The 38-year-old responded to a story claiming he was resurrecting an old romance with Ferne McCann, 23, by denying he had ever met the TOWIE star.

Taking to Twitter yesterday, Brand linked to the story, writing:

‘@OK_Magazine: “We would NEVER have put @rustyrockets with this #TOWIE babe.” I've literally never seen this human.’

However his denial of ever having clapped eyes on Ferne, who has recently broken up with long term love and co-star Charlie Sims, backfired when Sam Faiers posted pictures of proof on Twitter today.

The snap shows Russell posing alongside Sam and Billy Faiers, as well as Ferne.

‘@rustyrockets @OK_Magazine haha rus how can u forget x’, 23-year-old Sam triumphantly tweeted alongside the picture.

Reports have recently surfaced claiming that Russell, who was married to 29-year-old Katy Perry for 14 months until 2011, had secretly dated Ferne before he met the Fireworks singer.

A source has now said that the pair are planning to relight their fire, explaining:

‘They clicked straight away when they met a few years back and went on quite a few dates.

'Things only fizzled out when Russell moved to LA and Ferne started to get close to Charlie from the show.

'It was after they both found themselves single that they started exchanging messages again.

'They'll definitely be catching up. Watch the space.'

We wait with baited breath for Russell’s response to Sam’s cheeky tweet. So far he has been rather quiet.