Thomas began his television career in 2002 with a guest appearance on the BBC daytime soap opera
Doctors. From 2006 to 2009, Thomas played Donte Charles in the BBC One school-based drama series
Waterloo Road from
series 1 until
series 4. The role of Donte led Thomas to enjoy guest appearances in popular hospital drama
Casualty in 2008 in which he played a boxer, as well as a second appearance in
Doctors in 2007. He also appeared as himself on ITV gameshow
All Star Family Fortunes alongside his older brother and fellow actor
Ryan, who played
Jason Grimshaw in the soap opera,
Coronation Street. Following his departure from
Waterloo Road in 2009, Thomas signed on for his third appearance on daytime soap
Doctors, this time playing a character called Ben Hamilton. The episode aired on 26 May 2009. It was announced on 21 May 2009 that Thomas had landed the role of
Adam Barton in the long-running
ITV soap opera,
Emmerdale, and would appear on screens from July 2009. Thomas left
Emmerdale in early 2018. In 2016, Thomas was a contestant on the
sixteenth series of ''
I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and finished in third place. He became a property executive for the Kamani Property Group in 2018 alongside former Emmerdale
co-star Marc Silcock. He also made his stage debut in 2018 when he appeared as The Hollywood Producer in Nativity! The Musical. In February 2019, he portrayed the role of Rob in an episode of the BBC drama Moving On. On 19 October 2019, it was announced that Thomas would be co-hosting I'm a Celebrity: Extra Camp''. In September 2019, Thomas opened a bar/restaurant with his school friend, Scott Graham. The restaurant, named The Spinn, was situated in
Gatley,
Stockport, but it later closed. Thomas's historic and publicly documented
alcoholism led to him resigning as director of the limited company as early as mid-2022. In late 2021, it was announced that Thomas was returning to the role of Donte Charles in recommissioned return of
Waterloo Road for the first time
since 2015, and marks his first appearance on
Waterloo Road in nearly 14 years. In August 2023, Thomas was announced as one of the contestants on the
twenty-first series of
Strictly Come Dancing. He exited the competition in week 7, (4 November) with his professional dance partner,
Luba Mushtuk. This followed their dance off against
Angela Rippon and her professional dance partner
Kai Widdrington. In 2025, he and his older brother Ryan hosted
ITV1 game show
99 to Beat. In April 2026, Thomas won
series 2 of ''
I'm a Celebrity... South Africa''. Controversy with alledged bullying and tantrums, may of swung the public vote, which resulted in Adam winning, scoring 51%,
Mo Farah was second with 32%,
Harry Redknapp was 3rd with 9%, and
Craig Charles 4th with 8% of the public vote. ==Personal life==