On last Saturday’s show, they kissed live on television during their sizzling foxtrot. And it appears it isn’t just in front of the cameras that Strictly duo Pete Wicks and Jowita Przystal are getting close.
The Mail on Sunday can reveal that tongues are wagging on the set of the BBC One dance show because the couple are so besotted with one another.
Strictly insiders say it has become an ‘open secret’ among the cast and crew that they have fallen for one another after being paired together in August.
One said: ‘Pete has fallen head over heels for Jowita. He thinks she is amazing in every way.
‘The feeling is mutual from her side and things have definitely progressed between them. They are all over one another behind the scenes, in a way that a loved-up couple would be.’
The source added: ‘It appears that we may have the first Strictly romance of the series, which is so exciting. They are the talk of the show.
‘The other contestants are really happy for them. They are always smiling. It’s lovely. It will certainly brighten up the show following the dreadful saga around Giovanni (Pernice) and Amanda Abbington.’
The pair are thought to have hit it off ‘immediately’ and were seen at the beginning of last month very publicly cosying up together at the National Television Awards.
It wouldn’t be the first time that Ms Przystal, 30 – the Polish ballroom supremo who guided Hamza Yassin to victory in 2022 – has dated one of her Strictly co-stars. She enjoyed a fling with former professional dancer
Pernice, 34, last year and was also linked to dancer Arduino Bertoncello.
Before that, she was in a long-term relationship with her dance partner Michael Danilczuk.
According to their website, the couple met in 2013 at a summer dance camp in Krakow, Poland. It also mentioned that they didn’t like one another at first but after spending a year in partnership they fell in love.
In 2015, they ended their competitive career together but carried on performing with Burn The Floor, the live dance show, while travelling the world. They split up two years ago.