Maura and I are very close. I've got a fear of commitment: PETE WICKS reveals truth about his womanising reputation ngocc

Maura isn't the longest name on the planet, but still. Even if Pete Wicks did want to have the name of his rumoured para­mour tattooed on his torso, or thigh, or throat, as a testament to his undying love, would there be space? The star of last year's Strictly surveys his skin and admits, 'I've kind of run out of real estate'.

Before his heavily inked body graced the Strictly dancefloor, Pete may have been largely unknown to many. But he's been a regular on the reality TV circuit for the past decade, appearing in everything from Celebs Go Dating and Celebrity MasterChef to Celebrity Island With Bear Grylls and Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins since he first broke through as a bad boy lothario on The Only Way Is Essex in 2015.

He's a stalwart of the gossip columns too, recently through a rumoured romance with his Strictly pro partner Jowita Przystal, which took a turn when he was then pictured out with Love Island star Maura Higgins. 

His new show For Dogs' Sake is quite the radical departure then, with its heart-tugging tales of rescue dogs looking for new homes. 

It promises us a much deeper insight into this complicated man, whose story takes in abandonment by his father and walking in on his mother after a suicide attempt.

But first, back to the tattoos. What with the tigers and Latin inscriptions and meaningful (to him) squiggles, almost every inch of Pete's body is covered, from the neck down.

On Strictly, he even sported a tattoo of Craig Revel Horwood, but that was a temporary one, worn as a joke. He acquired his first real tattoo aged 15 ('so I'd get into nightclubs because they'd assume I was older') and, yes, his mum cried on seeing many of them. He has promised her he won't touch his face, though.

So is there room on there for a 'Maura', perhaps encased in a wee heart? Rumours of a romance between Pete, 37, and her are in overdrive when he pitches up for our interview looking flamboyantly fabulous, like Johnny Depp crossed with Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.

We all love a reality TV romance, and this one seems quite thrilling, involving the union of two fan bases. That there was something between them seemed to be confirmed by Maura while she was on I'm A Celebrity before Christmas. Neither won their respective shows, but both careers got a huge boost and their popularity soared. It was reported they spent Christmas together in her native Ireland, though fans looking for evidence needed to become sleuths (separate pictures posted in similar-looking pubs, hers featuring a pint of Guinness as well as her own wine glass, were seized on as proof).

Alas, Pete won't confirm or deny, but points out he and Maura have been friends for eons. 'People assume we've only known each other for six months, but it's actually six years. We met at an event and have been friends ever since.' Just friends? 'We're very close. We've got the same sense of humour. She's incredibly funny and lovely, and was very supportive when I was in Strictly. And I supported her when she was in the jungle. I'm very, very proud of her.' But there was no romance during the past six years - at least not up until now? 'No.'

Why the coyness about where they're at now? He says he's learned the hard way to attempt to keep his private life private. When he was on TOWIE, a relationship with Megan McKenna was played out publicly and it ended up being very painful when he cheated on her by sexting with an ex. He became Public Enemy No 1, but didn't he deserve it? He splays his fingers out on the table and I'm reminded that in his autobiography he recalled that as a child he used to be so full of anger that he regularly punched holes in the plasterboard walls of his home.

'Well, I was in the wrong. I was a different person then, but I don't think anyone deserves to receive death threats and have burning effigies. That was a bit wild - particularly when it comes from people who don't even know you.'

Pete has the reputation of being quite the lothario in the gossip pages. He laughs at this idea, saying he operates in a world where nothing is ever quite what it seems. 'I mean, every time I stand next to a girl I'm linked to her. My mum has been my "mystery woman". I was at an event with her and we went out for a cigarette and the next thing she was in the papers as my "mystery blonde". We're a close family, but not that close.'

When I ask about the longest period he's been single for, he says candidly, 'I've not been in a relationship for most of my life.' How many proper relationships has he had then? 'Just a couple.' Actually, he's talking like a single man. If he and Maura are together, then they're in the very early stages. 'I've definitely got a fear of commitment,' he says. 'It's the standard cliché of abandonment, fear of people leaving. 

'That probably has been driven by different things that have happened in my life. It probably doesn't mean I will be on my own for ever, but I can't say at this stage whether I will or won't be.'

He is at the stage where people ask when he'll settle down. 'It happens to men too. Women get it worse, but men get it too. Listen, I would love to have kids and do all that sort of thing. Who doesn't want to have kids and the fairytale ending? But I think I still need to work some stuff out for myself. I've been doing that for the past few years, which has been good for me. It's that old thing of before you can love someone else, you have to love yourself first.' Does he think he'd be a good dad? 'No,' he says, so emphatically it's startling.

