Melanie Sykes 'had been chasing Olly Murs for six years'

Amid speculation that Olly Murs is secretly in a relationship with TV presenter Melanie Sykes, it has been reported that the 47-year-old star has harboured a secret crush on the 33-year-old singer for almost six years.

Or, at least, she has seemingly been flirting with the former X Factor contestant via social media since 2012, with Melanie the latest star to have her Twitter archive dug up this month.

Reveal magazine are the ones to have done the digging, with the publication resurfacing tweets from as early as January 2012, where Melanie responded to Olly’s tweet about a football match with: “Who you supporting gorge? x x x x”

According to the mag, the tweets cooled down for a few years, with Melanie and Olly not publicly messaging again until October 2015 following his split from long-term partner Francesca Thomas – with Mel splitting from her husband, Jack Cockings, in 2016.

Olly messaged the star: “Hope you’re well xx”, and Melanie replied: “All good, darlin'” alongside four kisses and the kiss emoji.

She also tweeted her jealousy when he met Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho and praised his new song, writing: “You sound like an angel, makes me want to cry.”

Last week it was reported that Olly and Melanie have been enjoying a top secret romance for over a year, with the presenter posting a photo with the singer at his O2 arena gig in April alongside the caption: “Not much can get me out on a Saturday night but this guy has!”

A source previously told The Sun: “They were initially introduced through a mutual friend. They started texting for ages and some of the messages ended up getting quite saucy.”

Mother-of-two Melanie previously confessed that she loves younger men, sharing: “I always go for younger men. I’m very silly and you don’t tend to meet that many 40-year-old men who want to lark around.”

Neither Melanie or Olly have directly addressed the speculation, although last week Melanie did reweet famous Mark Twain quote: “If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re mis-informed.”

Yahoo Celeb UK have contacted their reps for comment.

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