JAMES Blunt jokingly told Ed Sheeran he gave him herpes.

The 41-year-old singer presented the flame-haired star with an ARIA award at the ceremony in Australia last night and joked the 'Lego House' hitmaker had contracted the viral disease from a bottle of beer he stole from him.

While collecting the accolade to honour his success in the country, Ed recalled: "I went to one of James' gigs when I was 14 at the Cambridge Junction, and I stole his bottle of Corona - and there was 20 people in the crowd, and he went on to sell 20 million records, which is alright, isn't it?"

And James - who is often making witty remarks to fans on Twitter - quickly replied: "That's where you got the herpes from, mate."

Ed, 24, played along with the joke, adding: "It still itches."

The bromance continued later in the evening as Ed took to his Instagram account to post a picture of the pair holding hands on Twitter and joke they had got engaged.

He added the caption: "We would like to announce our engagement"

Ed was clearly delighted with his prize and took to Twitter after the Australian award ceremony to thank the country.

He tweeted: "Thank you Australia for my first aria x (sic)"