TOWIE fans will know all about Pete Wicks, but most people were introduced to him via Strictly and he finds it hilarious that most will associate him with the most lurid pair of bubblegum pink trousers you could find. He was horrified at the prospect of doing Strictly but was persuaded to take part by his management.

He still seems quite stunned that he got to the semi-final stage ('I had no talent whatsoever, no dance skills, no sense of rhythm'). Doesn't this prove people liked him, though? He affects a growl, under all that hair. 'Yeah. It was quite humbling, I suppose, because I really did just be myself. People obviously thought, "Oh he's not as much of a k***head as I thought."'

What doors Strictly has opened, though. His latest gig is at the helm of the most cuddly TV possible, matching abandoned dogs with new owners. Quite a leap? He says not. 'I've always preferred dogs to people, and I've worked with rescue charities before, but as a hobby. It never occurred to me that I could incorporate it into my career.'

The show is a sob-fest, and Pete cries the most. 'I'm an emotional peach really, always have been around animals.' He says when his parents divorced (he was 11, and his world shattered), it was the family's rescue dog Arnie who nuzzled him through. 'You can talk to dogs in a way you can't to people. They don't judge you or ask anything from you. All they want is love. It's the most straightforward relationship you can have.'

It's not just dogs he loves, but all animals. 'I spent an hour talking to a goat the other day,' he says. 'That's not a joke. Talking to animals calms me down.'

Pete describes his childhood in Essex, before his parents' divorce, as idyllic. His dad Trevor was a regular on the sideline at sporting events, and the person to impress. 'He'd say he was proud of me and that meant the absolute world,' he once recalled. He would visit his dad after the split, but when he was 13 Trevor moved to the Middle East. There was a brief, happy holiday in Egypt, but since then, barely any contact. 'He's a good man, but we just don't have a relationship, which is sad.'

Quite how damaged he was by this is something he's still processing, although he doesn't like the word 'damaged'. 'I was affected by it. Children are like sponges, soaking it up, good and bad, and the problem is that I was feeling all these complex emotions but didn't know how to process them. That came out as anger, as it often does in boys.'

Even harder to process was the incident when he was around 12, when he walked in on his mother Tracy in the kitchen after she had attempted to slit her wrists. He wrote about it in his autobiography, after getting her permission to talk about her issues with alcohol and mental health. 'I wouldn't have done so otherwise. My mum is my hero.'

The first thing he did was to call his nan. 'I could barely get the words out,' he recalled. 'I think I basically just said, "Mum... knife... wrists... blood."' His nan told him to call an ambulance and he grabbed towels to stop the bleeding. And afterwards? 'I became very protective of my mum, and her of me.' And his nan? 'Oh my God. My rock. Nan was the one who held me together. We never talked that much about it, but she knew. To be honest, it was only when she died [in 2022] that I started really trying to process how it had affected me.'

His book is full of therapy-speak, but he's never had formal therapy. 'I 100 per cent need it. I'm probably the No 1 candidate for therapy. They'd have a field day! No, I just never thought it would suit me, although I'm coming round to the idea a little more now. But it has to be in my own time.'

In his teens he went a bit wild, partying and clubbing. There was a brief flirtation with the idea of being an accountant, and he had a 'proper' office job in medical recruitment, but then came an offer to join TOWIE. The makers loved his 'geezer' look and attitude. Fans loved him too - until he publicly humiliated Megan (and himself), and then they hated him. What did his mum and nan say? 'Oh they were disappointed, completely.'

Now he puts that debacle down to immaturity. 'It was just a wild, rollercoaster time. I'd completely upheaved my life, ending up on this TV show. I'd never planned that, I kind of fell into it. You know when you kind of get lost in understanding yourself? I wasn't ready for a relationship. Both of us were just in a whirlwind, mad thing.'

What a jolt to have to face Megan and explain the sexting, though - while the cameras rolled. It was TV gold. 

'Yeah, there were a million people giving their opinion, and everyone loves to watch other people be unhappy. It was great for the show. 

'I'm sure they loved it. Reality TV was very different then, but I think when people pile in they forget that these are actually real lives.'

At the time he embraced the notoriety, though. 'I'm not that exciting, but I probably played into it a bit. I turned into a caricature of myself. If people are going to hate you, it's better that they hate the person they think you are, rather than the actual you. It's like a mask.'

Strictly ripped the mask off, he reckons. 'It was the first thing I did where I was completely me.' He rubbishes the idea it has changed him. 'I'm still me, still cynical, but I think that's my personality. I'm not a glass-half-full person. My approach is that life can be a f***er, and it's mostly a lot of s**t, but in s**t beautiful things can grow.'

Is there space in his life - never mind on his body - for a woman at all? He says he doesn't like to look too far ahead, but he has quite a clear vision of his future. 'Eventually I'll retire and have a plot of land and it will be me and loads of dogs, and goats,' he says. Let's just hope Maura likes goats.