Pete Wicks has teased his budding romance with Carol Voderman following his proposal last month to be "one of her special friends".
The Essex star, 35, admitted he wanted to get close to the Countdown legend, 62, in an unexpected revelation.
Carol quickly found out about Pete's confession in a video with This Morning's Holly Jay-Smith and was left eyeing up the TOWIE hunk.
Pete responded to the video with a flirty message, saying: “Ready when you are Carol…” and the maths whizz returned the favour by following him on Instagram.
In an update, Pete shared: "There's been a lot of hoopla about me and a potential new romance with Carol Vorderman – f***ing everywhere.
"So last week on the podcast just as we were leaving, Sam called everyone back in for the Carol Vorderman saga, which I then re-tweeted – me and Carol had a bit of back and forth on Instagram, which I was very happy about," he revealed on his podcast with Sam Thompson, Staying Relevant.
"It then went into the press, and all the press picked it up. It went everywhere, where it was ' Carol Vorderman linked with Pete Wicks'.
"I've been linked with a lot of women but none as fabulous as Carol Vorderman, so I am over the moon."
He then revealed the flirty exchange with Carol on Instagram, where he confessed: "The last thing I said to Carol was 'ready when you are'."
Sam asked if the Countdown star replied, to which Pete added: "Yeah, she went, 'Ooo'."
"What does that even mean?" Sam quipped as Pete replied: "Don't know I'm not sure it's even a good thing.
"All I'm saying is just watch this space, you never know what's going to happen."
Carol recently opened up on her private life, having revealed she dates multiple men at the same time.
She dubs the mysterious men her 'special friends' and her children Katie, 31, and Cameron, 25, know most of them.
Despite the many men in her life, the TV presenter claims it works out well and isn't a jealous person.
The TV star has been in 'long-term relationships if you like' with special friends.
"One's 11 years, one's seven years, you know everyone is single. It's a happy place. I hasten to add I'm not into one-night stands," Carol said.
