Stacey Solomon and Joe Swash shed light on an awkward moment between them as he tried to pursue a romance with her, following her stint on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
Joe Swash said he “ran” away from his wife Stacey Solomon after making the first move before they got together.
The pair met when Stacey, 35, was competing in the 2010 edition of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in Australia, and Joe was hosting the spin-off show.
Joe, 43, confessed that he “silently fell in love” with Stacey while watching her on the programme and attempted to express his affection when they finally met in person.
“I was flirting hard and she didn’t get it at all,” the former EastEnders star recalled.
Appearing together on an episode of the Newlyweds podcast, Stacey admitted she was oblivious to Joe’s romantic interest at first, mistaking his advances for friendliness.
He elaborated: “I definitely fell in love with her in Australia and I had four days with her.
“Just like she said, she’s a hermit and she was going to disappear again. So, I knew in those four days, I really had to sort of like, make a play.”
In a final attempt at trying to pursue Stacey, Joe said he offered to help Stacey with her luggage, which she initially thought was “weird”.
After he arrived at her door, the Sort Your Life Out presenter said she was taken aback by his next action.
“I’m not joking, we’re stood [at] the door and I’m standing there with my suitcases and he throws himself on me and kisses me,” Stacey recounted. “I’m not even joking out of nowhere.”
Joe, laughing, interjected: “I was down to my last half an hour, I had to do something.”
Demonstrating her reaction, Stacey continued: “So I was like this [stiff and shocked].”
The mother-of-five said Joe then “ran away” from the awkward situation, leaving her to deal with the luggage as she made her way back to the UK.
He added: “And then she went to the airport and it was left as that and I was like have I overstepped the mark? Am I going to get HR on the phone, what have I done here? And then I just went, I ran.
“I got the sense that I might have overstepped the mark.”
Fortunately, Stacey wasn’t put off by the awkward moment and they laughed about it during a video call afterwards.
Fast forward the years and the couple are now married with three young children.
In addition to their shared brood, Stacey has two teenage sons from previous relationships, while Joe also has a son from an earlier romance.
Viewers can catch a glimpse of their lively household antics in their new six-part BBC series titled Stacey and Joe.
Stacey and Joe continues tonight at 8pm on BBC One.
