Ed Sheeran bought his friend a gimp mask as a joke - but his stunt backfired as his pal loved the costume so much he posed with it for his annual Christmas cards

Speaking on 'The Russell Howard Hour', he said: "A mate of mine got one of those Alexas. He left me in his house so I was like, 'Alexa, order me a gimp mask!'. It went on Amazon and I forgot about it. It turned up and his fiancée found it. I think there was a really confused conversation about it. They actually had it as their Christmas card with them both wearing it! You can be annoying and order something expensive but the gimp mask was perfect, it was only eight dollars."

And it seems like the 'Shape of You' hitmaker doesn't mind dabbling in his pals' lives as he admitted that he has given Taylor Swift's new boyfriend Joe Alwyn the seal of approval after they got to hang out together in London recently.

When quizzed on the blonde beauty's new man, Ed said: "She's been in London quite a bit. He's (Joe's) really nice. Really, really friendly, really good dude."

Meanwhile, the flame-haired hunk is currently recovering from a cycling accident, which occurred in London in October and left him with a broken elbow, a bust right wrist and damaged ribs, and he's had to rely on his girlfriend Cherry Seaborn to help him bathe and brush his teeth due to the amount of excruciating pain he's in.

Parodying his song 'Thinking Out Loud', Ed sang: "When your arms don't work like they used to before, and I can't even brush my teeth.' Which is so true, so true."

He added: "Cherry had to brush my teeth ... She's a good woman."