Celebrity Big Brother lovebirds Chantelle and Preston have split after 10 months of marriage, it was announced today.

The couple met on the reality show last year and wed following a whirlwind romance.

"After much soul-searching and tearful discussions we have sadly decided to end our marriage," they said in a joint statement.

"We hope we can always remain friends and still love each other but we both think we put so much pressure on one another to make our marriage work that it has ended up destroying our relationship. No one else is involved in our decision."

The couple insisted their relationship was genuine and denied they had rushed into marriage.

Former promotions girl Chantelle Houghton and Ordinary Boys singer Preston (full name Samuel Preston) met on the show in January 2006. They announced their engagement in April and tied the knot in August. The couple sold the rights to their wedding day to a glossy magazine.

The statement said: "We know people will think we married too quickly on the back of Big Brother but the truth is that, what anyone thinks, we did have a whirlwind romance but we were genuinely in love with each other at the time and we will never regret our time together.

"We both believe in marriage and we never treated our vows or our commitment to each other lightly. We've spent hours and hours discussing whether we can salvage our marriage, give it another go, try harder, anything rather than give up.

"But we now both agree that we should go our separate ways. We are both young and we still have our lives in front of us. The last two weeks or so have been very upsetting and sad for us and our friends and family and we appreciate their support."

Chantelle Houghton was planted in the Celebrity Big Brother house as a "fake celebrity" tasked with convincing the other contestants she was famous.

She went on to win the show.

Chantelle, 23, and Preston, 25, have made a fortune since meeting on the show.

They sold the rights to their wedding for a reported £300,000.

Chantelle wore a bridal gown by Elizabeth Emanuel, who also designed the wedding dress for Diana, Princess of Wales.

The former Paris Hilton lookalike also wrote her autobiography, Living The Dream.

In January, Preston stormed off the set of TV quiz Never Mind The Buzzcocks after host Simon Amstell mocked Chantelle's memoirs.