Rugby star Gareth Thomas is among the
12 housemates competing on Channel 5's Celebrity Big Brother UK,
the UK's Daily
Mail reported.
Thomas, who retired from rugby late
last year, announced he's gay in 2009. The 37-year-old Welshman's
coming out inspired other professional athletes to come out,
including English
cricketer Steven Michael Davies and Swedish footballer (European
soccer) Anton
Hysen.
The reality program's ninth season is
scheduled to begin airing tonight. (A trailer for the show is
embedded in the right panel of this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)
Also entering the house are Natasha
Giggs, Natalie Cassidy, Frankie Cocozza, Nicola McLean, Michael
Madsen and Denise Welch.
The celebrities will live together in a
stylized ski lodge-themed house where cameras will capture their
every move as they plot to avoid being evicted from the Big Brother
house to become the last celebrity standing.
Over the summer, Thomas told the Mirror
that he had made the right decision to come out gay, saying it gave
him “a sense of relief and pride.”
“I'm proud to be recognized for who I
am,” he said.