Sam Thompson and Zara McDermott's five-year romance - including split that became a meme

Mere weeks after fans speculated an engagement was on the cards, Sam Thompson and Zara McDermott have reportedly called it quits after five eventful years together.

The reality television stars had made a life for themselves together in a lavish £1 million London townhouse, along with their two cats, Cedric and Albus. For a long time, they seemed utterly perfect for each other. Having always shown support for each other's careers, fans loved their shared sense of humour and often relatable domestic moments.

Sadly, the pair have now made the "incredibly difficult decision" to part ways after their choice to spend the festive season apart, which sparked rumours of a crack in their relationship. Here, the Mirror takes a look back at their time together, including an earlier split which launched a thousand memes...

First move

Documentary maker Zara was the one to make the first move with Sam, sliding into his Instagram DMs back in 2019. At the time, Zara and Sam had both been nursing broken hearts following respective break-ups with Adam Collard and Sophie Habboo.

Sam, who was won over by Zara initiating a connection, opened up about their early messages while appearing on the 2023 run of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! When quizzed by fellow campmate Fred Sirieix, well known for creating sparks in the First Dates restaurant, Sam shared: “Fred, I’m going to be honest with you, mate… it was really romantic actually.”

He continued: “She slid into my DMs. This is so lame… I like a couple of her photos just to let her know I was alive. Then she followed me on Instagram. I was actually on a job, and she replied to one of my Instagram Stories and she went, ‘Your story’s really loud!' I sent her an emoji of a lemon, and she went, ‘What’s that?’ I wen't ‘Sorry, I couldn’t find an opening lime'."

Making it official

The once-happy couple went Instagram official in June 2019, around one month after they began dating. Fans were thrilled after they shared a sweet snap of themselves together, captioned, "I can think of worse Saturdays", and were quick to wish the pair all the best.

It appeared to be a blissful first summer for the pair, who continued to share loved-up snaps, including one that Zara captioned: "So grateful for you", finished with a love heart. Opening up about their blossoming romance in an interview with OK! magazine at the time, Sam said: “Do you know what, I don’t want to say too much, but we’ve been on a few dates, it’s been a few weeks now.

“We’re not exclusive because everyone in this game rushes everything! There’s no need to. If you rush into things, sometimes you make a mistake, and it gets too intense… she’s a really, really lovely girl, and she’s incredibly beautiful.”

Made In Chelsea days

That October, Zara joined the cast of Made In Chelsea alongside her new beau, who was already a favourite among fans. This wasn't exactly an easy transition for Zara, who had to deal with some viewers claiming she didn't "fit" with her co-stars and would have been better suited to The Only Way Is Essex.

Addressing these comments in an interview with OK!, Zara argued: "But then you want to get to know Sam and he’s definitely one of the favourites on the show, so do you want his relationship to be completely excluded from that?

"And if it was then it wouldn’t reflect reality so I think people get their wires crossed a lot with it and it’s frustrating but I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s one of those things where I’m comfortable in knowing that I’m a nice person and I haven’t done anything offensive to anybody.

"Everybody on the show likes me, and I get on with everyone and all of the cast members, so from outside of the show, watching it looking in and being negative, it doesn’t really faze me that much.”

Cheating admission

In November 2019, shortly after becoming a Made In Chelsea regular, Zara made an appearance on The X Factor: Celebrity, during which time she cheated on Sam with music industry executive Brahim Fouradi.

Zara admitted to being unfaithful in dramatic scenes shown on the E4 reality show and would go on to spark various memes and reaction gifs. In the now iconic episode, aired in 2020, Zara can be seen begging Sam's forgiveness on a park bench, telling him: "I have no justification for anything, the way that I've behaved, the way that I've acted, the things that I've done. It's just disgusting. I just want you to forgive me."

Unmoved, an initially furious Sam replied: "There's absolutely no way, because how can there ever be a way. I can't even trust this." Filled with clear regret, Zara then wept as she pleaded: "No, stop. Please stop, please. You can, you can. You can do it, you can, please."

Eventually, Sam found it within himself to forgive and forget, and the couple gave things another go. Explaining why he chose to reunite with Zara in a subsequent interview with the MailOnline, Sam revealed: "I believe in forgiveness. I understand the context – and I think in any walk of life you can't move forward unless you forgive. Forgiveness allows you to heal. You can only heal when you forgive the other person and get over that."

Proposal rumours

Prior to their recent break-up, Sam sparked rumours of an engagement with a gushing Instagram post shared to celebrate Zara's 28th birthday on December 14. Showing great affection, Sam wrote: "My best friend, and soul mate….some would say my person. I’m afraid you’re stuck with me forever happy birthday. I love you so much, and wow have I missed you over the past month! Here’s to another amazing year with you."

Speculating that an exciting announcement could be on the cards, one follower responded a ring emoji alongside question marks, whilst another hinted: "That’s the perfect dress for you to get engaged." A third commented: "You should get her a ring………… just saying!!" A third added: "OK SAMWISE BUT WHERE’S THE RING."

Sad split

After spending Christmas and New Year apart, it emerged that Sam and Zara had called it a day after five years together. A source told the Mail Online: "Sam and Zara have ended their relationship. It's been an incredibly difficult decision for them to part ways, they still care and have a lot of love for each other.

"But after a tough year of working hard at their romance, they have split and will be focusing on their individual careers going forward into 2025. There has been no scandal or fallout between them, it's just the result of a difficult year, where they both had to spend a lot of time focused on their own projects."

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