KISSING GIO? PAUL WOULD LIKE IT. NOT A LOT BUT HE’D LIKE IT
Magician’s widow Debbie says her Strictly clinch was ‘pure showbiz’
DEBBIE McGee says her late hubby Paul Daniels would have thought her sexy Strictly routine with pro partner Giovanni Pernice was showbiz magic.
The 58-year-old caused a stir by planting a kiss on the lips of the Italian dancer, 27, during Saturday’s live show.
But she insisted it was a spur of the moment decision and, referring to her true love Paul, said: “He’d have loved it.
“The fact that I’ve caused – or appear to have caused – this furore with the kiss on Saturday night … he was all about showbusiness and that was pure showbiz.
“I know he’d be looking down on me thinking, ‘OK, yeah.’ He’d be happy.”
Debbie – who lost magician Paul, whose catchphrase was “You’ll like this … not a lot but you’ll like it”, aged 77 last year – came second on the leaderboard for her paso doble.
And she admitted no one was more surprised by her antics than Giovanni.
She said: “In rehearsals, I just gently caressed his cheek and gave him a gentle push.
“I didn’t really realise until I watched it back how hard I pushed him. It was a bit of a smacker, he was so great.”
Debbie credited Giovanni with encouraging her to do the splits, saying at the start of training she could only get down halfway.
She laughed: “He made me stretch every day – he could see I had the potential to do the splits.”
But Debbie, speaking on This Morning, said this weekend’s Viennese waltz was proving more difficult, adding: “The technique is much tougher, it’s more controlled.”
While doing pilates and yoga has kept her fit and flexible, Debbie said her ballet training was not really helping her because it was more than three decades ago. She said: “It’s so different from ballroom and Latin. If you ask a footballer to play something different 30 years later, it’s a different muscle thing.”
Debbie and Giovanni got 30 points – including an eight from grouch Craig Revel Horwood – for their routine.
JLS singer Aston Merrygold, 29, topped the scoreboard on the BBC contest.