After weeks of speculation that they were falling for each other, it’s been confirmed that Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani are officially dating.

On the same night that Shelton was on the receiving end of quite a few jokes about his recent divorce from Miranda Lambert at the Country Music Awards, TMZ reported that the rumours about him going out with Stefani (who also recently split up with her husband, and the father of her three children, Gavin Rossdale) were true.

Blake SheltonJust before the CMAs started, Shelton's publicist confirmed that he is dating Gwen Stefani

About 20 minutes before the CMAs started, a show which fellow country star Lambert also attended, Shelton’s publicist released a short statement to Us Weekly saying: “Blake and Gwen work together and are both single and have recently started dating.” Intriguing timing, leading some onlookers to declare it an attempt to ‘win the break-up’ by Shelton.

It came just a few days after Shelton and Stefani were spotted at a Halloween party cosying up to each other, according to E! Online.

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Shelton had said a couple of weeks ago that he was anticipating a number of jokes from the CMA hosts Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood about his divorce. However, in the event they went fairly easy on the topic, with one reference to the “break-up that really rocked our world” leading to a joke about Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog instead.

Gwen StefaniGwen Stefani broke up with her husband Gavin Rossdale earlier this year

In the awards ceremony itself, things went rather better for Lambert than they did for Shelton. He lost out on the Male Vocalist of the Year trophy for the first time in six years to Chris Stapleton, while Lambert won the Female Vocalist award. She kept her acceptance speech short and dignified, saying: “I needed a bright spot this year, so thank you.”

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