Inside Christine McGuinness’s unlikely friendship with Spencer Matthews as stars bonded amid split from husband Paddy

CHRISTINE McGuinness found an unlikely friend in Spencer Matthews as the pair bonded on a TV show during her split from husband Paddy.

The co-stars spent a week together on a “spiritual journey” filming for BBC‘s Pilgrimage: The Road Through North Wales, which aired last year.

Sources have this week told the Daily Mail how Spencer was a shoulder to cry on as she navigated her emotions in dealing with her marriage breakdown.

“You would never have put those two together but they got along instantly,” an insider said of the pair as they filmed the BBC show.

“Poor Christine had been through the mill. She had been with Paddy since she was so young.

“He was really all she knew in a man, so then to strike up this friendship withSpencerwas just lovely. It was noticed by everyone on set that they got on especially well.

“It must have been so refreshing for her to have someone making her laugh, as they really got into the spiritual side of life.”

Christine and Spencer hiked 225km across Wales along with five other celebs of different faiths and beliefs.

In one of the final scenes of the programme, Christine said to the group: “For me it doesn't feel like the end at all, it feels like the beginning.

“It's made me want to live more. I don't just want to exist.”

She then turned to Spencer and said: “I want to laugh every day like we have. I want to make more memories.”

Made in Chelsea star Spencer, happily married to Irish model and influencer Vogue Williams, went on the trip having lost his brother – who disappeared hours after reaching Mount Everest‘s summit in 1999. His body was never recovered.

Describing his experience during the Pilgrimage, Spencer said: “It was an enlightening journey.

“The whole experience made me feel even happier to be alive.”;

In recent weeks he has faced rumours of trouble in his marriage to Vogue – who furiously hit back telling fans: “It's with great sadness that I have to let you know that Spen and I are NOT breaking up!

“I usually avoid addressing baseless and cruel rumours but this just keeps coming up.”

She added: “It's absolutely not true and much more importantly I don’t want my children hearing these lies in the playground.

“We’re not sure what the angle is or where it’s coming from but the whole thing feels very strange and mean.

“We’re very happily married and in love and I hope posting the truth on my own platform might make it stop.”

The pair, who married in 2018, share three children togetherTheodore, aged six,Gigi, aged four, andyoungest Otto, aged two.

Meanwhile Christine's divorce was finalised in 2022, following a 12-year marriage to comedian Paddy.

Christine says she's in “no rush” to get back on the dating scene as she still lives with her ex, co-parenting their three children, who are all on the autism spectrum.

The former couple recentlyspent Christmas Day together for the sake of their children; twins Penelope and Leo, 11, and Felicity, eight.

Christine admitted of the Pilgrimage: “I didn't [think I'd have such a good time],

“I'm used to being busy and with the kids and things like that, would I be OK with all the time in my own head?

“And I got there and there wasn't a moment really for me to be in my own head.”