EXCLUSIVE Debbie speaks out on ‘Strictly romance’
STRICTLY star Debbie McGee has set tongues wagging thanks to her red-hot routines with professional dance partner Giovanni Pernice.
But despite photos which show the pair getting on well away from the dance floor, Debbie laughed off rumours of a romantic relationship yesterday saying: “He’s 30 years younger then me!”
Debbie – who was married to Paul Daniels who died last year – has formed an extra close bond with Giovanni Pernice.
Their routines, including last weekend’s sensational tango which scored a perfect 40, have seen the couple installed as favourites to win the series.
But Debbie, 59, says talk of her bagging a 27-year-old toyboy as well as the Strictly title is ridiculous.
She said: “It’s absolutely great people think he fancies me. We have a chemistry, a great sense of humour, we both make each other laugh and that has brought us together. We have a very special friendship.
Lifted
“People see us dancing these sexy routines and then we are pictured having lunch together so assume something must be going on.
“The truth is we really like each other but it isn’t a love affair. We love each other, but we are not in love with each other. It’s just one of those very special friendships.”
Magician Paul – who met Debbie in 1979 during rehearsals for a summer season when he was 40 and she was 20 – died of a brain tumour aged 77 in 2016.
Debbie admits she initially struggled to cope with the death of the man she married in 1988 but says Strictly is proving the tonic for which she had been searching.
She said: “Strictly has just completely lifted me out of myself because it’s given me a real challenge. I worked as part of a double act for 30 years and Paul was always there to fall back on and now I haven’t got my rock.
“But Strictly has given me the strength to do things on my own and is Giovanni greets Debbie with a kiss, above and, inset, the pair do the tango on show teaching me to be stronger.” If the bookmakers are right Debbie and Sicilian dancing genius Giovanni will lift the glitterball when the series finishes at Christmas, making her the oldest celebrity to win the smash-hit competition in its 13-year history.
Debbie said: “The thing is I have never felt my age. I just don’t think about age at all. We should all just seize the day and grab what’s out there. I feel very lucky.”
There may be no romance. But when tonight she and Giovanni attempt a salsa their chosen music may raise eyebrows.
They will dance to I Can’t Take My Eyes Off You by Boys Town Gang.
Strictly Come Dancing is on BBC One tonight at 6.45pm.