If I balls this up then I’m an idiot… unless Amelia ditches me, says Olly Murs
ON Valentine’s Day last year, while on holiday in Bali, Olly Murs asked his bodybuilding champ girlfriend Amelia Tank to move in with him.
He did not realise that two weeks after they returned, England would be plunged into the first national lockdown.
Isolating together could have put pressure on the fledgling relationship, but it proved the making of them.
They kept the nation entertained with hilarious TikTok videos and pranks filmed in and around Olly’s sprawling Essex mansion, which boasts a luxury outdoor pool.
Now, two years after they got together, Olly has vowed to marry Amelia and revealed how she inspired him to get into the best shape of his life. Speaking exclusively to The Sun in their first joint interview, the loved-up couple both agreed they had found The One.
Olly said: “If I balls this up, then I’m an idiot because it’s everything I want. Amelia is the person I’ll be with for the rest of my life . . . unless she gets rid of me! You just know, don’t you? And when I found Amelia, I knew this was it.
I’m 37 and this is the best I’ve ever looked. I have never had a body like this in my life. Amelia has really inspired me
Olly Murs
“We’ll definitely get married at some point and hopefully have a family and a great life. I think we’ve reached a point in our lives where we’re both ready for that next step.
“We love each other and we just want to live our lives together.”
Amelia, who works full-time in communications for a bank, added: “I couldn’t imagine being with anyone else now. Lockdown has only made us stronger — we’ve loved being in each other’s company.
“I just adore him, and I think we’ve got that thing where we just want the best for each other.”
Troublemaker singer Olly, 37, went to Margate last month to watch Amelia, 29, defend her bikini champ title and be crowned overall UK winner in the Pure Elite pro contest — and his jaw hit the floor as she walked out on stage.
He said: “I couldn’t take my eyes off her — she was the hottest girl there.
“I love the way Amelia is naturally without make-up, extensions and heels but I also loved seeing her like that.
“It was just like, ‘Wow, that’s actually my girlfriend.’
“I’ve never had nerves like that before. When you love someone, you want them to do well so I kept thinking, ‘Oh God, what if she trips over or her bikini top comes off?’
“I had all these emotions as I was sitting there eating tons of Haribo.
“But I knew she was going to do it. I just knew it.” Amelia, who has been bodybuilding for four years, spent six gruelling months on an intensive diet and training regime with 5.30am daily starts to ensure she was in peak condition.
And, as our exclusive photos show, she also whipped Olly into shape after he joined her on the plan to offer moral support.
Amelia said: “Olly has been my number one fan all the way through and he really helped me get to where I needed to be. When you’re training for a competition, having the right people around you is so important — they motivate you to keep going.
“To be recognised as the best female of the night was the cherry on top. We’re still on a bit of a high.”
And Olly is pretty chuffed with his own lean, mean physique, too.
I can’t imagine being with anyone but Olly now. Lockdown has only made us stronger. We’re loving being in each other’s company
Amelia Tank
He said: “I’m 37 years of age and this is the best I’ve ever looked. I’ve never had a body like this in my life. Amelia really inspired me to make my body the best it can be. We’d get up in the morning, do a HIIT [high-intensity interval training] session and go for runs together.
“I enjoyed pushing myself, fighting the devil on my shoulder telling me to get in my car and drive to McDonald’s.”
Despite their phenomenal forms, female bodybuilders can be subjected to abuse and sexist accusations of looking “too masculine”.
But Amelia does not worry about other people’s opinions, and said: “You can’t please everyone. The only thing that matters is that you feel happy — and I definitely do.
“And how I look on stage is very different to the rest of the year anyway — that’s the result of a lot of hard work over a certain time.
“It’s not sustainable — I’m not going to be walking around looking that lean all year round.”
However, Olly is less forgiving and was quick to leap to the defence of his girlfriend.
He said: “Unfortunately, the world we live in means people have a platform to say nasty things.
“There must be an insecurity in them — they decide to be nasty because they know that they can never get a body like that.
“But anyone looking at her photos and saying she looks too manly — I mean, what are they even seeing?
“For me, Amelia looks incredible and what I see when she walks into the gym is loads of admiration and people giving her compliments. I get so many people saying, ‘Oh my God, your girlfriend looks amazing.’ ”
Olly also confided that he finds Amelia’s super-sculpted body even more attractive knowing the hard work and dedication which has gone into creating it. He said: “It’s insane. I admire Amelia even more than I did before. She has invested so much time in making her body what it is.
‘WE’RE BEST FRIENDS AS WELL AS LOVERS’
“I used to see hot-looking people walking down the beach all fit and ripped and go, ‘Yeah, whatever’.
“But I now know how much it takes to get a body like that. That’s why it was so emotional seeing her on stage because I felt like I’d been on that journey with her.
“I understood how tough it is mentally as well as physically to go through that transformation.”
The couple laughed as they recalled the relentless months getting Amelia competition-ready. Olly said: “Most couples were snuggled up on the sofa at 9pm eating chocolate and watching Netflix whereas me and Amelia were doing our five-minute plank.
“Once we finished that, we’d die on the floor then head to the kitchen for scrambled eggs before bed.
“It became our routine through the winter lockdown and we pulled each other along. They say couples that train together, stay together. It’s definitely made us stronger.”
That shared sense of humour is key to their relationship. Olly said: “The core of what we have is laughter. That and communication. We’re both easy-going — there’s no controlling or telling each other what to do.
“We’re best friends as well as lovers and partners and we just love to hang out with each other.”
Olly and Amelia got together in 2019 after he spotted her on Instagram and they arranged to have their first date — where else? — at the gym. Apart from a brief fling with TV presenter Mel Sykes two years previously, the chart-topper had been single since 2015 after splitting from long-term love Francesca Thomas.
Amelia first got into bodybuilding four years ago after reading an article and deciding to give it a go.
She was already into fitness and had run marathons but wanted a fresh challenge. She said: “I was looking for something to take me out of my comfort zone and test me. This gave me a chance to educate myself more on fitness and nutrition.”
For Amelia it will always be a hobby — something she does in her spare time alongside her career in finance. Softly spoken and endearingly shy, neither is she interested in becoming a celebrity.
Meanwhile Olly, who is due to go on a summer tour later this month, was keen to stress that finding a new challenge does not mean having to take it to Amelia’s extremes.
And he suggests it could even help in the fight against Covid.
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The singer said: “When you think about what this disease is doing to people — especially those with underlying health issues or people who are unfit — ultimately your health is your wealth. And if you can invest the time, it’s beneficial mentally and physically.
“We’re hoping that people will read this and go, ‘You know what, I want to try something new’ and find what works for them to be the best version of themselves.
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“One day, we will look back on these amazing photos with our kids and say, ‘That’s what we used to look like.’ ”
- Follow Amelia’s journey on Instagram: @tankintraining.