Ross

One Emmerdale theory suggested a shock death could be looming for Laurel Thomas as her secret fling faces being exposed on the ITV soap, but not all fans are convinced

One new Emmerdale theory has teased a shock death for a long-serving character.

Laurel Thomas is currently at the centre of a new romance plot with Ross Barton, with a secret fling underway. Laurel’s stepdaughter Gabby Thomas was rejected by Ross who instead wants to be with Laurel.

Amid this storyline ongoing, it’s been teased Laurel is just having a bit of fun. But with recent reports suggesting that three different characters have been axed from the show, some fans wondered what the future might hold for other village residents.

There’s rumours Jimmy King will be killed off later this year, and now a new theory suggests Laurel could meet a grim fate. While the fan who started off the theory claimed they were initially joking, they admitted they could not help but wonder if there was truth to it given the soap’s history.

They wondered how the storyline with Ross and Laurel may end, even predicting a twist involving Gabby. They predicted that Laurel would become hated by villagers, and might end up being killed off.

Hilariously, fans shared their thoughts on the theory, admitting that with it being soap land, anything was possible. The original post read: “I thought of this as a joke at first, but knowing the writers, maybe it will end up being true.

“Who wants to bet that Ross will end up dating Gabby and then secretly have an affair with Laurel. Bonus points if they get engaged/married and the affair is found out at the wedding and/or Gabby has a child to him during the relationship (or she goes Eva from Corrie style and fakes a pregnancy).

“And since it’s Emmerdale, let’s also predict that Jai will start seeing Laurel behind Kerry’s back and both affair reveals will happen in the same week. Leading to Laurel becoming the most hated person in the village and then mysteriously dying, prompting a months-long whodunnit.”

The idea wasn’t completely shut down by fans, as some joked along with it while others questioned how likely it was given recent storylines. A fan replied: “You are HIRED!!!!! That storyline I would watch!”

Another said: “You’ve given the scriptwriters much food for thought if they read your post but you and I know that anything is possible in soap land. And I mean anything.”

A final comment read: “I mean if there’s already rumours around about other long-term characters being killed off then Laurel could be just as at risk surely. As people have said it’s soap after all.”

As it stands there has been nothing to suggest Laurel is leaving the show, let alone that she will be killed off. It’s not currently the way the plot is going, but fans are not wrong by saying anything can happen.

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

Goalkeepers: Craig Gordon (Hearts), Angus Gunn (Nottingham Forest), Liam Kelly (Rangers).

Defenders: Grant Hanley (Hibernian), Jack Hendry (Al-Ettifaq), Aaron Hickey (Brentford), Dominic Hyam (Wrexham), Scott McKenna (Dinamo Zagreb), Nathan Patterson (Everton), Anthony Ralston (Celtic), Andy Robertson (Liverpool), John Souttar (Rangers), Kieran Tierney (Celtic).

Midfielders: Ryan Christie (Bournemouth), Findlay Curtis (Rangers), Lewis Ferguson (Bologna), Ben Gannon-Doak (Bournemouth), Billy Gilmour (Napoli), John McGinn (Aston Villa), Kenny McLean (Norwich City), Scott McTominay (Napoli).

Forwards: Che Adams (Torino), Lyndon Dykes (Birmingham City), George Hirst (Ipswich), Lawrence Shankland (Hearts), Ross Stewart (Southampton).

For Ross Stripling, baseball was something of an accidental career.

He walked onto the team at Texas A&M, majoring in business finance, planning to stick around campus long enough to earn a master’s degree. After his junior year, he turned down a six-figure bonus offered by the Colorado Rockies. After his senior year, he accepted a six-figure bonus to sign with the Dodgers, only to blow out his elbow after one season in the minor leagues.

He was 24. He was at peace. He called home.

“I think the right thing to do is to say I did this baseball thing and go start my life,” he told his father.

If you’re a Dodgers fan, you know the rest of his baseball story: In his major league debut, Stripling was five outs from a no-hitter when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts yanked him. In his nine years in the major leagues, including five with the Dodgers, he pitched in the All-Star Game and the World Series, and he once pitched with his “Chicken Strip” nickname on the back of his game jersey.

His father knew best. Instead of giving up on baseball when he needed Tommy John surgery, his father encouraged Stripling to use the yearlong rehabilitation process as a way to explore what a future without baseball might look like. His grandfather set him up with an internship at an investment firm.

Five years ago, Stripling and his mentor from that firm founded their own financial services company, called Skyward Financial. Now, 21 months after Stripling threw his last pitch in the major leagues, he is throwing a new one: Hey, young athletes coming into a lot of money, I’ve lived in that world, and I’ll show you how to protect your money and build toward generational wealth.

“It’s not me trying to become the next Wolf of Wall Street,” Stripling said. “This is genuine. I want to help kids and their families out in a space that has gotten out of hand in a hurry.”

Matthew Houston, the mentor, said Stripling blew away the brokers when he interviewed for that internship.

“He brings with him, like, a two-inch folder stuffed with handwritten stock reports he had written on minor league bus trips,” Houston said. “He handed us a couple of them, and they were legit Wall Street reports, him doing analysis of stocks. We were falling out of our chair.”

