Chris Hughes is dating Instagram model Mary ­Bedford.

The 27-year-old TV star - who split from Little Mix's Jesy Nelson in April - was seen on a cosy date with Mary in London earlier this week.

A source told The Sun newspaper's Bizarre column: ''Chris and Mary went out for a slap-up dinner and looked really close. They were ­kissing and cuddling and were all over each other when they headed out at the end of the evening.

''They headed off in a cab to the train station together and looked really sweet together. He even tied her shoelaces for her.''

News of Chris' new romance comes shortly after he admitted to being ''heartbroken'' about his split from Jesy, 29.

The former 'Love Island' star and the Little Mix singer ended their relationship in April after 15 months of dating and he found the first few weeks very ''tough'' to cope with amid the coronavirus lockdown.

He said: ''I had a break-up so I needed to focus on myself. It happened right at the start of lockdown. It was tough.

''Everyone says time's a healer, and you don't believe it in the moment.

''I don't think I'd ever felt heartbroken before.''

However, Chris suggested he was slowly coming to terms with their split, admitting he'd used his manager as a ''shoulder to cry on''.

The TV star shared: ''A couple of weeks down the line, you start thinking about it less and less as each day passes.

''Next thing, good as gold. My manager was a shoulder to cry on.

''Lockdown has been good for me in that sense. People who know you, when you say you're fine, they can see it in your face that you're not. But everyone says, 'You're back to yourself now.'''