They’ve been dating for less than a year, but their relationship is progressing at a rapid rate.
And Joe Swash took things to the next level when he got down on bended knee and proposed to his girlfriend Stacey Solomon live on Celebrity Juice – but only in order to be awarded the winning point for their team.
The former EastEnders actor, 34, surprised the studio audience – as well as his shocked partner – when he jokingly popped the question on the show, in scenes set to air on Thursday evening.
The stunt occurred as this week’s panelists were discussing Stacey’s 27th birthday celebrations.
Joe said: ‘I got her three pairs of trainers, some perfume and a nice ring…’
Host Keith Lemon replied, ‘Say that again…’, to which Joe replied, ‘No, not a wedding ring, just a normal ring.’
When the audience ‘Oohed’ in response, Joe insisted, ‘It was for the other hand!’
‘I think he wants to get you a ring’, Keith teased. ‘I didn’t say that! I’m not against it, I’m just saying’, Joe retorted.
Not letting the matter drop, Keith said: ‘It would be great if he did on the show, here.’
Feeling the pressure, poor Joe declared: ‘It’s all in good time, I don’t why everyone wants to rush!’
Producing a ring box complete with bling, Keith promised Joe, ‘I’ll give you this and if you propose to Stacey on the show, I’ll give you a point for your team.’
Surprisingly, Joe took him up on the offer, interrupting the show’s final moments to pop the question.
As the audience chanted, ‘Do it! Do it!’, in the background, Joe told Stacey, ‘Will you marry me for this point! Say yes, please!’, with the former X Factor finalist agreeing.
The joke proposal perhaps comes as little surprise since Joe recently confessed on an episode of The Xtra Factor that he is planning to marry her.
Quizzed what he thought of his partner recently trying on engagement rings, Joe was unfazed and revealed he would definitely propose to Stacey ‘at some point’.
Meanwhile, Stacey told OK! magazine of a prospective proposal: ‘I don’t know, ask him, see what he says! I want to come across cool, you know what I mean?
‘I can’t give the game away. We’re all girls. We know how it works!’
Stacey raises son Zachary, eight, with her teenage sweetheart Dean Cox and son Leighton, four, with then-fiancé Aaron Barnham.
Before getting together with Joe, the bubbly brunette was in a relationship with Jackass star Steve-O, who she met on ski show The Jump.
