'Drunken twit' Tarrant thrown out by his wife for canoodling

11 April 2012
The Weekender

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Chris Tarrant has been turfed out of his marital home - and branded a 'drunken twit' by his wife - after being caught fondling a mystery blonde.

The Who Wants to be a Millionaire host has been forced to sleep elsewhere for the last eight nights after a spate of furious rows with wife, Ingrid.

Tensions came to a head when the 59-year-old presenter was spotted cavorting with a unknown woman in a bar near his home in Esher, Surrey, after a day spent drinking.

The star was only spared further embarrassment when anxious friends phoned his stepdaughter Fia who turned up and dragged him home. Yesterday, Mrs Tarrant said her husband had behaved like a 'twit' when he went out on a pub crawl following a family row.

But she denied that their 15-year marriage was on the rocks and rejected claims that he had betrayed her with another woman. She said her husband was used to the unwanted attention of Surrey's 'ghastly desperate housewives' who throw themselves at him, adding that she had even quizzed the bar's owner and been assured that nothing had happened.

However her protestations were contradicted by sources close to the couple who said the TV star had confessed to having 'snogged' and groped a woman. Speaking outside her £1.5m home, Mrs Tarrant said: 'It's a storm in a teacup. 'We had a row. I was in France and Chris was here, and this was presumably his way of drowning his sorrows and getting over it.

'He got drunk after we had an argument, and it is silly that he played out his sorrow in public. 'I am disappointed because I thought he would have been a little more thoughtful to the family than bringing trouble to his own doorstep.'

The 51-year-old's comments came after reports yesterday revealed how Mr Tarrant had got drunk in the trendy R Bar, less than a mile from their home, where he met up with a party of women. As the evening progressed, Tarrant - who had been drinking heavily - evidently took a shine to one of them, canoodling with her openly before loudly declaring that he loved her.

'This is the woman I want to be the next Mrs Tarrant,' he reportedly said. In a statement, the presenter - who turns 60 next month - admitted that his marriage was going through a rough patch. 'Things are not good in the Tarrant household it's fair to say.

'Hopefully we will be able to work things out. Unfortunately like many married men before me I went on a pub crawl which regrettably ended with a wild party where much drink was taken. 'Fortunately there was someone around to take me home for an unwelcome domestic spanking.'

The incident happened just over two weeks ago - with Mr Tarrant travelling to Canada a couple of days later on a week-long fishing trip with his youngest son, Toby. However, since returning to Britain last weekend he has been banished from the family home - casting doubt on Mrs Tarrant's claims that the whole thing has been 'blown totally out of proportion.'

The couple, who met more than 20 years ago, have always had a tempestuous relationship. Friends said yesterday that they have significant bust-ups about once every six months but admitted that this was worse than usual.

Things have become particularly strained since Mr Tarrant, a self-confessed workaholic who earns £3.5m a year, stopped doing the breakfast show on Capital Radio after 17 years. His wife, who also works as a TV presenter, has confessed to friends that she was fed up with having him under her feet all day at home.

One source said: 'They are in the throes of moving house and Chris hasn't been helping at all. 'It's a stressful business at the best of times and Ingrid was just fed up with having to do all the work. However suggestions that they are heading for the divorce courts are completely overblown.

hris hasn't been staying at the house, but they are talking on the phone every day.' Despite the occasional blazing row, the couple were regarded as having one of the most stable in showbusiness. And she once insisted that she wouldn't leave him even if he had an affair. 'He was horrified [when I said that],' she confessed in an interview two years ago.

'He just said: 'I can't believe you said that, Ingrid.It's such a green light to have an affair. It's like you don't care.' 'He felt it was inappropriate and he found it disturbing. I said: 'It isn't a green light and it's unlikely to happen, though you can't say that it never will.'

If it did I'd be devastated, but I couldn't bear to throw away what we have for some silly woman, which is how I would see it. 'Men are so easily seduced, and I would regard it as the woman's fault. I would take her to task.'

As well as the two children they have together - Toby, 13, and Samantha, 16 - each has two children from their previous partners.

The couple met after Mr Tarrant's first marriage broke down in 1981 and he has credited Ingrid with putting an end to his womanising and heavy drinking. They married in 1991 after an eight year relationship but have often spent prolonged periods living apart because of his work pressures.

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