Ryan Thomas and his brother Adam were the latest stars to appear on the celebrity special of ITV’s Deal or No Deal.19:39, 08 Aug 2026The actor was quick to notice the sweet connection to his late father.‌Stephen Mulhern welcomed actors Ryan and Adam Thomas to Saturday's instalment of Celebrity Deal or No Deal (August 8).‌However, when the pair had finished introducing some of the famous faces who had come to help them, including Sue Cleaver, Kelvin Fletcher and Lisa Snowdon, the ITV host was taken aback by the item they had brought with them.‌Quick to notice the unusual pigeon mascot on their podium, Stephen asked them to explain it further.Ryan called the story 'crazy', sharing that one day, when the family were staying at their home in the South of England, a pigeon appeared at the back door.‌He commented: "I opened the back door and it came in, it was eating all the crumbs off of the floor for like six, seven hours, it didn't leave the house."It was underneath the windowsill outside of the back door at about eight at night. We have a vet who lives next door. I rang him and said, 'The foxes are going to eat this pigeon, so you need to come and take him away and find its home'."Ryan explained that the animal had a tag on its leg, allowing him to know that it had an owner.‌Sharing that the next day the family were leaving to go back home, the vet rang him to reveal the pigeon was from Manchester and asked if he could take it back with them, which they did.The ITV star added: "We got back to Manchester, I've let him out. He's gone for 24 hours, and I thought, 'Right, he's found his way home'. 24 hours later, tap tap tap on the back door. I swear to you now, it didn't leave for over a month!‌"He's called Dougie, after my dad, so I took him to see our racehorses. Our racehorse that dad left us when he died. I brought him home, let him out, and he never came back again. So all I'm left with is this pigeon dispenser!"Although the audience and Stephen found the story hilarious, the actor was quick to notice another connection to his dad.‌Ryan said: "What's even more spooky is my dad's birthday is the 14th and Lucy (his partner) has got my dad's box. That is weird! This is weird."Stephen replied: "Already a sign!Sadly, the siblings lost their father, Dougie James, when he died unexpectedly towards the end of 2020 at the age of 72.Article continues belowDeal or No Deal Celebrity Special is available to watch on ITVX.