ITV's Lorraine awkwardly shut down by Strictly star over romance question

TOWIE's Pete Wicks deflected any prying into his personal life in a chat with Lorraine Kelly during an appearance on her self-titled ITV show on Wednesday (8 January). He appeared on Lorraine to chat about his new TV show, For Dog's Sake, when talk turned Pete's love life.

Resisting Lorraine's playful nudge toward his romantic endeavours, Pete, 37, kept it vague despite her prodding. "With all this going on, have you no time for romance?" Lorraine quizzed.

Pete chuckled in response, noting: "I wondered how long that was going to take," but Lorraine insisted: "You can tell me! You can tell me!"

Pete lightheartedly cut the conversation short, responding: "Really nice try. But you know what I've left the talking about the romance thing in the past. Really nice try though, really appreciate that."

Lorraine jokingly teased: "You can tell me after."

Speculation is rife about Pete's connection with Love Island's Maura Higgins, 34, though they've yet to confirm anything publicly. The two reality TV stars were first linked last year, following reports of a shared kiss at the Pride of Britain Awards afterparty in November.

Maura, who appeared on I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! last year, has been open about her connection with Pete, having revealed that they had been mates for five years before he asked her on a date. She opened up about their initial dates while in the I'm A Celeb jungle.

In a conversation with Oti Mabuse, Maura disclosed that her initial outing with Pete was accompanied by friends, dubbing it a "friendship date". This was followed by a more personal second date, involving just the pair of them.

Maura further spoke about Pete during an appearance on ITV's This Morning after her jungle stint, as host Alison Hammond probed into Maura's feelings, leading to some candid revelations.

The ex-Love Island contestant admitted: "Do you know what, you forget about the cameras, I do like to keep things private. I said I miss him, I do miss him. Like I miss all my friends and family." She also expressed her pride in Pete's performance on Strictly Come Dancing and shared that he felt "proud" of her as well.

Lorraine airs on weekdays on ITV1 from 9am.