When Scott Mills was asked about the early days of his love story with now-husband Sam Vaughan – he likened it to the nation’s favourite BBC sitcom, Gavin and Stacey.
Sam, who worked as an executive at Nation Radio, is from Bridgend in Wales. The pair met in 2016 at a radio industry event in Wales and Scott later gushed: ‘The moment I met Sam, everything just went blurry. It felt different than before.’
Almost instantly, the presenter was getting the train up to Cardiff every other week to see him and Sam, earning significantly less than his new lover, would get the bus down.
Fans of the BBC sitcom will no doubt appreciate the similarities drawn between Scott and Sam and the beloved on-screen couple, Essex lad Gavin and Barry-born Stacey.
But, in the wake of the news about his shock axing from the BBC last Friday, I can reveal the truth of what really happened in the early days of their relationship – a story that James Corden and Ruth Jones would never dream of writing into their cosy sitcom.
Indeed, their ‘movie romance’ started off rather more messily than the pair would like to admit.
Radio insiders have told me Scott, then 44, was introduced to Sam, who is 16 years his junior and was then 28 years old, by his close friend, a director at Nation Radio.
A source close to the men told me: ‘It was all a bit murky, as in, it was a love triangle but they were also all thick as thieves.
‘Scott was dating his friend at the time, who introduced him to Sam, and there was a well-known crossover: Scott only had eyes for Sam and ditched his then-flavour of the month.
‘Everyone thought it was such a boys’ club in that group, but they were also all sleeping with each other. It was really odd, in my opinion.’
It emerged on Tuesday that around the time he and Sam met, Scott was under investigation by the Metropolitan Police for serious sexual offences against a boy under the age of 16.
A year later, he would be questioned by the police over the allegations but was cleared in 2019 by the Crown Prosecution Service for lack of sufficient evidence.
It is unclear what Sam knew about the investigation into his future husband and the producer has yet to break his silence.
Though, behind the scenes, his career was under pressure during the 2017 probe, Scott’s relationship with his new love interest was blossoming.
‘The more time we spent together, the more I could see we were right for each other. I just needed him to see that too,’ Scott revealed to The Times in a joint interview with Sam.
But when the Strictly podcast host asked to take the relationship further, he was rebuffed by Sam, who had a ‘wobble’ and they split for six months.
‘I was gutted,’ Scott admitted and recounted how he had cried on the sofa eating ice cream until the Welsh radio host decided he wanted to make a go of things.
Three months before the Covid pandemic, the pair moved in together and bought a five-bedroom, £1.4million new-build property in Hertfordshire, where they still live with their Cavapoo, Ted.
After four years of dating, while on a wintry weekend away in a shepherd’s hut, Scott got down on one knee in a surprise proposal.
Three years later, the pair were wed in a Mediterranean villa on the coast near Barcelona, cheered on by their pals Rylan Clark, Zoe Ball, Vick Hope and her husband Calvin Harris.
Whenever he is asked about their six-month break back in 2017, Scott says that Sam just ‘wasn’t ready to commit’.
But viewers got a glimpse of what really went on behind closed doors when the couple took part in BBC’s Celebrity Race Across the World in 2024, two months before they were set to wed.
Riding the Serra Verde Express train through the lush Brazilian countryside, the couple were asked by producers to discuss their relationship.
Smiling across at his husband, Scott said: ‘Bet you didn’t think you would be doing this with me seven years ago.’
He then pressed: ‘I couldn’t get you to go anywhere with me for a while.
‘You weren’t keen on me at the start, were you?’
Sam shot back in an awkward tone: ‘I wouldn’t say not keen, it went a bit quick, too fast, too quick. So I just had to put the brakes on a little bit.
‘Scott asked me, ‘Do you just want to be friends?’ I had to be honest and say: ‘I think I do at the moment.’ And Scott rightfully at that time said, ‘I can’t do this’.
‘And there was about six to seven months where he didn’t talk to me.’
Tapping his partner on the shoulder, Scott rounded off the scene by quipping, ‘All worked out though, didn’t it?’
But what is now abundantly clear is how Scott has tried to paint a picture of marital bliss for his fans.
He used his column with the i newspaper in May to do just that.
Scott wrote: ‘Sam irons, Scott gets car cleaned, big shop, Sam makes food, Scott walks Teddy. That’s it. That’s the life I want. It’s ordinary. It’s ours. And I love it.
‘It’s not perfect – he’s not perfect, and neither am I. I can be grumpy and snappy, and I struggle to switch off from work.
‘With the new breakfast show, we’ve had to adjust.
‘We had a conversation early on about how life-changing this job [his BBC Radio 2 slot] would be.
‘He just said, ‘I’m so proud of you – and it’ll all be OK.’
After they won Celebrity Race Across the World, Scott declared it was ‘the ultimate test to our relationship’.
It’s safe to say the past week has perhaps been a bigger test than that.
