When news that Mario Falcone and Vicky Pattison had been spotted out on a date – and were actually papped kissing on his doorstep – heat was confused. We like Vicky. And we admire her strong lady-ways. So what the damn hell was she doing kissin' on TOWIE's biggest love-rat?
We had to find out for ourselves. So we tracked down Mario to London's Southbank, where he was getting a tattoo done to promote his new show Ink Master Redemption, and we grilled him on all the rumours.
And you know what? It's a little bit heartbreaking.
"I am dating," he revealed to us.
"There is one at the moment, who is a front-runner. She's known by the public, but not in the same way as me."
So… does that mean Maricky is over before they even got started? NOOOOOOOOO.
When we asked about reports Vicky had shoved Mario in the ol' friend-zone, he replied: "I wouldn't say she's friend-zoned me, I mean that's quite a... she can say that if she wants but I'd say it's quite a mutual decision really.
"We get on really well, we hang out, and obviously she's my new neighbour now so you know, if she ever needs a cup of sugar or anything else she can pop over. But yeah, it works as friends, we get on really really well, and she's very, very busy. It makes sense just to keep it as friendship because we'll just ruin what we have."
But what about the future – could he ever see them working?
"I'd never rule it out, but at the moment we're just going to stay friends."
Mario refused to say who he was dating at the moment, but sources tell us he was getting pretty close to vlogger Niomi Smart at the launch of his sister Giovanna Fletcher's new book Always With Love.
"I think for me it's nice to meet someone who's not in the public eye because they've got a different story, they've got like a different day to mine which is nice," he added.
"But you get reasons for going out with someone in the public eye; they sort of get the way the game works, the media works, and they know how to deal with the space invasion and the hassle of it all – it has its pros and cons."
Read the whole story – and Vicky's response – in this week's heat mag, out today!
Ink Master Redemption continues on Fridays at 9pm on truTV