Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola have replied directly to the romance speculations.
The Strictly Come Dancing champions prompted a lot of curiosity during their time on the BBC ballroom programme, with viewers speculating if there was a growing relationship.
On Monday, the couple appeared on ITV’s This Morning, when host Josie Gibson simply asked them, “The chemistry between you is magic, we’ve seen you on the dancefloor and it was so beautiful to watch.”
‘Is there any romance between you guys? Are the rumours true or not?’
They both started laughing, as Ellie said: ‘Honestly, we’ve just been having the most amazing time dancing, and we built a really strong bond and a friendship that will last forever.’
Vito quipped: ‘I wanted to say that word, I love that word! We had a beautiful bond. When you connect – I am a very “first impression” person, and when we met we had that feeling that we knew each other since we were born! I’m so, so lucky to have you in my life!’
Josie’s co-host Craig Doyle joked that it was ‘one hundred percent a romance’, but the pair both started laughing again while insisting: ‘No!’
Ellie added: ‘We’ve been through so much together… We’re lucky to have the bond we’ve got, and we’ll be friends for life.’
Earlier in the programme, the former Coronation Street actress revealed the truth about the Glitterball trophy, with the winning pair receiving tiny copies rather than the genuine thing.
‘This is mine,’ she said on Monday’s episode of This Morning. ‘It’s not the glitterball, but we get our own little ones. It’s really, really cute and I can’t believe I’m holding it.’
Ellie confessed she was ‘genuinely speechless’ when she was named this year’s winner, and she spent Sunday to relax and take it all in.
She added: ‘Yesterday when I woke up I was like… what is going on? And then I just lay in bed all day and went for tea with my family, it was really, really nice.’
Ellie confessed she was ‘genuinely speechless’ when she was named this year’s winner, and she spent Sunday to relax and take it all in.
‘I didn’t keep any of it! They wouldn’t let me keep it! I really wanted to bring the sceptre back through airport security. I don’t have anything to show for it,’ he joked.
He was reunited with campmate Josie Gibson, who was back on the show with Craig Doyle, and she gave him his own This Morning audience created by the staff.
‘Really scratches the neck,’ he laughed after trying it on.
Earlier in the broadcast, Josie thanked the This Morning staff for their help, saying that ‘it hasn’t gone forgotten’.
‘It’s been just so lovely! You’ve always been an amazing family to me, so thank you for all your support. Thank you to everybody supporting at home, and everybody who voted for me. I just can’t thank you enough,’ she said in a heartfelt moment.
She said that, while she like elements of jungle life, it had its drawbacks. She joked about Nigel Farage’s posterior (‘as bottoms go, it was fine!’).
‘My campmates were amazing, and the beauty of it all, the beauty of the jungle is insane. But I did find it hard. I didn’t think it would be as hard as it was, I’ll be honest,’ she confessed.
‘Missing Reg was a big thing, and also the spiders! They were everywhere, absolutely everywhere, and I have got a serious phobia. I thought I’d overcome that, but I didn’t!’
This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV1.
