PHILLIP SCHOFIELD - LEMBIT OPIK REFUSES TO PROPOSE TO CHEEKY GIRL ON TV

LEMBIT OPIK REFUSES TO PROPOSE TO CHEEKY GIRL ON TV

Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik has refused to propose to his girlfriend Gabriela Irimia on a TV show.

Mr Opik dismissed calls by presenters to ask the 25-year-old Cheeky Girl to marry him during the recording of a celebrity version of the ITV Mr & Mrs show.

Hosts Phillip Schofield and Fern Britton asked the MP to pop the question in front of a live studio audience of 300 people, but he turned them down.

The first episode of the revived 1970s game show will see the couple compete for a £30,000 prize.

They will be joined by Coronation Street actor Bill Roache, who plays Ken Barlow, and the Welsh boxer Joe Calzaghe, with the first show scheduled to be screened on ITV next month.

Mr Opik, the Liberal Democrat spokesman for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, was previously in a relationship with TV weathergirl Sian Lloyd.