LOVE ACTUALLY 'IT WAS GOING TO TAKE A REMARKABLE MAN TO MAKE ME TRUST AGAIN'

AS VICKY PATTISON AND ERCAN RAMADAN CELEBRATE THEIR ENGAGEMENT, THEY TALK TO OK! ABOUT THEIR OVERSEAS WEDDING PLANS AND STARTING A FAMILY

- GEMMA MCCARTNEY

Greeting us with her familiar smile when we meet for our London photoshoot, Vicky Pattison is still the quick-witted Geordie girl we know and love. But there's something different about the Vicky we see now, a glow she didn't have when we last met, pre-pandemic - not to mention that sparkler on her left hand.

It's no wonder she is celebrating, as she recently got engaged to her boyfriend, former TOWIE regular Ercan Ramadan.

As we congratulate her, we ask to see the huge rock she is sporting, a 3.72ct emerald-cut diamond ring by one of her favourite designers, lan Gallacher Jewellers of Stirling.

"Didn't he do well?" she says to us, before admitting her beau is "so excited" about the shoot day ahead.

Taking us back to their Dubai beach engagement, Vicky, 34, and gentlemanly Ercan, 28, happily give the full story. "I was totally oblivious. I was just having a lovely time on holiday," she laughs.

Ercan quietly held on to the ring for more than a year after their holiday plans were cancelled due to Covid. But eventually, after much stress, he managed to pop the question in February.

"We'd had a really rubbish Valentine's Day," explains Vicky, who has been with Ercan for three years.

He continues, "So I used that as an excuse. I said, 'Listen, to make up we're going to have a special date night'."

"I had no idea what was going on," she adds. "I was just enjoying all the rose petals and Champagne! But there was a beautiful view at the restaurant we were at, with Burj Khalifa in the background. We were walking along the beach and he started telling me how I was his best friend, how I'm brave and we've been through so much together.

"And I was like, 'Are you going to ask me to marry you?' And he was like, 'Shut up, you're ruining it!'"