Love Island star Scott Thomas has opened up about a gambling addiction that saw him blow through £20,000 and steal from his grandmother's handbag.
Scott shared his shame at pinching £20 notes from his nan and described how he would wait for the bookies to open at 8am so he could try and win back the student loan money he'd lost in casinos the night before.
The reality star, who has now changed his ways, got candid about his former habit to brothers Adam and Ryan Thomas on their joint podcast Mancs on the Mic.
"When I was a student, I had a really bad gambling problem," Scott confessed.
"It really got hold of me, and no one knew how bad it was. I was going out after student nights and ending up in a casino, losing thousands of pounds of my student loan and everything else.
"The next day I would wake up at eight in the morning and wait outside the bookies on my own to try to win it back.
"It was so bad. I couldn't tell anyone how bad it was at first. You guys just thought it was after nights out.
"I remember waiting outside casinos on my own. It feels like such a different chapter in my life," he said.
The star then shared his lowest moment: "This is a secret. I've never told anyone this, but I remember being around at my nan's, and I remember being that desperate that I was checking her old handbags for £20s and stuff like that.
"It was so bad. I was about 20-years-old or something like that."
Former Coronation Street actor Ryan said that Scott used his £20,000 inheritance money from his grandmother to pay off his debts.
"I watched you in the car giving money to someone you owed to. It was really upsetting for me," said Ryan.
When Scott was 32 he signed up to appear on the second series of Love Island in 2016.
He coupled up with Kady McDermott while in the villa with the pair continuing their romance back home.
However, it sadly wasn't meant to be and the pair split a year later.
