ITV is at the centre of an extraordinary fakery row over its “golden girl” Olivia Attwood after it was revealed she was never legally married.
It plunged the channel into a major crisis because they had featured her “wedding” proposal, plans and “marriage” to Gillingham footballer Bradley Dack across three series.
She had even changed her name to Olivia Attwood-Dack, using that in her frequent appearances on ITV1’s Loose Women.
But in the latest twist in the ongoing saga of her love split from Bradley, 32, she confirmed their TV nuptials — in which she wore a £30,000 wedding dress and exchanged vows — were not legal.
The discovery raises the prospect the channel could take legal action over fears they have been duped by Olivia’s secret, and regulator Ofcom could launch an investigation.
Fans have accused the channel of deceiving them after they watched the couple tie the knot at the end of a 20-episode run of ITVX show Olivia Meets Her Match.
It followed the couple’s proposal and wedding plans.
The third and final series was retitled Olivia Marries Her Match.
Olivia and Bradley held a £200,000 ceremony for 80 guests at the five-star Bulgari hotel in London’s Knightsbridge in June 2023.
Scenes in the finale showed the couple sign a piece of paper after delivering their vows, with Dack’s best friend Ronnie Vint and Olivia’s younger brother Max as witnesses.
But the documents have been revealed to be a sham, as the union has not been logged with the General Register Office, the archive of all marriages and civil partnerships for England and Wales.
Olivia’s camp has claimed that the couple had planned to complete paperwork at a register office near their home in Cheshire six weeks after the wedding.
But they failed to ever sign anything as “Olivia uncovered a number of mistruths” and that her inability to trust Bradley “forced her hand in not being able to legally bind their union”.
Despite this glaring omission, Olivia changed her name to incorporate Bradley’s surname and the couple have since publicly celebrated their fake wedding anniversary every year on social media with photos of bouquets of flowers, gifts and gushing messages.
A telly source said: “There were crisis meetings at ITV yesterday after this bombshell sent shockwaves around the network as bosses were under the impression that Olivia was married legally and it looks as if they didn’t do their due diligence.
“She always acknowledged him as her husband and used his name, so there was never any need to question the matter.
“ITV would never dream of intentionally trying to deceive their viewers and appreciate the severity of the revelation.
“The show now looks like a cash grab from Olivia and Bradley and makes a mockery of her fanbase.
“How can anyone believe anything Olivia says going forward? It makes them look incredibly disingenuous and has pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes.”
The insider added: “Bosses are concerned this will engulf one of their brightest stars, especially after they invested so much time and money in her.”
ITV has been gradually building Olivia up as the new Holly Willoughby since she appeared on Love Island in Majorca in 2017.
Three years ago, ITV’s head of Reality TV and ITV2, Paul Mortimer, described Olivia as being “the face of the future”.
Speaking at Edinburgh TV Festival, he enthused: “She’s a great talent who is being nurtured by ITV and working her way slowly through the ranks. I believe she will be the new Cilla Black.”
Olivia carved out an impressive career with the network after being a runner-up in Majorca, with her Love Island ex Chris Hughes.
The pair landed an ITVBe reality series entitled Chris & Olivia: Crackin’ On.
After swiftly going their separate ways, she reunited with ex beau Bradley and began appearing on ITV reality staple The Only Way Is Essex, before being given her own reality series with Brad.
From there, her career began to really take off with I’m A Celeb and appearances in shows including Bad Boyfriends, The Price Of Perfection, Getting Filthy Rich, Loose Women, This Morning and cookery show The Heat.
Olivia herself has said: “Someone can be better than me or smarter, but I can outwork anyone.”
It was revealed in January she and Bradley had split, and she told pals she was getting “a divorce”.
The Sun on Sunday revealed pictures of her kissing pal and radio co-host Pete Wicks, 37, last week.
A spokesman for Olivia and ITV declined to comment.
