Strictly Come Dancing's Pete Wicks calls Jowita 'the best person' as he addresses 'romance'

Strictly Come Dancing star Pete Wicks set the record straight about whether or not he is dating his dance partner Jowita Przystał, amid speculation about the duo in recent weeks

Pete Wicks has spoken out about his partnership with his Strictly Come Dancing partner Jowita Przystał amid ongoing romance rumours. Speculation fuelled earlier this month when fans suggested they almost ended their dance with a kiss, while a source also claimed that they had fallen for each other.

Addressing the gossip, the 36-year-old praised his and Jowita's "great chemistry" and commended her traits, but made it clear they were just friends. Denying any dating rumours, he shared: "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." Talking further about why they were paired together, Pete humorously remarked: "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," reports the Manchester Evening News.

Gushing further about his pro on Olivia Attwood's So Wrong, It's Right podcast, Pete said he knew he wanted to be paired up with Jowita from the moment they met, due to her welcoming personality. He added: "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."

Previously addressing rumours about an on-screen kiss with Jowita, he clarified on his Staying Relevant podcast with Sam Thompson: "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."

This weekend, the dancing duo will perform a Rumba to Oasis' hit Don't Look Back In Anger.

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