THE girlfriend of Croydon X Factor contestant Ben Haenow says the couple hope to get engaged soon - and has told how their loved blossomed over a Sainsbury's deli counter.
During his arena audition Ben surprised everyone, especially his girlfriend Jessica Jones by announcing that the couple were "looking to get married sometime soon".
The 27-year-old was visibly shocked by the revelation, but she said that she had her eye on Ben long before they got together six years ago.
She first noticed Ben when the pair were both at school at Edenham.
"Ben was a couple of years above me at school. I remember seeing him in plays at school. He loved a bit of drama," she said.
"My brother brought him home from school when he was about 14 and, yes, I had my eye on him. But I was like 12 or 13 at the time"
Nothing more happened until Jessica was at dance college when she would visit Sainsbury's in West Wickham where Ben worked on the deli counter, hoping to see him.
"Every Sunday I would go and stand at the deli counter and wait for him in his nice little net hat," she said.
"But again it wasn't until another few years later that I went back. I was living in Charlton at the time and I happened to be in West Wickham, so I just went back just to see if he'd gone to music college, genuinely I did!"
Ben had stopped working at Sainsbury's by this time but Jessica, a dance teacher, tracked him down working in the Crown pub.
"Then it was again a little while after that," she said. "I just kept popping back in to see how he was, and then eventually when I was 21 we got together."
And what about that "accidental proposal"?
"It wasn't an accidental proposal!" Jessica said.
"Of course we've had conversations about getting married and getting a home together, but I think it was just the shock that he even mentioned it.
"At the same time as Ben is this open, lovely boy, he also is very protective of his family and is in a way quite a private person. It shocked me that he was so open about that, and he said 'soon', which shocked me."
Jessica said that any engagement will not depend on what happens on X Factor.
She said: "This isn't a platform for our relationship or for us to get our marriage the okay, absolutely not. That's something that is between us. He wants to keep our relationship protected."
