ACTRESS Helen Flanagan has spilt the tea on her relationship with former Towie star James Argent – and what happened with a big X Factor singer.
As well as detailing behind-the-scenes beef on the Coronation Street set, Helen, 35, has lifted the lid on her time on Channel 5 reality show, Celebrity Super Spa.
Helen took part alongside Towie’s James Argent, celebrity chefs Rusty Lee and John Burton-Race, Shameless actor Jody Latham and Most Haunted’s Yvette Fielding.
The show aired in 2013 and followed six celebrities as they worked in a real-life spa in Liverpool.
The actress has now spilled the beans in her explosive new memoir, Head & Heart: Break-ups, Breakdowns and Being Rosie on her romances on and off screen.
The former Corrie star, who shares three kids with ex fiance Scott Sinclair, spoke about chemistry with Towie star Arg while they were on Channel 5’s Celebrity Super Spa.
She revealed: “I became firm friends with James ‘Arg’ Argent from The Only Way is Essex and we would spend all our time together.
“I know the producers were hoping for a show romance to develop and they’d try to push me towards him, dropping hints like, ‘Ah, you and Arg are so cute together…’
“But I was too mixed up over Scott and I didn’t even know if I actually fancied Arg although I did like him a lot.
“He definitely wasn’t my usual type. I usually went for sporty guys who were into their health and fitness whereas Arg would eat four Greggs sausage rolls for breakfast.
“I think he was probably more into me than I was him, but there was a brief moment of heat between us which felt… weird.
“We were in my hotel room, lying on the bed while he was stroking my back – I think it could have spilled over then, but there was something holding me back.
“And when that moment passed, it was like it was done. I wasn’t over Scott so it would have been a mistake to use Arg as a rebound.”
Opening up about a flirtation with former The X Factor star James Arthur, she said: “When I got back, I was booked to do a BBC Three comedy panel show called Sweat the Small Stuff which was presented by Nick Grimshaw and had Rochelle Humes and Melvin Odoom as the team captains.
“The episode I was on also happened to feature James Arthur who had won The X Factor in 2012 and you could say that we, erm, hit it off.
“Egged on by Grimmy, me and James flirted pretty outrageously throughout the filming and swapped numbers afterwards with a loose arrangement to meet up for a drink in the not too distant future.
“Nothing ever came of it apart from the exchange of some harmless WhatsApps, but once the episode aired a few days later, the press got hold of it and ran multiple stories saying we were dating.”
The Celebs Go Dating star added: “Scott was livid about it and tried everything he could to get hold of me, ringing my mobile and calling my parents’ landline.
“I didn’t want to speak to him. He’d been so horrible to me and I was trying to get over him, something I felt like I was making good progress with.”
The soap star split from her “toxic” relationship with her footballer ex in October 2022 after 13 years together and share three children – Matilda, Delilah and Charlie.
Following her split from footballer Scott, Helen enjoyed a “situationship” with boxer David Hayes.
While she first met David on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here back in 2012, things didn’t turn romantic until 11 years later – but they broke off their fling in December 2023.
She also revealed that she once batted off the attention of disgraced influencer Andrew Tate after matching with him on a dating app.
The actress shot to fame as a child star on the ITV soap playing tearaway Rosie Webster.
The mum-of-three now works as an influencer and model, and has starred in reality shows like Celebs Go Dating.
The Rosie Webster star on the ITV soap opera also confirmed a rift with Corrie co-star Ryan Thomas at the time of her soap departure.
She revealed she told him to “f*** off” during one tense moment on set before she quit altogether.
Helen’s book Head & Heart: Break-ups, Breakdowns and Being Rosie is out now