Stripling soon earned his broker’s license. Over the past decade, Houston estimated, he and Stripling might have traded messages about markets and clients “25 to 50 times a day.” One night, Houston watched Stripling pitch on television. Not long after the game ended, he heard the ping of a text message.

“I had just seen him on TV, and it’s like, ‘What do you think about Celgene and Gilead in the biotech sector?’” Houston said. “My mind was blown.”

You don’t need to have played in the major leagues to realize how much money athletes make. Major brokerages want a piece of that money. Some even use former athletes to recruit current ones.

Marc Isenberg, the former director of financial education for Morgan Stanley’s sports and entertainment group and author of the “Money Players” guide for young athletes, wished Stripling well but said he would face significant competition from firms with bigger names and greater resources.

“It’s oversaturated,” Isenberg said. “Almost every single Wall Street firm, to compete for athletes and entertainers, has a sports and entertainment group.”

And it’s not just the behemoths. Stripling checked with a basketball agent, who said he represents 24 college players that each have a different money manager.

There is nothing revolutionary about Stripling’s message: limit the flashy spending now in favor of prudent savings and investment, so you can grow your money through and beyond your career.

Stripling believes he can win by concentrating on young athletes, the ones suddenly showered in six- or seven-figure payments from draft bonuses, college revenue sharing payments, and name, image and likeness deals.

“I’ve seen the first-rounders come in and blow money on cars and houses and gambling,” Stripling said, “and I’ve seen the first-rounders like (former Dodgers shortstop Corey) Seager, who probably hasn’t spent a dime of his signing bonus.”

In a presentation for young athletes — and for the pro teams and college athletic departments that might invite him to speak — Stripling’s firm uses his story of a baseball prospect that got a $900,000 up-front payment and spent the $500,000 after taxes on a red Lamborghini. If the prospect had invested that $500,000 over 30 years into a fund that tracked the S&P 500, he would have made $8.6 million.

“That was the dumbest decision I’ve ever seen anyone make,” Stripling said.

“I have these stories from being in the locker room. I hope that, as a player, my story resonates more than a guy from Goldman Sachs saying, ‘Yeah, we’ve got a couple good ETFs.’”

Stripling would love the chance to speak at one of the Dodgers’ morning meetings in spring training, where players hear briefings about everything from safety and security to social media.

“I’d like to learn more about it, but I’d be open to putting him in front of the guys,” Roberts said. “I definitely trust him.”

In the meantime, Stripling has a federal record. All brokers do. One form requires brokers to list their employers and job descriptions over the last 10 years. Among all the wealth strategists and financial advisors and registered representatives, Stripling’s form is the one with the job history that starts with this line: “LA Dodgers, Pitcher.”

The line-up for Celebrity Traitors season two was revealed on Saturday, with Ross Kemp joining his new co-stars for filming in Scotland

Ross Kemp is ready to bring some East End magic to the Celebrity Traitors castle after he was spotted landing in Scotland ahead of filming.

It was previously confirmed that the EastEnders icon, 61, was among the star-studded line-up for season two of the hit BBC game show, alongside Richard E. Grant, Michael Sheen, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Rob Beckett.

Hours after the castmates were revealed, they were seen making their way to the Scottish Highlands, with Jerry Hall, Bella Ramsey, Amol Rajan and Saltburn actor Richard photographed on their journey.

In new pictures, Ross appeared to be thrilled to join them, flashing a thumbs up at a camera before getting into a waiting car. Other snaps showed his fellow soap legend Julie Hesmondhalgh jetting to the area ahead of filming.

Teasing what led to the Grant Mitchell star deciding to take part, an insider told the Sun: “He loves Traitors and thinks it’s a programme on another level, which is why he really wanted to take part.

“Ross loved the mix of psychological intrigue paired with some of the very physical trials that the group have to complete – both suit him perfectly.”

He is also reportedly hoping to appeal to a younger generation of viewers, who could be less familiar with his career so far.

“Plus he knows The Celebrity Traitors won’t just be watched by people who are familiar with his work, but by younger viewers who may be less familiar with Ross, and this opens him up to a whole new audience. He’s also a very BBC name and this is another big BBC show,” they added.

Joanne McNally, James Acaster and Joe Lycett were also named in the line-up, alongside social media content creator King Kenny, Love Island presenter Maya Jama and Romesh Ranganathan.

Industry actress Myha’la and Professor Hannah Fry rounded out the cast with Sharon Rooney, James Blunt, Sebastian Croft and Sharon Rooney.

While the gang have been all smiles so far while heading to Scotland, things will get very tense once filming kicks off and suspicion over the game sets in. Shortly after filming, the 21 celebs will be sorted into “faithfuls” and “traitors” as they battle it out for the charity cash prize.

It will be up to those faithfuls to weed out the sneaky traitors, who have been tasked with secretly killing them off in nightly visits to the turret.

Following the huge success of the first season, where around 15million people tuned in to see Alan Carr win the competition as a Traitor, fans have been eagerly-awaiting news of a second series, and have already predicted Michael, Richard and Miranda could be this year’s “big dogs ”.

The air date has not yet been announced, but the hit show is expected to return to screens in autumn.

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