Ruth Langsford has confessed she’s finally met her celebrity “crush”, comedian and fellow TV presenter Tom Allen. The former This Morning favourite joined the star on last night’s episode of The Apprentice: You’re Fired (March 27). The latest episode of BBC’s The Apprentice spin-off show saw Ruth, 65, being joined by Rickie Haywood-Williams, 44, and Claudine Collins, 56, on the panel, chaired by Tom, 41. The quartet met with Max England, 30, the latest casualty of Lord Alan Sugar’s boardroom, to discuss his firing and plans for the future.

Following the programme, Ruth took to Instagram to post a video of herself and Tom in the You’re Fired studio. The Boomerang showed the pair flipping between the show’s signature ‘HIRED’ and ‘FIRED’ signs, with the mother-of-one wearing a pink blazer, flattering skin-tight black pants and a pair of high-heeled boots. Meanwhile, Tom, who took over hosting The Apprentice: You’re Fired from Rhod Gilbert in 2019, cut a sophisticated figure in a two-piece suit with dicky bow tie. “I met my TV crush,” Ruth wrote to her 1.1 million followers.

In a second photograph, also shared to her Instagram stories, the TV favourite typed: “What a delight this man is!” Tom, who is in a relationship with presenter and performer Alfie Garston, fronted a special episode of Big Way Wedding on the BBC last year.

Ruth’s post about her “crush” comes almost a year since she and ex-husband Eamonn Holmes, 65, split.

The couple, who co-presented This Morning between 2006 and 2021, announced they were parting ways in May 2024, with a spokesperson writing their marriage was “over” and the former couple were “in the process of divorcing”.

Earlier this week (March 26), Ruth shared a video of boxed she was waiting to unpack in her new home on social media.

The Loose Women regular, who has been living alone in Surrey since the breakdown of her marriage, could be heard saying: “So this is how I'm spending my afternoon!”

“That's handbags in there, this is all my spring/summer stock. Look at those lovely colours! That's all got to be unpacked and hung up,” the QVC presenter added.

Sources close to Ruth recently revealed that she’d had a “tough year” since her and Eamonn’s split, with an insider also revealing the pair are trying to “move on” with their lives.

"Relationship breakdowns are very difficult, but you deal with it and have to move on. You can let yourself crumble or you pick yourself up and get on with life. It's a choice,” she told Women and Home.

“I’m not delighted my marriage is over, but I’ve accepted it. I’m trying to now embrace the fact I’m single and can make choices that are just about me.

"Divorce is very painful. Most don’t do it in the public eye, with everybody having an opinion. But that’s the nature of my job. I’ve always had that and if you can’t cope, you shouldn’t be doing this job."