Nicole Scherzinger is a singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, TV competition judge, and she is engaged to be married. But what do we know about her fiancé, Thom Evans?
Evans is as a former Scottish rugby player. He was born in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1985, and grew up in England, where he began career in professional rugby. He played on the wing for Glasgow Warriors. Evans earned 10 caps (official appearance representing a national team) for Scotland and played alongside his younger brother, Max Evans.
Evans’ rugby career ended much earlier than he expected. In 2010, when he was 24, he suffered a serious neck injury in a game against Wales in Cardiff.
“I sustained a double fracture-dislocation to the C5 and C7 regions of my spine in 2010,” he said in an interview with Men’s Health U.K. in 2024. “I was playing for Scotland against Wales in the Six Nations and I was really fortunate because an injury of that magnitude, suffered on such a big stage, meant I had the very best personnel there to deal with it. At the time, I was just so grateful not to be in a wheelchair … But a year or so after the injury, it really hit me that I was never going to play the game again.”
The injury forced him to retire from professional rugby, and he subsequently explored opportunities in entertainment and television.
Speaking on behalf of Betway, Evans told Showbiz Cheat Sheet, “When my rugby career ended, it was like I lost my identity. But I was fortunate I had the opportunity to do Strictly Come Dancing, and the show opened so many doors for me. I built myself back together through wellness and fitness, but it was hard understanding that I was never going to play again.”
Evans also competed on The X Factor: Celebrity in 2019 when Scherzinger was a judge and that’s how the two met. The former athlete got all the way to the show’s semi-final round with his group made up of other rugby players Ben Foden and Levi Davis. Before he started his rugby career, Evans was in a boy band called Twen2y4Se7en and toured with Westlife.
Their interactions on the show sparked romance rumors for months. However, the pair did not go public with their relationship until they appeared at the Golden Globes together in January 2020.
In 2021, Evans explained to The Sun that at first, he didn’t believe the former Pussycat Doll singer would be interested in starting something with him one since he was one of the contestants on The X-Factor.
“It wasn’t even in my thought process to try it on with Nicole because it would have been unprofessional, and she’s so lovely and stunning in every possible way,” he said. “I was just like, ‘She’s out of my league.’ It was only after we sang an awkward performance of ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ and she kindly saved us in the show that we, as a band, went up to her dressing room to thank her. That was the first time I met her, and I’ve never looked back.”
On June 27, 2023, Scherzinger announced that Evans had proposed and she happily accepted. She shared photos of the two on a beach and captioned them, “I said yes.” Evans posted the same images with the caption, “My Ever After.”
The two have publicly announced a wedding date.
