"We were meant to be, simple as that," beams newlywed Chantelle Houghton, the former Paris Hilton impersonator who became the first 'non-celebrity' to win Channel 4's Celebrity Big Brother in January.

"It's got nothing to do with anyone else, we knew it was right and that's what we wanted to do.

"Being married just makes our relationship even more special, and I love waking up next to him and thinking 'that's my husband', it's amazing."

But although her Big Brother victory was a defining moment in the 23-year-old's life, it was her unlikely romance with former public schoolboy and lead singer of The Ordinary Boys, Samuel Preston, that really ignited the public's imagination.

"Obviously I knew how I felt in the house, and everyone knew we were falling in love, but I tried to keep my feelings to myself," Chantelle explains.

"I suppose I really realised how much I missed him when I was going home in the car with my mum after a photo shoot – that was the moment that I thought, 'God, this really is something'.

"Obviously when we came out I wasn't seeing him as much as I was in the house and that was when it all really kicked in and I knew how I felt about him. He's the nicest person, he just makes me feel so special. He's extremely romantic and he's just perfect basically," she giggles.

But although the smitten couple tied the knot on August 25 this year, things weren't always quite so simple.

Despite their obvious on-screen chemistry, 25-year-old Preston had a long-term girlfriend, Camille Aznar, who he proposed to just weeks after the show ended.

"When he rang me to tell me he had proposed to his girlfriend, Camille, I felt as though I had been hit by a bus, or beaten up.

"But I knew I had no right to have feelings for him other than as a friend, so I simply said how pleased I was for him," Chantelle says in her autobiography, Living The Dream.

Following a few emotional phone calls to Chantelle, Preston called off the engagement just five days later – but she insists that the couple didn't confess their true feelings for each other until he was single.

"Inside I was jumping for joy, but I hated that someone else was sad. I hated it. I felt so bad. I never meant to cause any hurt, and I'm really sorry if I did," she adds.

Ever since Chantelle stepped through the doors of the Big Brother house to a frenzy of tabloid flashbulbs and endless media speculation about her personal life, she has been transformed from girl-next-door to a household name.

But although she says she loves her new life and has never been happier, she admits it's not all champagne and canapes with the in-crowd.

"I don't really meet celebs at all – I don't go to any celebrity parties or anything like that. In fact the only time I ever really bump into anyone is when I do the odd television thing.

"As soon as I've done whatever I'm doing I go home, shut the door, and get back to normal as soon as possible," the former promotions girl laughs.

"I don't love the celebrity world – I personally think it's a bit fake and false – but I'm quite happy to be part of it just so long as I'm not too involved."

Living the Dream: My Story, by Chantelle Houghton, is on sale now.