Olly Murs and Caroline Flack
Olly Murs and Caroline Flack ITV

Olly Murs and Caroline Flack sent tongues wagging after an image of them kissing at the 2015 Cosmopolitan Awards emerged online, and now the Troublemaker singer has briefly let his guard down to finally answer the question fans have been dying to know for months. Is he dating his X Factor co-host?

Caroline Flack and Olly Murs
Olly Murs and Caroline Flack lock lips - or do they - at the 2015 Cosmopolitan Ultimate Women Awards Instagram

During an appearance on This Morning the 31-year-old gave the biggest hint that although they are not currently romantically involved, they could get together. Discussing the kissing picture, he said it all wasn't all it seemed: "She's more cheek than me, Caroline," he said. "If you look closely we're not actually kissing. We've always been great mates."

Murs skyrocketed to fame in in 2009 after coming second in the sixth series of The X Factor. Although he lost out to winner Joe McElderry he went on to sell 13m records. Having co-hosted spin-off show The Xtra Factor together on ITV2 for two years from 2011, he and Flack replaced long-time host Dermot O'Leary on the main show in April. Gushing about his co-host he said: "When we first worked together right at the start, we got on really well, she's really lovely and really attractive and has a great personality... you never know."

If the pair, who have been dogged by rumours for months, do take their relationship to the next level it won't be the first time Flack, 35, has dated a former contestant. She famously faced fierce backlash in 2011 after it emerged that she was dating One Direction's Harry Styles, who was 14 years her junior, after they shared a drunken kiss on a night out.

But despite the receiving death threats from outraged Directioners and being branded a "cradle snatcher", in May 2015 she insisted she had no regrets. "I'm not going to ever apologise for it because there was nothing at the time that was serious or bad and nobody was getting hurt," she told The Telegraph.

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