Chris Hughes has claimed his rival Katie Price must have been "tricked" by a "catfish" because he hasn't sent her any messages via Snapchat.
Olivia Attwood and Chris Hughes
The 'Love Island' finalist branded the 39-year-old former glamour model a "rotten piece of s**t" last week after she released the 52 screenshots of a conversation they allegedly had on the image messaging app over the summer, but he has since back-tracked on his insult and is convinced someone else must have sent the texts to her.
Speaking in the new issue of OK! magazine, he said: "I haven't sent her any messages. Either the messages are from someone pretending to be me, or Katie has made them up because she's embarrassed that I posted the flirty messages she sent me and wants to make me look bad. While you can't change your actual username on Snapchat, you can edit your display name.
"All someone has to do is go into their settings and change the name to look like the messages are from me. Also, I have my account set so that only pre-approved people can message me and Katie isn't one of them. People who are allowed to message me know that my display name is 'Chris', but I've heard the messages Katie has are from 'Chris Hughes'. Someone pretending to be me could have tricked Katie but she isn't stupid, she knows how social media works."
Although the 25-year-old hunk was the one who kicked off the war of words by posting screenshots of "flirty" text messages he'd received from Katie online, he claims he's being "bullied" by the former glamour model and the argument is "stressful and draining" for him.
He added: "It's been very stressful and emotionally draining. I feel like I'm being bullied. It's not easy to have people thinking I've lied. The whole thing feels really nasty."
And Chris' girlfriend Olivia Attwood - who he met in the 'Love Island' villa over the summer - is convinced Katie is on a mission to split them up because she wants him for herself.
She said: "Me and Chris are strong. We trust each other completely. I've never been with a guy who I can trust and rely on like I can Chris. There was never a part of me that doubted him. We just want to be left to get on with our relationship and kept out of any more drama. She messed with the wrong girl. I'm very secure in my relationship; I trust Chris completely. She's tried to break up our relationship. It's disgusting."
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