Abbott exclusively told Us on Tuesday, December 1, that the pair “just started dating” after forming a friendship on the show earlier this year. She also revealed that the castmates who knew of their romance are “all very excited for us.”

When the pair competed on season 22 of the CBS show, they were dating other people, but those relationships fizzled out once they returned home after being evicted from the house in October.

“We both were dating people while we were in the house, but each of our relationships were only a few months starting in March of this year,” the fitness guru told Us. “Nothing long-term for each of us. No one was inappropriate.”

The health coach announced her relationship with Garrett via Instagram on Tuesday, writing, “Love is not found, it’s built. ❤️ @memphisgarrett (I promise it wasn’t a kiss) #2020 #unexpected #christmasabbott #memphisgarrett #bb22.”

The pair sparked relationship speculation last month when they were seen hanging out at a Florida bar.

“I really didn’t think that it would happen for me,” Abbott told E! News of the romance on Tuesday. “It’s so wild to have this experience because we reverse engineered how society promotes falling in love.”

The reality star revealed that she got to know the “Mornings With Memphis” host through “real conversations, building trust with each other and not starting with a physical connection,” which she called a “rare thing.”

The Garrett Hospitality Group founder echoed his girlfriend’s sentiments saying, “Never in my mind would I ever think I would find love thanks to the Big Brother house, but sometimes fate has other plans.”

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Following her elimination from the show in October, Abbott told Us about her friendship with Garrett on the show.

“Memphis and I had an amazing friendship. He was really, really helpful to me [when it came to] coping with being away from my family and being away from my son,” she said at the time. “And that was really important to me. So he was a really good friend. He was my best friend in the house.”

Outside of the show, the couple are both parents. Abbott shares 2-year-old son Loyal with ex Benjamin Bunn. Garrett, for his part, shares 5-year-old son River with ex-wife Ashley. Abbott told Us on Tuesday that the pair had yet to introduce one another to their kids, but they had “bonded” over many things including being single parents.

Ahead of the couple’s hookup, Garrett was dating Dominique Scalise. Abbott was also in a relationship while on the show.

This story originally appeared on: US Magazine - Author:Johnni Macke