Celebrity Big Brother: Stephanie and Jeremy have had to part as one was evicted - but who?

The former Mr Ireland was happy to leave the house, although fellow nominee Stephanie Davis – with whom he has enjoyed a fledgling romance – was left in floods of tears, insisting: “I want to go instead!”

As he left the house, he gave her the locket he had worn around his neck – a good luck present from his mother.

Speaking to Emma Willis, he said he could not help falling for Stephanie – even though the former Hollyoaks actress was in a relationship with model Sam Reece.

He said: “I just followed my heart and went with it … I kept gravitating towards her. I don’t know what it looks like. It is what it is, we felt for each other. I kept going back to her. It kept getting stronger like a snowball effect.”

He admitted that if he was Stephanie’s boyfriend, he would have felt “gutted. Absolutely gutted”.

Sam was not present at the eviction, with Emma explaining: “We haven’t been able to make contact with him.”

Jeremy said: “Obviously, I like to think that I’m a respectful lad, I understand what her fella must be going through and that.

“I do understand the boyfriend’s situation … I normally am proud of myself, I think I have a bit of integrity, but obviously I don’t.”

Many housemates including Gemma Collins and Scotty T warned Jeremy not to get involved with Steph in the house, but he chose not to follow their advice and wait until the end of the programme.

He told Emma: “I know it was the right thing to do, to wait, but look – I can’t explain what I’m feeling so I can’t act differently what I’ve done, you know? It’s too late now.”

With just a week left until the end of the reality show, the two will soon be reunited.

On the future of their relationship, Jeremy said: “Being apart, it gives both of us time to think. I’m not saying that when she comes out we’re going to start being together.

“We both need time off. Even if you don’t think it’s right with Sam, you still need time to be single and reflect on what you want.”

During Friday night’s episode, Stephanie and Jeremy got intimate beneath the covers in the Celebrity Big Brother house – although it was unclear whether the pair had full sexual intercourse.

After viewing the scene as part of his exit interview with Emma, Jeremy joked: “I thought that was one of those Hugh Hefner videos or something. Look, it is what it is. I can’t really elaborate on that. That’s what happened.”

In footage screened on the Channel 5 show, the two contestants shared a bed and made so much noise that other housemates were forced to leave the room.

As they lay in bed together, Stephanie first said: “It’s our last night in here.”

Jeremy told her: “I’d never do anything like that in here.”

But the two continued to move under the covers together, with Stephanie complaining that she was not wearing nice underwear. She also let out a cry.

Later, she worried: “Do you think I was loud? What if they show me doing that on TV?”

Gemma Collins and Danniella Westbrook went to the kitchen after becoming fed up with “shenanigans” in the bedroom.

Danniella said: “All I can hear is them getting it on, I’m so embarrassed. I don’t want to take my fingers out of me ears.

“I couldn’t do it, could you – on the telly?

“Don’t take her foot off the gas, does she? It’s one thing after another. It’s just a real shame. It’s just a level of disrespect for everyone in that room.”

The Only Way Is Essex star Gemma replied: “I cannot believe it.”