Relationships

Matty McLean reveals what partner Ryan calls him… and it’s not what you’d think!

No cute nicknames to be found here...
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Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, has shortened Harry to ‘H’.

Behind closed doors Prince Philip is said to call the Queen ‘Cabbage’.

And when Guy Ritchie and Madonna were married, Guy affectionately referred to his wife as Madge.

But if you think Breakfast‘s Matty McLean has a cute nickname for his partner Ryan Teece you’d be sorely mistaken.

In the video, above, Matty demonstrates just exactly what he thinks of cute nicknames between partners – and it’s not encouraging.

The topic came up in an exchange on Breakfast this morning, where colleague John Campbell raised the question, “What does Ryan call you? Like, he never calls you Matthew if you’ve left a mess in the kitchen or something?”

“Nooo, just Matt,” Matty answered.

“What about a cute name? Do you have a cute name?” insisted Hayley Holt, who announced her pregnancy on the show this week

Matty’s response was to pull a face and make a sound that indicated displeasure.

“What about Ry-Dog,” Hayley persevered.

But with the conversation going nowhere fast it was soon suggested “Let’s move on”.

Of course the biggest surprise is that Matty is SO averse to cute nicknames. With his love of the Lion King movie, over which he broke down in tears just talking about on live television, we had thought he’d be an absolute sitter for a cute nickname.

Honeybun, cupcake – at the very least, my love.

Clearly New Zealand’s favourite TV personality is a straight talker when it comes to matters of the heart.

Last year the couple shared their love story with Woman’s Day, revealing that they met on Tinder in 2015.

But they didn’t get to meet in person for almost two years, because shortly after connecting through messages Matty moved to London.

The couple stayed in touch, however, and when Matty got the call-up to return to New Zealand to be the weatherman on Breakfast in early 2017, Ryan, a real estate agent, made his move.

“He sent me a message saying congratulations on the new job, so I quickly suggested we finally have that drink. Within half an hour, I’d jumped on a train and we met up at a pub at Sylvia Park mall of all places!” recalls Matty.

Below: Matty with Breakfast colleague Hayley Holt, after being voted Woman’s Day’s TV Personality Of The Year last year. Hayley had won it the year before.

The couple readily admit that Matty is the emotional one but they’re also keen to point out that this doesn’t mean that Ryan isn’t romantic.

On their first anniversary, the former professional equestrian surprised Matty by turning up unannounced at the Breakfast team’s hotel in Hanmer Springs. He joined the crew on the road for the next few days.

“It was such an amazing surprise,” Matty smiles. “I had absolutely no idea it was happening.”

The Celebrity Treasure Island star told Woman’s Day their relationship has “just always felt right”.

“We’ve never had a fight, we just have heaps of fun together and make each other laugh.”

When you’ve got all of that, who needs cute nicknames?

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