Pete Wicks 'swarmed' by fans at Manchester podcast show

Pete Wicks was "swarmed" by stage invaders during his live podcast show with Sam Thompson in Manchester.

On their shared podcast Staying Relevant, the reality TV stars recapped their live podcast shows in Birmingham, Cardiff, London, and Manchester earlier this month.

"There were elements of Manchester that were not OK," Pete began. "There was a part of the show where Sam goes into the audience and just has a thoroughly good time. When we were discussing this, I said, 'I don't want to go into the audience.'"

He continued, "There's a reason why I don't like to go into the audience, and it was highlighted in Manchester when the stage was stormed. It was stormed by people. One, two, three women got up. Suddenly, there were, how many?"

Sam estimated that "about 50" audience members invaded the stage "at one point", and added, "That's what I could see from my bird's eye view - of Pete sort of becoming like an ant swarmed over by scarab beetles."

Some audience members who reached Pete allegedly touched him inappropriately.

"There was a lot of grabbing," The Only Way Is Essex star recalled. "I think you can probably imagine where that was."

He added, "Listen, I love a good time. However, the grabbing was a lot - to the point where we've had emails from people... with footage, just in case we want to use it in any future legal battles, I imagine."

According to Pete, neither the show organisers nor venue staff "were prepared" for the incident, but the security was "actually very good".

The reality star revealed that he was rescued by "a hero" named Ben, the carpenter who built their live show set.

"(He) pulled down half the set so we could get through the back (and) found me and reached through like Moses parting the sea," he remembered.