At 7pm sharp on Thursday night, I arrived at The Ivy Brasserie on Chelsea’s Kings Road to meet Olivia Attwood for dinner.
I was under no illusion this meeting was a charm offensive to get me ‘on side’ after I’d suggested that the blonde presenter’s ‘friendship’ with former Towie heartthrob Pete Wicks – her Kiss FM co-presenter – had tipped over into something altogether less wholesome.
I’d rumbled that there had been a carefully orchestrated PR campaign to keep their close ‘friendship’ a secret until the 34-year-old’s split from her footballer husband Bradley Dack was out in the open.
The last thing Olivia – the golden girl of ITV and tipped to step into Holly Willoughby’s shoes as their top female presenter – wanted was for her squeaky clean image to be shattered.
It was clear our dinner date was non-negotiable. When I told her hard-working PR that I wasn’t able to meet her at 4pm, or 5pm, he told me that Olivia, 34, was very keen not to cancel and suggested we meet later.
Of course, it’s impossible to know if Olivia had any idea that little more than 24 hours later she and Pete would be photographed kissing.
After arriving at the Flute Bar in London’s Soho at 8.30pm on Friday, they stood up at their table and very publicly kissed around 10pm, apparently cheered by their group of pals who were watching the moment of passion.
Sources gushed to The Sun – which published the photos on its front page – that they were delighted about this new development in their relationship, and that Pete was supporting Olivia after her split from Bradley in February.
‘Their passionate romance only started in the last few weeks since she split from Bradley, there were no overlaps,’ a friend said.
‘Olivia’s close friends know about this new development and are pleased Pete has put a smile back on her face.’
They added: ‘She has been in the depths of a really horrible break up and Pete has helped her through it.’
Yet, while Olivia was charming company on Thursday evening – complimenting me on my perfume and apologising for a photo shoot she had failed to turn up to a few years ago – she wasn’t so keen to share this happy news of her new relationship with me.
Because after we’d chatted about her early start the following morning to observe a cosmetic surgery procedure for her ITV documentary The Price of Perfection, there was one obvious question I just had to ask her: ‘How’s Pete then? What’s going on? Is he your boyfriend?’
‘He would like to be,’ she replied with a smile on her face. Something we now know is perhaps not exactly accurate.
She added: ‘I’m just not sure though. We are really good friends, he’s like the male version of me which is why our banter works so well on the radio show.’
She went on to say what a great time they have with each other. Indeed, a fortnight ago they were pictured leaving a Manchester hotel together the morning after the BRIT awards.
Of course, Pete, 37, is known for being something of a lothario – his long list of exes includes Olivia’s nemesis and fellow former Love Island star Maura Higgins, whom she has accused of ‘copying’ her career.
Pete was dating Maura in the winter of 2024 while also linked to his then Strictly Come Dancing partner Jowita Przystal.
As we chatted, it was clear Olivia was concerned about his back catalogue of women, and said that she ‘knew’ it all about his past because he’d confided in her over the years.
‘I know everything about Pete and the other women,’ she confessed. ‘He has told me all about them. I’m like “I know all of this, because you told me”.’ She then burst into fits of laughter.
Perhaps that’s why Olivia’s PR, a former publicist for ITV who she hired at the beginning of the year and who was also present at our dinner, appeared to be less sold on the star now dating his client.
Indeed, he told her that she could do better and might be better meeting someone new and fresh. I disagreed and told her if she really loved Pete then she should go out with him. She just giggled.
It was the first time that Olivia had broken her silence on the romance with Pete, with whom she was pictured getting cosy during a work trip to Ibiza last summer.
Olivia also opened up about Bradley Dack, 32, the footballer she married just three years ago after splitting from Chris Hughes, the boyfriend she met on Love Island in 2017.
She reminisced about how happy they were, though she said his knee injury put pressure on them as a couple.
‘We had the best time living in Cheshire, there was a great set of players and their wives. I loved it up there but when he got injured I was his carer and that was really hard.
‘He didn’t play for ages, it’s a really serious thing.’
We also discussed just how hard being a single woman can be, something which is even harder as she has to cope with the demands of her and Bradley’s two rescue dogs – Lola and Stitch – living with her at her new home in south London.
So by the end of our evening together, which Olivia paid for, did I believe the narrative that she and Pete were such a new couple she was still considering whether she wanted to be with him?
I have to say in all my years as a Showbusiness journalist I have never been expected to buy into such a concocted story.
I’m afraid Olivia has pulled the wool over the eyes of too many people – most of all her fans.
