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Celebs Go Dating viewers have been left fuming after Helen Flanagan admitted she had a boyfriend.
The former Coronation Street and I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! star, 34, is looking for love on the latest season of the dating series after splitting from her long-term partner Scott Sinclair in two years ago.
However, on the most recent episode of the Channel 4 series, Helen revealed she wasn’t too keen on any of the men she was meeting.
‘This is really difficult because I feel I have given the agency my heart and soul and I have been totally honest – I am a very, very honest person – but I did meet someone at home at the beginning of the year,’ she revealed when being questioned by the dating experts, who looked shocked by the admission.
‘I really wanted to join the agency because I felt like, because I was in a long-term relationship and didn’t have much dating experience, and I really wanted to do this for me and grow and find out about myself, but it’s really hard because there is somebody at home that I have fallen for.
‘This has become quite difficult for me now, because unfortunately, I am comparing everybody to him and it’s making it very difficult now when I’m dating.’
Helen Flanagan has been slammed for hiding she was in a relationship while appearing on Celebs Go Dating (Picture: Channel 4)
Looking less than impressed, dating expert Anna Williamson questioned why Helen hadn’t told them about the fact she ‘had a boyfriend’, who was last week revealed as former pro footballer Robbie Talbot, 44.
After being asked by Dr Tara Suwinyattichaiporn why she was fessing up now, Helen said her feelings had ‘only got stronger and more intense’ and she could now see a future with the man in question.
‘I think I am in love with him and it’s becoming quite difficult now,’ she shared.
Expert Paul Carrick Brunson made it clear he was pretty annoyed with Helen, calling her out for ‘lying’ and ‘wasting our time’.
Paul Carrick Brunson criticised Helen for ‘lying’ (Picture: Channel 4)
Defending herself Helen then suggested she could bring her boyfriend in however the experts said they needed to consider it, especially after her deception.
Tuning in, many viewers were outraged.
‘Not impressed at all! Not even single, not genuine and clearly there for the limelight…’ Julia posted on Instagram.
‘Hun just say you wanted to be on telly again,’ Dawn quipped.
She was struggling to connect with any of the men (Picture: Channel 4)
‘She’s not honest if she didn’t come clean at the start,’ Nic added.
Meanwhile Sara wrote that Helen was ‘wasting a spot at the agency’.
Others loved Paul’s approach to ‘taking no prisoners’ and speaking his mind about Helen covering up her partner.
When watching Helen fess up, fellow celebrities on the show looked taken aback but laughed it the bombshell off, with Married at First Sight’s Ella Morgan jokingly labelling Helen ‘an absolute player’.
Viewers said she was ‘wasting the experts time’ (Picture: Ken McKay/ ITV/ Shutterstock)
In a previous statement to Metro.co.uk, a Celebs Go Dating spokesperson said after producers on the series discovered Helen wasn’t single, she was ‘asked to be transparent with the agents and her fellow celebrities during her next filming day’.
‘As per the show’s guidelines, all participating celebrities must be single. After discussing the situation, it was decided that Helen and her partner, Robbie, would meet with the agents to assess their compatibility, and Helen would no longer date members of the public,’ they added.
Her boyfriend will appear on the next episode.
It comes after Helen ‘went public’ with Robbie at her birthday party on August 10, with friends saying she was ‘smitten’.
Celebs Go Dating is streaming on Channel 4.
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