Chris Tarrant‘s ex-wife Ingrid has revealed how she had to act like an undercover soldier to prove her husband was cheating on her after hiring a private detective who wasn’t up to scratch.
Ingrid, 70, told how after her suspicions grew, her first plan to wire a tracking device into Chris’s car came unstuck when he bought a new vehicle.
So she then had to start crawling across their bedroom floor as he slept to take his keys and keep hiding a burner phone in his new car to keep tabs on his movements.
Ingrid had suspected the TV and radio host was seeing another woman a few years earlier, but when she confronted her then husband he denied it, saying his strange behaviour was due to anxiety over presenting Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
Speaking on the Suddenly Single podcast, she said: ‘I thought ‘something’s not right’. I asked him outright “are you thinking of having an affair? Are you having an affair?” (He said) “Oh, don’t be ridiculous, of course not” – and I 100% believed him.’
However, years later, she asked him again and didn’t believe him when he again denied it.
Chris Tarrant ‘s ex-wife Ingrid has revealed how she fired a private detective and had to act like an undercover soldier herself to prove her husband was cheating on her (pictured in 2001)
Ingrid told how after her suspicions grew, her first plan to wire a tracking device into Chris’s car came unstuck when he bought a new one (pictured in 2004)
She continued: ‘I just didn’t believe him when he said no. Something was telling me he was lying.
‘I had to get the car hot wired – tracker, that would run off the car and not batteries so that it would always be fully charged. But I had to get an excuse to get his car for the day to have it fitted.
‘So I asked to borrow it and it was like ‘Why?’ I said because I need to get some straw for the rabbit or guinea pig from the stables.
‘I’d always had convertible cars. It was like ‘what’s wrong with yours?’ (I said) ‘By the time I get back all the straw will have come out’.
‘It took them so long to wire it because he’d just had installed those video screens in the back of the head rest for the kids. They really struggled with it.
‘Then he had another car but I bought a burner phone. But you had to keep charging that up.
‘At the time there were moments when I thought ‘this is insane’ because I would be shimmying across the floor. I thought ‘I would do really well in the army here because I was shuffling along being really, really quiet to get the keys to go back out to the car to open it up to get the phone out to charge it.
‘I had so many sleepless nights because I had to do it while he was asleep and before he woke up in the morning. So I had a little window of opportunity to keep charging the phone.
So she then had to start crawling across their bedroom floor as he slept to take his keys and keep hiding a burner phone in his new car to keep tabs on his movements (pictured in 2023)
Ingrid had suspected Chris was cheating years earlier, but when she confronted him, he denied it, saying his behaviour was due to anxiety over presenting Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
‘I could track him where he’d gone. Then they (the private detective firm) knew where to follow. They knew where to go, I couldn’t do that.
‘They weren’t doing very well, I said ‘This is what’s going to happen at this time’.’
Ingrid would work out the route Chris would have to use if he was going where he claimed and then give the private detective the heads up to check if her husband took a different route.
But she said: ‘They missed him. I just thought “For God’s sake”. So I got rid of them.
‘And then I got another one. I said “I need photographs.” At the same time I thought, “Is this really happening?” So I thought I actually have to have a photograph so there is no mistake here.’
Ingrid said after she eventually forced Chris to admit he’d been caught, another private detective contacted her saying her work had done wonders for snoop’s businesses.
She said: ‘There’s a private detective who contacted me – not any of the ones that I used – afterwards via my agent and said I did the best favour to him because suddenly it reminded people, “Of course, why don’t you do that? If you’re not sure just get a private detective on to them”.’
Ingrid also told how Chris told her she needed psychiatric help over her suspicions.
Ingrid said: ‘I just didn’t believe him when he said no. Something was telling me he was lying’ (pictured in 2022)
She said: ‘It stops you from going mad because he would have convinced me I was imagining things – and did try to – and said I should book myself into The Priory.
‘I know who I am, but if I hadn’t, I’d have just thought ‘What’s the matter with me, it’s peri-menopausal’. You could blame yourself for everything but I knew I’m not going mad.’
Chris admitted to having an affair and said in a statement in 2006 that he was ‘deeply sorry’ for the hurt he caused.
Ingrid believes he was cheating for at least seven years before she trapped him.
The couple were married between 1991 and 2007 and had two children, including radio presenter Toby.
A representative for Chris declined to comment when contacted by MailOnline.
