PADDY McGuinness admitted he’s got a secret telly crush during an appearance on Celebrity Gogglebox.
The former Take Me Out star paired up with Vernon Kay for the popular TV series, which kicked off with them watching Ross Kemp game show, Bridge of Lies.
Tackling the celebrity version of the quick-thinking game was Countdown star Rachel Riley, which Paddy admitted was a favourite of his.
“There’s something about Rachel Riley,” he told Vernon. “I don’t know what it is.
“You know when you have, like, a celebrity crush that you’re not supposed to have?”
However, Vernon was on hand to bring him back down to Earth, telling Paddy that Rachel was a “United fan”.
A horrified Paddy then changed his mind and declared: “Oh I’ve gone right off her!”
Unfortunately for Paddy, who is currently single after splitting from wife Christine McGuinness in 2022, Rachel is a taken woman, marrying Strictly Come Dancing pro Pasha Kovalev in 2019.
The pair have been together since 2014, shortly after meeting on the BBC dancing show and Rachel split from her husband.
His confession came just hours after The Sun exclusively reported that Christine sought solace from Jacqueline Jossa’s partner, Dan Osborne, following their split.
The pair comforted each other with their respective marriage woes and sent flirty texts.
Model Christine said Dan had joined her for raucous nights out that helped lift her spirits after her split from radio and TV host husband Paddy.
A pal told The Sun: “Dan and Christine have known each other for years.
“Their friendship goes as far back as 2019, when Jac was heading Down Under to the I’m A Celeb jungle, when they had a brilliant night out at a fund-raising gala in London.
“They stayed in touch sporadically and would bump into each other at events and their messages got pretty flirty.
“Some were seen by mutual friends.
“She would call him ‘D’ in texts and it became an open secret among their circles.
“There is no suggestion anything sexual happened, but it’s fair to say there was a spark between them.”
Former Towie star Da is adamant nothing happened romantically between the pair, even suggesting that the text messages between them were “deep fakes or AI” when asked
A pal said: “Dan is devoted to Jacqueline and would hate for any suggestion of impropriety.
“Of course, it’s possible for a man and woman to be mates.”Despite this, Dan has reportedly sent grovelling messages to Jacqueline – with whom he’s trying to repair his marriage to – after the news broke.
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