‘We’d already decided,’ Chris says. ‘We told them in the morning that we were done. We were leaving.’

That wasn’t what happened on screen, however.

Whatever plans they had were thrown out the window when expert Mel Schilling went for the jugular during the Commitment Ceremony, tearing shreds off Brook for her bullying behaviour at the recent Dinner Party.

In that moment, Brook decided she wanted out immediately – and wouldn’t be waiting for Chris, who was none the wiser to her sudden change of plan.

When it dawned on him that Brook – who’d slipped off the couch under the guise of using the bathroom – wasn’t coming back, he instantly knew how the producers would spin the narrative.

‘As soon as they said she’d left, I knew what they were doing,’ he says

‘I stood up and said, “We’re not f***ing doing this.” I wasn’t going to let her be framed as abandoning me.

Brook’s exit was made to look like she just walked out, leaving Chris blindsided and humiliated

But according to Chris, they had actually made plans to leave show at the same time on amicable terms – they had even booked their flights – until production intervened

‘I had booked a flight before Brook that weekend. We woke up and said, “This isn’t for us. We’re getting out of here.”‘

Chris claims that producers baulked at the idea of Chris and Brook both leaving the experiment early on good terms – which wouldn’t have made for good TV.

‘They don’t want you just going, “Okay, we’re done.” That’s not how it works,’ he says.

From the moment Brook and Chris decided to quit, producers allegedly kept Chris in the dark about what was happening around him.

He wasn’t even told his wife would be returning to last Wednesday’s Dinner Party after she had previously – briefly – left the experiment.