Ant McPartlin reportedly offered Lisa Armstrong their marital home if she’d agree to sign their divorce paperwork.
The 42-year-old presenter split from his wife last year and is now believed to have embarked on a romance with Anne-Marie Corbett, so is keen to push through with officially ending his marriage as soon as possible in order to move on with his life.
A source told The Sun newspaper: "Ant wants this settled quickly and painlessly. He doesn’t want to fight and made it clear Lisa could have an extremely generous offer.
"He even said he would sign over their house."
But the 41-year-old make-up artist rejected the offer of their multi-million pound West London home and refused to sign the paperwork, and now things between her and Ant are now so strained, they are only communicating through lawyers.
A friend admitted: "It takes very little now to spark a blazing row between them. That’s why it’s for the best they don’t speak directly. It’s the only way.
"They communicate via lawyers and through members of his management team. But Lisa doesn’t trust anyone around him because she knows they are fiercely loyal to him."
The pair are said to have last clashed after the ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ host asked his estranged wife to have her jewellery vowed as part of their settlement but she refused to part with the belongings.
And insiders think it was a ploy to delay divorce proceedings as Lisa "refuses to go quietly", though they don’t understand why.
One source observed: "She could walk away a very wealthy woman, and move on in a heartbeat."
Lisa is determined to find out as much as possible about Ant’s new relationship with his assistant and has even tried to win the support of Anne-Marie’s estranged husband Scott, but he’s told her he doesn’t want to get involved.
A source said: "She got in touch with him but Scott told her he wasn’t interested.
"He has moved on and doesn’t want to engage in a celebrity dispute or become part of a real-life soap opera."
Lisa learned of Ant’s new romance while browsing the internet and expressed her upset by posting two broken hearts on her Twitter account.
One tweeter said to Lisa: "If it’s true I would have hoped out of respect to you that he didn’t let you find out from the media…you deserve better than that! Let the tears flow, talk about how much it hurts & let your family & friends support you. It won’t feel like it now but you will get through this x (sic)"
And she replied: "Nope. Just how you guys did x [broken heart emoji] (sic)"
Ant McPartlin offers house to Lisa Armstrong
