Carol Vorderman has laughed off claims that she’s having an “affair” with Gareth Gates after the pair were spotted looking very cosy in the VIP area of Cheltenham racecourse.
Pride of Britain host Carol cut a glamorous figure as she joined big names like royal couple Zara and Mike Tindall, disgraced MP Matt Hancock and I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! winner Georgia Toffolo at the famous festival on Tuesday.
The former Countdown star, 62, was seen chatting and laughing with Pop Idol star Gareth, 38, leading to the rumour mill churning out tales of an affair between the pair.
But Carol has been quick to shut down the claims as she addressed the rumours that she had been “cosying up” with the singer.
Last night, Carol, who was on the water and tea yesterday, took to Twitter to speak out on the rumours.
Over two videos posted to Twitter, Carol recounted her conversation with "Matt HanCOCK", as she referred to him, after he came up to her at the races, and her cosy chat with Gareth.
"Apparently, I'm now having an affair with Gareth Gates," she said, laughing very hard. "Really?"
Elsewhere in the videos, Carol issued a not-so-subtle dig at Matt Hancock.
The Pride of Britain legend was left fuming at claims they cosied up together at Cheltenham, conceding that she somewhat reluctantly chatted to the disgraced politician.
Carol vehemently denied that they "cosied up" together in the Twitter rant, saying: "We've had a great day and we've just looked online and there's a whole blooming thing in the Daily Mail - talk about a set-up - about how I've been cosying up to Matt Han cock at the races! OK, I'm going to tell you what happened.”
She went on to explain how she ended up talking to Matt in the Royal Box. "I'm always a guest at the Jockey Club - I'm at the Cheltenham Races all the time, I go to a lot of meetings there, I go to a lot of racing. I have shares in a horse with the chairman of Cheltenham Races, it's one of my things.
"So, Michael Dickinson, who is a genius trainer of all time, is a dear friend of mine along with Brendan Foster. We were having lunch, we go to parading - it's a long story, this - and we always go up to the royal box at some point to watch a race.
"We all go up, we're having tea - I was chaufeur because I wasn't drinking - and sandwiches and all that kind of thing. It was Michael, Brendan, some other people from ITV Sport. I love the races, so my friend Jules and I go, 'We're just going out early onto the terrace to watch Honeysuckle.'
"We go out onto the terrace to watch Honeysuckle and the others canting down to the start, which is just glorious and the crowds are like 70,000 people! Jules and I, almost alone on the terrace outside - it's such a set-up - we're there, maybe three other people. It's a big terrace.
"We're looking out at the course... tap on the shoulder - 'Hello, my name's Gina.' And then I turn around and it's Matt Hancock - 'Hello, my name's Matt.' I went, 'Hello, I'm Carol, this is my friend Jules.' What are you meant to do? You're in the royal box. You can't call them a... in the royal box, can you?
"So I said, 'Oh Matt, are you into racing?' And they said, not particularly but Matt is, she said, because his constituency is in Newmarket and he's even ridden in a race."
Making a face, Carol continued: "Which I thought, oh I didn't know that. So I said, 'Oh, that's interesting because we were at Sandown last week, weren't we Jules?' Where there were amateur jockeys, bla. And I said, 'That's really interesting, we want to watch the race.'
"Then we turn round to watch the course and then he said, 'Oh by the way, thank you.' So I turn around again to be civil. 'By the way, thank you for everything you do with your son about enlightening people about dyslexia. I am dyslexic. La la la.'
"So I said, 'It's very important to me as a mother of a child who had special educational needs that people are aware that you can become very successful in spite of the early studies. It takes them longer for them to get to where they need to be, that's all. They're not incapable, it just takes people longer.'
"And at that point I said, 'By the way, I really want to watch this race.' Turned round and watched the race. Jules and I never spoke abother word again! That's it! Talk about a bloody set-up!"
She added that she was "brought up to be polite" and that's why she responded to the couple in the first place.
