Ricky Rayment

Ricky Rayment claims his relationship with Jessica Wright is the “most real” because it started off camera.

‘The Only Way Is Essex’ star - who has been dating fellow cast member Jessica Wright since April - believes their partnership is more believable than some of the relationships on the ITV2 reality show because the spark blossomed naturally over time.

Speaking at the Virgin Active London Triathlon launch at London’s Chiswick Riverside club, Ricky exclusively told BANG Showbiz: “All the producers were a bit unsure whether we were just ‘doing it’ at first, but our relationship - unlike all the other relationships on the show that have formed on camera - is the most real because ours wasn’t being filmed when we were getting together.

“But the show is real so we’re going start filming it, it was just nice that we could do it off camera at first.”

Ricky, 21, is looking forward to letting fans see how the couple have progressed, and hopes that their romance will feature heavily in the next series of ‘TOWIE’, which begins filming in two weeks.

He said: “We start filming like two weeks, I move into my new flat in two weeks that’ll be filmed. I got a new puppy, me and Jess are obviously together now so that’ll start merging it into it all. So it’ll be a pretty good series!”

Ricky is taking part in Richard Branson’s Virgin Active London Triathlon in September alongside stars like Mark Wright, Jeff Brazier and Nicola McLean.