ITV This Morning presenter Holly Willoughby is often in the news for her style and the fun dynamic she has with fellow presenter Phillip Schofield. However, BT sport star Jake Humphrey has drawn her into the spotlight for a very different reason.
Jake revealed that for six months he used to share a bed with Holly - while with his current partner. Adding that his now wife, Harriet, was: "fine with it".
Holly and Jake have been friends for years. They hosted CBBC's coverage of talent contest, Celebrity Fame Academy, in 2002, but first worked together for Fame Academy on the channel in the same year.
Jake had already started going out with Harriet, who he would go on to marry in 2007, when Holly started crashing round his flat, reported The Mirror. They became so close that Holly started to hop into bed with him, but all was completely innocent. Jake claimed that "nothing ever happened" between the friends but admitted things may have been different had he not met Harriet.
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Speaking to The Mirror in 2012, Jake said: "When I worked in kids’ TV, I worked with Holly on the CBBC coverage of Celebrity Fame Academy in 2003. Holly was living in Brighton and never used to stay down there so she stayed at my flat in London while we were working on the show. Eventually, it got to the point where we couldn’t be bothered to get the blow-up bed out so for about six months we slept in the same bed."
He jokingly added: "I wouldn’t want to say I met my wife too early but I would just say Holly’s worst habit is she sleeps naked – joking, of course. Holly’s a good mate but I look back on my time with her and wonder what might have been but I was going out with Harriet at the time and she lived in Leeds. She had met Holly so she knew what she looked like and she was fine with it."
Jake and Harriet met in a nightclub in 1999 in their home town of Norwich when they were teenagers but it took a year before they finally got together. Three weeks later, Harriet, who also works in TV, headed off to university in Leeds, which meant they had to endure a long-distance relationship.
Jake believes that stood them in good stead for times he has been away working for long periods doing BBC Sport's F1 coverage or hosting Champions League football on BT Sport. "She is brilliant, fantastic, she understands," said Jake, who noted she is not the jealous type.
Holly and Jake were actually reunited back in March 2017 when he was a guest on her ITV sports quiz show Play To The Whistle. The This Morning host revealed to the rest of the panel that she used to stay round Jake's house before she had moved to London because she had nowhere else to sleep.
"Jake and I have actually known each other for a very long time," explained Holly. "In fact, we first worked together in 2002 for Fame Academy on CBBC. I used to stay around your house I think because at the time I hadn’t even moved to London. So I was living in Brighton and you had a lovely flat and I’d come up and stay with you."
Jake then shocked everyone by dropping the bombshell that they "shared a bed". A flustered Holly was insistent that they did not sleep in the same bed and claimed she slept on the floor. However, Jake explained: "For a bit, but then you couldn't be bothered to get the mattress out if you remember, so you just piled in."
