‘ I nearly killed Michael on our very first date!'

In their first ever interview together, Chantelle Houghton and her new fiancé Michael Strutt tell us all about their whirlwind engagement and reveal what Preston really thinks of it

- SARAH MORTON

Just a few weeks ago, Chantelle Houghton appeared in the pages of this very magazine, smiling broadly next to her ex-hubby Samuel Preston, to talk about rekindling their friendship after a decade. We were hopeful that a romantic reunion could be on the cards for the pair, so we certainly weren’t expecting Chantelle to take to Instagram soon after and announce she’s engaged – but not to Preston!

The ex-Celebrity Big Brother legend has been enjoying a secret romance with Michael Strutt, a property developer and dad-of-two who got down on one knee just four months after their first date.

Although Chantelle had been keeping Michael out of the limelight – even disguising his face in pictures on social media – the engagement has made the pair so happy they’re now ready to go public. So they came straight back to new to discuss their news.

And it’s clear Chantelle, 36, isn’t worried about rushing things. “When you know, you know,” she tells us when we get on the phone to the couple who are at their Essex home. “For the first time in my life, this feels real. Not for the cameras or a reality show, but genuine, real life.”

In between shrieks of laughter (at one point Chantelle describes how Michael, 34, has spent the morning blowing raspberries on her tummy), the pair tell us all about their whirlwind romance, how they didn’t even tell their family before announcing the news online and what Preston really thinks of it all.

And no matter how much we probe about their high-speed romance, their exes and why they kept it such a big secret, nothing can dampen their obvious joy.