The statistics taken from 2,000 men who use the Illicit Encounters website, an extra marital affairs dating service in the UK, found that cheating men spend an average of $192 on their mistress’ presents, while $170 is spent on their wives, the UK’s Daily Mail reported.

During the study 89 percent of men admitted to choosing something ‘ultimately decorative with that being it’s sole purpose’ for their mistress in comparison to 42 percent of the men surveyed choosing an item like this for their wife.

Half of men preferred to chose something ‘practical and useful for around the home’ for their wife.

Cheating expert and spokesperson for Illicit Encounters, Rosie Freeman-Jones says the way men buy gifts shows how they feel about their relationships.

“The difference in the sort of gifts men choose to buy for their mistress and wives mirror the different ways married men often view these two relationships,” she said.

“Men often see their mistresses as playing more "surface", decorative roles in their lives, providing sex and affection without much emotional attachment.

“This explains why mistresses receive less practical and more "pretty" gifts.”

Rosie said that over time men start to see their wives as needing more practical things than pretty things.

“On the other side of the coin, a man's relationship with his wife, after time, becomes less about being pretty and more about being practical - the bigger issues of mortgages and maintenance overtake the seemingly less important things like romance,” she said.

“The less a husband thinks of his wife as a sexual being, the more functional and "unsexy" his gifts will become.”

And according to the Illicit Encounters website, Christmas is their busiest time of year with a rise of 200-300% in activity and new members joining on the site.