Dancing on Ice hopeful Wes Nelson is able to see the funny side of his split from Love Island’s Megan Barton Hanson.
The couple, who met last summer as contestants on the ITV2 reality show, confirmed that they had parted ways over the weekend, sharing a statement which parodied Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow’s famous “consciously uncoupling” message.
In the Instagram Story post, they swapped Martin and Paltrow’s mention of their “two wonderful children” to reference their pet hamster, Jon Snow.
Nelson and Barton Hanson said that they were “parents first and foremost to one incredibly wonderful hamster,” and asked “for his and our space and privacy to be respected at this difficult time.”
Fans were delighted with this unexpected shout out to the couple’s pet, and quickly responded with a selection of memes gently mocking the break-up statement.
Luckily, Nelson appeared to find the fan response hilarious, sharing one Instagram post of a disgruntled-looking hamster that quipped “Megan and Wes’ hamster realising it now comes from a broken home.”
He re-posted the meme and added some laughing emojis, captioning it: “You guys are so f****** quick.”
He then shared another similar image of a confused pet, which read: “Wes and Megan’s hamster after reading about the couples [sic] split.”
Nelson’s Dancing on Ice co-star Brian McFadden got in on the joke too, posting an Instagram Story in which he could be seen asking the 21-year-old with faux concern: “Wes, how you doing? How’s the hamster?”
The former Love Island star jokingly responded in a whisper, saying he didn’t want to talk about it.
Dancing on Ice viewers were left confused after Barton Hanson attended last night’s live show to support her ex, just one day after releasing the break-up statement, with others asking who had custody of the hamster for the night.
Some fans of the show even shared a conspiracy theory that the couple are actually still together, branding the split a “publicity stunt.”
Dancing on Ice is on ITV, Sunday at 9pm
