Pete Wicks knocked unconscious after booze-fuelled fall and woke up to dogs licking face

The former TOWIE star was forced to stay in his house for a week after he smashed his head on the coffee table

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(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)

Pete Wicks was knocked unconscious after suffering a terrifying fall. The former TOWIE star was forced to stay in his house for a week after smashing his head on a coffee table.

He woke up to his dog licking his face and a wax burn on his eye, which left his face “swollen and pink”. Explaining the scary incident to his friend Sam Thompson on their Staying Relevant podcast, Pete said: “I smashed my head on the coffee table, no it gets worse.

“Unconscious I woke up with Eric licking my face… I had candles on the coffee table and had a wax burn across all my eye.

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He woke up to his dog licking his face and a wax burn on his eye, which left his face ‘swollen and pink’(Image: Getty Images for BFC)

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Pete was knocked unconscious (Image: Jed Cullen/Dave Benett/Getty Ima)

“I had taken the skin off all my eyelid and under my eye. That was Christmas day, so I didn’t leave the house from Christmas day until New Year’s Eve, because my face was quite swollen and pink.”

Sam recently opened up about his own health woes, explaining his plans to have surgery which will leave him unable to talk.

He said: “I’ve got a cyst on my vocal cords. I’m having that taken out, which is going to be mad because it means I have three days of vocal rest.”

According to the NHS, the nodules are non-malignant, small swellings. The organisation says they arise on the edges of the vocal cords, which are situated in the voice box. They are often formed when the vocal cords come together with too great a force over a long period of time.

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Sam recently opened up about his own health woes, explaining his plans to have surgery which will leave him unable to talk(Image: ITV)

It remains to be seen whether Sam’s new girlfriend will be by his side throughout the procedure. He had earlier confessed his relationship update to pal Pete on an edition of the podcast.

He gushed: “I’ve got a girlfriend. I’ve got a girlfriend!” And he admitted: “You know, I wouldn’t be dating someone this amount of time if I didn’t think it had legs to last.”

Sam and Talitha Balinska went public with their relationship in 2025 and spent Christmas together.

But he was forced to shut any rumours of trouble in his relationship just days after he shared a cryptic post that left some fans worried.

The couple spent their first Christmas together with Sam’s family, but a photo he shared on Instagram at the beginning of January seemed to suggest that there might be some problems.

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The TV personality, 33, has been dating DJ and model Talitha Balinska for a few months(Image: @samthompsonuk/Instagram)

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The fact that Sam was alone with his cat in the photo sparked speculation that he was single(Image: @samthompsonuk/Instagram)

In the image, Sam was seen cuddling his cat on a sofa. He captioned the image: “Starting 2026 as I mean to go on.” The fact that Sam was alone with his cat in the photo sparked speculation that he was single – however, he has now put those rumours to rest with a new snap on social media.

But Sam later took to his Instagram stories to share a selfie of him and Talitha. He was all smiles in the photo, and added a heart emoji. Following months of courtship, Sam revealed at the start of December that he and Talitha had become “official”.

Chatting to his best mate Pete Wicks on their Staying Relevant podcast, Sam confirmed they had taken their romance to the next stage. He declared: “I’ve got a girlfriend. I’ve got a girlfriend!”

Sam’s new relationship is the first since he split up from his previous girlfriend Zara McDermott, who is now dating former One Direction star Louis Tomlinson.