Chantelle Houghton has spoken publicly for the first time about her ex-husband Preston's infamous walkout from Never Mind The Buzzcocks, saying she was touched he defended her from what she called disrespectful treatment.
Preston, the Ordinary Boys singer, stormed off the set of the BBC show after host Simon Amstell began reading passages from Chantelle's autobiography in a mocking tone. Chantelle said she was watching from the green room at the time.
Speaking on Paul C Brunson's We Need To Talk podcast, Chantelle said the presenter was trying to make a fool of her and that Preston had simply been expected to sit there and take it. She said she really appreciated that he refused to do so.
"I was so touched that he got up and walked out because actually, the presenter was just disrespecting me," she said. "He got so much backlash for walking out, but he just didn't want to sit there and listen to his wife be disrespected."
After the walkout, a BBC spokesman said it was a shame Preston felt he had to leave, adding that presenter Simon Amstell's style was meant as good-natured banter and not intended to be mean.
Preston has addressed the incident at various points over the years. In 2009 he said he struggled to understand why he had acted as he did and called Amstell funny, charming and likeable, which he said made the episode all the more embarrassing. By January 2026, however, he described the walkout as a proud moment, telling The Guardian that Amstell's remarks were cruel and classist and that he did not know what other choice he had.
The marriage and split
Chantelle and Preston met on Celebrity Big Brother and became engaged four months after leaving the house in January 2006, marrying four months after that. They divorced less than a year later.
Chantelle said the split was entirely amicable. On the day she moved out they hugged and said goodbye, she said, with no nastiness, bitterness or hate. She added that in ordinary life the two would never have met or been attracted to each other, and that they should never have married.
New relationship
Chantelle also revealed on the podcast that she has found a new partner after what she described as many years of celibacy by choice. She said she loves him with her whole being and that it is the first time she has felt pure love. She said the relationship, which began with a first date a couple of weeks before the interview, has felt easy, comfortable and reassuring from the start. Her new boyfriend is not a public figure.
