Strictly Come Dancing's Pete Wicks instantly 'knew he wanted Jowita' amid romance rumours

Pete Wicks has addressed ongoing rumours about him being romantically linked to his Strictly Come Dancing partner Jowita Przystał.

The dancing duo have garnered attention in recent weeks due to their close bond and apparent near-kiss when performing live on the show, while a source also claimed that they had fallen for each other since being paired together.

Setting the record straight, the 36-year-old gushed over their "great chemistry" and Jowita's good qualities, but insisted they are no more than friends.

Asked if they were dating, he said: "Erm, no. We're dance partners, she's amazing and I get on really well with her.

"She is honestly one of the nicest people I've ever met in my life."

Quizzed on how they got paired together, Pete joked: "She's won it before, so I think they thought listen she's already won it, so let's give her someone that she's not going to win it with.

"So, she's dragging me along the dance floor like a f*****g corpse at the minute, but she's really positive, she's really nice and she's got a very good sense of humour."

The former TOWIE star said after meeting Jowita for the first time, he knew she was the professional dancer he wanted to be paired with due to her personality.

He explained on Olivia Attwood's So Wrong, It's Right podcast: "Obviously you spend a lot of time with someone doing this, it's f*****g intense, so the most important thing for me was someone I actually get on with.

"The first time I met her I thought, I like you, you're just a good person, you don't annoy me.

"So yeah, she's the best person I could've been with, but it's not a romantic thing, but we do have great chemistry because we get on, we genuinely get on well."

Elsewhere, following claims that Pete and Jowita shared a "passionate kiss" live on the show, the reality star said the seemingly romantic gesture was just part of the dance.

Speaking on his Staying Relevant podcast with Sam Thompson, he said of false stories about him: "During the choreography, there’s a story been going around for two weeks saying me and Jowita kissed during the dance… everyone watched it on TV!

"They called it a passionate kiss, it’s the choreography, and we didn’t. That’s all anyone speaks about the next day.”

It's likely the pair will garner further attention this weekend when they perform an up-close Rumba routine to Don’t Look Back In Anger by Oasis.

Strictly Come Dancing continues Saturday at 6.25pm on BBC One.