Alison Hammond has opened up about her secret long-time boyfriend after she was forced to reveal she was seeing someone when Dermot O'Leary accidentally slipped up on This Morning.
Alison asked Dermot about his birthday week on Monday’s instalment of the show, as the pair stand in for Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield during half term.
Dermot thanked Alison for her 'timeless' present and gushed over how lovely of a person she is before saying it's too bad she isn't available.
"You're very kind. Just as a person you gave me a lovely present," the 49-year-old gushed over the co-presenter.
"I'll tell you what, she's not available anymore, but if you were..."
Alison, 47, was shocked that he let slip she was dating someone and questioned him: "What do you mean I'm not available? I'm available."
A panicked Dermot tried to fix things by yelling out: "She's available. I don't know. Now I'm really confused."
In the end, Alison decided to come clean and told the audience: "There is somebody in my life. I'm going to tell everybody. Thank you, Dermot, for telling everyone but there is somebody I'm dating.
"So yes, it is a little bit closed but you know what, I want to share it. Thank you for outing me. I literally tell you once and you tell everybody."
Dermot meekly admitted that he forgot he was on television before they changed the subject.
But Alison has now opened up about her mystery man and revealed that she has been off the market for nearly two years.
Alison told The Sun : “Can you believe Dermot outed me on the TV? I’m a little bit disappointed to be honest with you as I can’t flirt with no one else now.
“He’s a lovely man and all I can say is that I’ve had him hidden for a year and a half. A year and a half I’ve been with him, and no one knew!
“He loves me to bits. He absolutely worships me and massages my feet every single day. What more do you want?!”
Alison and Dermot have been hosting the mid-morning show together for a while now and they really enjoy their presenting partnership, with the pair quickly having been able to iron out any differences.
"We are so honest with each other now, we tell each other: 'Can you not do that again. I don’t like it,'" Alison shared, "It's the little things, nothing major. He steals my lines and he doesn’t keep up to speed with my life on Instagram."
Dermot added of their first meeting: "We never got to pilot, we’d never read a script through, we didn’t even have lunch together. We literally met for the first time in 15 years or so and that morning we presented two-and-a-half hours of live television together.
"The idea that there wouldn’t be a period of getting to know each other is insane."
