Andy West shares his heartache after discovering fiance was cheating on him while he was in Big Brother
Reality star was proposed to live on TV - only to find out lover had a secret life trawling internet for sex
BIG Brother star Andy West wept as spoke about the betrayal of his "kind and thoughtful" fiance - and learning he had cheated on him MULTIPLE times during their three-year relationship.
Andy, 34, had the nation welling up when he accepted a marriage proposal from Irishman Ed Hutton, who entered the reality house to pop the question at the end of the shopping task.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun online, Andy said: "After I left the Big Brother house I was whisked away to do Bit On The Side then taken to the wrap party.
"It was here that one of the production team told me to go and talk to Ed - and of all a sudden I had a sense that something was wrong.
"He sat me down and said ‘you’ve been amazing and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.’
"But I could sense there was something else that he wasn’t telling me.
"The words hit my heart like a hammer – I mean, I’d been around the block so many times as a gay man, I instantly thought, that what he said had the ring of truth to it, so as much as I wanted not to believe it, I actually could.
"But he pleaded with me that it wasn’t true and that it was fake."
Andy, who came fourth in the programme, tried to put Ed's revelation to the back of his mind, even telling journalists at a press conference the next day that he was still planning on marrying Ed in a romantic December ceremony.
"I couldn’t bring myself to look up the stories until the next day and when I saw the pictures I knew it was real," he said, shaking his head in disbelief.
"My heart just sank. I really didn’t want to believe it was real.
"I wanted him to tell me and prove to me that it wasn’t true. I said to him ‘Ed, I think it’s real.’ But he kept telling me, ‘No, no, it’s fake, it’s fake.’
"‘Then how have they got pictures of your face,’ I said to him."
Although there was hard evidence in front of him, Ed continued to deny that he had been approaching men online under the alias "DISCREET F**K".
But eventually, he came clean.
Andy, his voice croaking with emotion, explained: "It was hard to get answers from him and he kept denying it.
"Eventually he admitted he had been unfaithful in the past - I didn’t ask him details about who or when or why.
"I didn’t want to know who he had been with or with how many guys.
"I didn’t need to know those details. The fact that he had been unfaithful, that he had betrayed me was enough to leave me devastated.
"But he maintained that the Grindr story wasn’t true, which confused me greatly.
"Of course, hearing that the man I was planning to marry admitting to meeting up with other men behind my back broke my heart even more.
"I don’t feel angry at him I feel sad that what we supposed to have has been ruined."
The Sun online revealed that Ed had been looking online for casual sex at the start of June, during the time Andy was in hiding ahead of entering the famous Elstree compound.
The truth emerged days after Ed featured on the show to make his big romantic gesture, which now remains a bittersweet memory in Andy's mind.
He said: "When he came into that house and proposed to me and asked me grow old with him, he had given me the most incredible moment of my life and then by telling me that he had been unfaithful to me he had taken it all away again.
"That’s what hurt. This should be the happiest time of my life. We should be choosing an engagement ring, planning my stag do, choosing what suit I should wear.
"I should be looking at venues. We should be celebrating that we are back together after BB but now I’m trying to forget that he has cheated on me and that we’re no longer together."
Former BBC man Andy and Ed met around three years ago in Belfast nightclub The Kremlin.
He recalled: "I had just started reading the news on local TV and was a bit of Z-list face so had loads of lads coming up to me."
However, it was a "cheeky handsome guy with this big smile" who caught his eye - Ed.
Andy was involved with someone else at the time, and Ed was yet to fully come out, "so was really insecure about whether a gay guys were faithful to each other."
He continued: "A month into our relationship, I hooked up with another guy – I am not an angel. I am realistic about how busy and intense and lustful the gay scene is.
"But I was honest and I told Ed what I had done - he was upset and I think it made him feel paranoid and that he didn’t want to be with someone who would run off and be with other people.
"It wasn’t a great start and from that moment I don’t think Ed thought he could ever one hundred percent trust me again.
"When I would go away for a weekend, it was hard for Ed to completely trust me and he would think that I was up to stuff. And when you think someone else is up to stuff it makes it easier for you to get up to stuff."
He said: "I remember in the house we played truth or dare and someone dared Sam to kiss me.
"After that I tortured my self for weeks, worried that it looked bad - I was worried that I had been disrespectful to the man who I loved.";
However, Andy - who was on medication for panic attacks and anxiety - is adamant that it was Ed who gave him the confidence to apply for Big Brother in the first place.
He added: "In spite of his paranoia, Ed loved me and was a massive supporter.
"Ed was so strong for me. I lose count of the amount of times he sat with me on the bed just holding my hand and helping me through those times, panicking. He would just hold my hand and be so kind and patient.
"He was so excited for me to go into the BB house, he persuaded me to do it as he knew I'd do well, even though I didn’t.
"He wasn’t worried about me getting up to no good with any of the guys in the house, but we may have even had a conversation in which he said 'you do not have a hall pass'.
"He said ‘please don’t do anything.’ And I was like, ‘well of course not!’"
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Time apart made his feelings for Ed grow stronger, with memories of tipsy conversations about getting married, having kids and adopting a dog running through his mind,
This made things all the more intense when the lovelorn journalist's partner made his surprise appearance.
Welling up, Andy said: "When he came into the house it was at a time when I felt very low because people had been really horrible to me and I was really worried that Ed might have been ashamed of what he’d seen of me.
"So when I heard his voice ‘hello my handsome gorgeous man’ I looked him in his face and I thought, ‘I just have to spend the rest of my life with you.’
"I knew then he was the man I wanted to be growing old with.
"When he popped the question, it was a huge release for me because I knew that he still loved me and that he wasn’t embarrassed of me.
"I had never felt so emotional in my entire life. I was the happiest man in the word at this point. It was exhilarating."
During his short time in the house, Ed excitedly began making wedding plans with Andy, aiming for a festive Christmas nuptials.
"For the remainder of my stay in the house, all I could think about was being back with Ed. I loved and I missed him and I couldn’t wait to have him in my arms again!"
But sadly, it was not to be.
Andy said: "Things have been really strange since I left the Big Brother house.
"I had expected to come home to a fiance with a stable job, but instead came out to a fiance who didn’t have a job who wasn’t really my fiance anymore.
"It’s a strange thing to say, but if he had played around with others guys, I could accept that.
"But I felt insecure with him. I needed to feel safe with him and know where I stood with him, but what he had told me had ruined all of that.
"When I told him I didn’t want to see him anymore, he said he wanted to work through it, and have us try relationship counselling.
"He told me again that he wanted us to be grey and old together. But I knew I couldn’t be with him anymore. Not for now anyway! When I said the words ‘it’s over’ he just looked at me with tears in his eyes and said all he could say was ‘I understand!’"
Ed has now moved out of the couple's home, and although Andy admits that they still love each other and in the future there could be a reconciliation, at the moment he is facing life alone.
He said: "I can forgive Ed for cheating on me with someone, but I can’t forgive him for the dishonesty, for lying about it.
"I am still feeling for the ring on my finger. I am still looking for it. I miss it and miss Ed.
"I am heartbroken and disappointed that the life I was coming out no longer exists.
"Imagining that perfect life was what kept me going while I was in the house - and to come out and discover that it was actually all in tatters is heart-wrenching."
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