Cheryl, 34, and Liam Payne, 24, attended the BRIT Awards last night, leaving young baby Bear at home for a well-deserved night off.
The couple found themselves in the spotlight after host Jack Whitehall stopped by their table for a chat.
Things got steamy after Jack asked Liam if there was a “safe word” for his Fifty Shades of Grey performance with Rita Ora, which was coming later in the show.
Liam joined in the joke and pointing at Cheryl, said: “She knows.”
But instead of playing coy, Cheryl shared their bedroom secret, and jokingly said their safe word is “don’t stop” – to the shock and amusement of the crowd.
The clip has since gone viral – but what does a body language expert say about the joke?
Expert Judi James has watched the footage and shared her thoughts with Express.co.uk.
She said: “Probably the last thing you want when you’re in the middle of rumours of a crisis in your relationship is Jack Whitehall thrusting a mic under your already embarrassed-looking guy’s nose and cracking jokes about date nights.
“Cheryl looked alert from the start with her upright back and fiddly hand clasp on the table suggesting she might have already smelled comedy trouble brewing.
“Her smile looked fixed and signs of anxiety were suggested in the way she started picking gently at her own fingers.
“When she dropped one hand, the other hand picked away at itself in what is known as body language leakage.
“This is when a smile is outweighed by signs of anxiety or discomfort from the rest of the body, especially the hands or the feet.
“As the chat went on Cheryl’s clasped hand raised into a pose I always call ‘hamster hands’. Many female presenters do it and it involves the hands being clasped at rib or chest height and only loosely joined at the fingers, with the wrists bent. It’s a self-protective gesture of vulnerability but it can also announce a polite desire to speak or take over when used on TV.
“Liam’s response to the 50 Shades question was to evaporate into awkwardness, first leaning away from his host and then leaning away from Cheryl once she made her ‘safe word’ joke, with a look of schoolboy mock-horror on his face and patting one hand on his chest in what looked like a protective gesture.
“He then ran his hand across his own face in a cut-off ritual and Cheryl’s cupping face-pat response at the end looked like a fond reward and reassurance for any embarrassment.”
