The mystery hunk who mended Chantelle Houghton's broken heart: KATIE HIND reveals the Big Brother star has fallen for the quiet charms of a garden centre worker - and what she thinks of her VERY famous exes

Never have I seen a queue of journalists so eager to speak to a celebrity.No, it wasn't the night I was invited to meet Justin Timberlake 20 years ago at a PR event to promote Planet Hollywood in London. Nor was it in the aftermath of Kylie Minogue's press trip to Ibiza back in 2010, when she flew 30 journalists to watch her perform at the iconic nightclub, Pacha. Even the heyday of One Direction didn't cause as much of a fanfare as this celebrity.It was back in April 2006, when the reality TV star, Chantelle Houghton, very unexpectedly announced her engagement to her singer boyfriend Samuel Preston after arriving at the now defunct New Woman magazine's beauty awards ceremony at the Dorchester Hotel on London's Park Lane.There, dressed in a pastel yellow dress, she showed off her beautiful diamond engagement ring which had belonged to Preston's mother.The excitement of my fellow showbusiness journalists at the event was like nothing I've ever seen before, as she appeared at the afterparty, ready to talk about the engagement.I waited at least an hour for my quick chat in which she gushed over her husband-to-be. The couple – who had met a year before when they both appeared on Celebrity Big Brother (she was a plant pretending to be a famous singer from fake girl group, Kandy Floss, when she was in fact a beautician from Essex) – were bigger than Posh and Becks at the time and any words from her would ensure reams of headlines.For context, it was a star-studded night. In attendance were Tess Daly, her now Strictly successor Emma Willis, singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Myleene Klass and the late 'It girl' and friend of the royals Tara Palmer-Tomkinson. While these women were exactly the type I would have been desperate to talk to at showbiz parties usually, that night, everyone's focus was on Chantelle.Exactly two decades on and life couldn't be more different for the 2006 winner of Celebrity Big Brother because, I can reveal, she is now dating a garden centre worker called Westley O'Bryan. Chantelle Houghton with her new boyfriend Westley O'Bryan, who works at Hunters Chase Garden Centre in Brentwood, Essex, close to where she lives with her daughter Dolly The Celebrity Big Brother star was seen wearing a black minidress and cream blazer as she kissed her new man on the platform of an Essex train station An onlooker told Katie Hind that the pair looked like they are 'very, very happy together'Earlier this week, Chantelle, 42, revealed that she had found a new man, saying: 'For the first time really in my life, I love that man with my whole being.'From the very first moment, I just knew. I've not texted a man, I've not dated a man, I've not had any sexual anything with a man for very many, many, many years before I met my partner.'Speaking on the We Need To Talk podcast on Tuesday, she was however tight-lipped about the identity of her partner.But now, exclusive Daily Mail pictures show the pair looking smitten as they waited for a train at a station in Essex on the way to a romantic date. Dressed in black minidress and a cream blazer, Chantelle was seen kissing Westley on the lips.'They looked like they are very, very happy together,' an onlooker tells me. 'Chantelle has been out with some terrible men over the years so let's hope that this one is better.'She certainly seemed to like him a lot, she was kissing him and they were all very touchy-feely.'Westley, 45, works at Hunters Chase Garden Centre in Brentwood, Essex, close to where Chantelle lives with her daughter Dolly, 14, from her relationship with former cage fighter and ex-husband of Katie Price, Alex Reid.'Chantelle's friends have been hoping that she will get her happy ending some time soon,' says one pal. 'She has had an awful time of it. She seems to really like Westley, he might not be famous but he is kind to her. Chantelle with her former husband Samuel Preston but divorced five months later The reality TV star at the 2006 New Woman beauty awards at the Dorchester Hotel where she announced her engagement to the singer'Chantelle has learned the hard way that being with a celebrity isn't always the best idea for a happy relationship.'As someone who's documented her back catalogue of awful partners, I can testify to the truth of that.Preston and Chantelle married four months after the day she announced their engagement at Dartmouth House in Mayfair. In keeping with celebrity culture of the time, they sold the rights to their big day to OK magazine for what was always described as a 'hefty sum'.However, their marriage was short-lived and ten months later in 2007, they announced in a joint statement that they were splitting up.'After much soul-searching and tearful discussions we have sadly decided to end our marriage,' they said. 'We hope we can always remain friends and still love each other but we both think we put so much pressure on one another to make our marriage work that it has ended up destroying our relationship. No one else is involved in our decision.'They divorced five months later. For Chantelle, it was devastating, especially when she learnt that Preston knew just a month after they had married that he hadn't wanted to be her husband, as she revealed in an interview with Piers Morgan.She told Morgan on his BBC series, The Dark Side Of Fame: 'A month after we were married Preston told me: "I knew I didn't want to marry you on our wedding day." After he told me that he never wanted to marry me, we did interviews where we told everyone how happy we were. I lied about being happy.'Following Preston, Chantelle went on to date former police officer and Crimewatch host Rav Wilding but, in 2011, I revealed pictures of Wilding appearing to be in a heated argument with the star while they walked in Richmond Park, south-west London. The couple were seen arguing and soon after split up.The following year, Chantelle went on to date Alex Reid before quickly falling pregnant with Dolly. The pair got engaged, however her happiness was short lived as the couple parted ways when their little girl was just 11 weeks old.Shortly afterwards, I interviewed Chantelle about her horrendous time in the aftermath of that split and it was clear it had had a terrible effect on the star.Today, I'm told that she and Reid 'intensely dislike' each other. 'Chantelle is a lovely girl,' an associate of hers tells me. 'But dating these men has caused her nothing but heartache. She is sweet and kind, hopefully she will have more luck with someone out of the limelight.'