Come Dancing two years later – exposing and endearing him to a mainstream audience of 5.5million people a week. On his 2022 Celebrity SAS stint, Pete was forced to withdraw after knocking himself out and breaking his ribs after a helicopter jump accident. Rumours were rife that Pete and his Strictly partner Jowita Przystal were more than friends Credit: BBC Pete’s ‘best friend and brother’ Sam Thompson has been credited with helping him massively Credit: Social Media – Refer to Source Upon his return two years later, viewers saw more TV self-flagellation, when he collapsed after pushing himself too hard and was airlifted from a mountain. Pete later quit due to being “in too deep” emotionally after breaking down while writing a letter to his mum, realising he needed to address his feelings with his family in-person. “It broke down Pete’s walls and exposed him like we had never seen before,” Carla says. “By getting to see the real him it shattered that bad boy idea of him. “If you had put him on I’m A Celeb back then it wouldn’t have helped. He was stone-like and tough-skinned, SAS stripped it all back to let the world see who he truly was.” Being more open and bearing his vulnerabilities, Pete was able to weather the fallout of romance drama following the split from fellow rising star Maura Higgins in 2025. At the time, an insider told The Sun that the several month romance ended after she found “loads of messages with other women on his phone”. At the time Maura and Pete didn’t reply to comment. Later, when asked about his whereabouts while leaving a restaurant, she quipped: “Dunno, probably cheating.” Similarly, he overcame turbulence after OnlyFans star Kayla Wild revealed a damaging historic relationship where he cheated on her. She claimed he “kept me private, like a secret” during their year-long romance, prior to TOWIE, and described him as a “lothario”, who will “never find a woman to settle down with.” At the time, Pete’s chemistry with Strictly partner Jowita Przystal was “too hot to handle” amid dating rumours after he kissed her three times on stage at London’s 02. Amid the will-they-won’t-they speculation, he had also been pictured snogging a mystery blonde woman in a London restaurant. But now, more vulnerable than in 2016, Pete gave an interview about cheating on Megan McKenna and admitted what he did was “f***ing horrible”. He revealed there were “death threats daily” at that time – that they also returned when he appeared on Strictly due to people thinking there were “better dancers” than him. Pete’s career continues to soar. He’s been booked again by the NTAs and has made multiple TV appearances a year outside of For Dogs’ Sake. They include appearing on Celebrity Gogglebox, The One Show, Good Morning Britain and This Morning this year alone. And the NTAs is a lucrative gig previously held by stars like Roman Kemp, Greg James and Georgia ‘Toff’ Toffolo, who have all had their own solo TV shows. Pete’s earned plenty more fans in For Dogs’ Sake Credit: UKTV He and Sam will host the NTAs red carpet event for a third consecutive year Credit: NTA There’s one person to thank for all of this according to Carla, who says: “The best thing to ever happen to Pete is Sam. “And his influence is only to the benefit of Olivia. Sam trained him to become a better boyfriend and helped him to become a better man. “There’s no way Olivia would have given him the time of day early. Sam has done a lot of work with Pete and shaped him into the person that Olivia deserves.” Carla believes Pete could be on the brink of more opportunities and may even give “Louis Theroux a run for his money” in the documentary world. “He could take a lead from Olivia and explore topics close to his heart,” she adds. “If he picks correctly, people will see why he cares and fall in love with him all over again.” The star already has pedigree having cleverly reported on the inner workings of pet rescue centres on For Dog’s Sake and his podcast Man Made about masculinity and mental health. Carla adds: “I see more serious things in Pete’s future than the fun side through shows with Sam. I think Pete is looking for more credible opportunities in the media. “He’s grown up a lot more now and wants to establish himself as a credible TV personality rather than someone from TOWIE. He’s ready to shake that off. “The evolution of Pete has been really huge, it’s opened him up and done him the world of good.” Comment now