Another year, another Strictly Come Dancing romance rumour. This time, the couple in question is Rose Ayling-Ellis, an actress on EastEnders, where she plays Frankie Lewis, and her dance partner, Giovanni Pernice.
In a matter of weeks, it’s fair to say that Ayling-Ellis has stolen the nation’s hearts on Strictly. The 26-year-old faces more challenges than most celebrities do when donning the sparkly bodysuits so familiar on the show though, becoming the first deaf person ever to compete on the show. In a programme in which, as a contestant, so much of your success relies on your ability to respond to sound, her disability hasn’t held her back one bit, and her performances have been nothing short of sensational. Her gorgeous dancing, lyricism and musicality have set her apart from other contestants, and on this alone does she deserve to win the series.
On Saturday though, she took the power of her performance to a new level, by including a silent section in the dance with Giovanni. The dance, which gave the audience a snapshot into how Ayling-Ellis and other deaf people experience the world, won fierce praise from the judges and audiences alike, with Anton Du Beke calling it the best performance in the show’s history and earning the couple an almost perfect score of 39. Having watched the performance myself, I can honestly say it’s one that will stay with me for years.
Given how triumphant their success was on Saturday, you’d be forgiven for assuming their strong position getting closer to the final would be what is dominating the headlines this week. But instead, fans and papers are micro-analysing to the nth degree the fact that at the end of the dance, Pernice, who recently split with his former dance partner, Maura Higgins, can be heard telling Ayling-Ellis that he loves her.
The first and most important thing to say on this matter is that Rose has a boyfriend of seven years, so the speculation is not only quite wild but it's potentially very harmful. Second, I’ve watched the clip and it just looks like one mate telling another that they love them after what was an incredibly emotional and meaningful performance. It looks like pride.
But for those who believe in the so called Strictly curse and want there to be something more between the two dancers, my question is, why is it any of our business if there are developing feelings between the two?
I get it, we all love the narrative. Two people meet and fall in love in front of our very eyes. It happens a lot on Strictly — it happened to Pernice himself.
But let’s just consider the fact that the pair only met a few months ago, have been thrown together in a very intense situation, where Ayling-Ellis is doing something quite remarkable and, like every other contestant, completely out of her comfort zone. Add to that the fact that they are basically in lockdown together during the season of filming, unable to hug their friends and family or connect so closely with those around them.
Add to that the fact we’ve all just been through something really crazy and emotional, and it must be quite overwhelming being able to connect with another human so deeply on the show. Oh and add to that the fact that Ayling-Ellis, based on every single interview I’ve seen with her is, by all accounts, incredibly easy to love, it seems very plausible indeed that a platonic love could have developed between the two.
Forcing people to admit publicly to what is going on in the privacy of their own hearts is a pretty strange behaviour we should all challenge in ourselves and others, to be honest.
But even if this isn’t platonic love, even if the two have developed romantic feelings for each other, even if they’re about to go careering off into the sunset together, we definitely need to accept that this isn’t information we are entitled to as viewers. As anyone who has ever caught feelings for another human will know, sometimes at the beginning when things are just starting to grow, neither of you is sure what it is that is developing. Maybe there is a spark there but neither has labelled it as such. Maybe the spark will grow into a flame.
But either way, forcing people to admit publicly to what is going on in the privacy of their own hearts is a pretty strange behaviour we should all challenge in ourselves and others, to be honest.
Whatever does or doesn’t happen between them is really only public business if they choose to make it so. And while they continue not to answer questions for whatever reason, we should respect their privacy and that of Rose's boyfriend, who I can only assume isn't loving all of this rampant speculation.
A lot has been written of late about parasocial relationships and how people often develop synthetic closeness to famous people or those they see on TV based on the knowledge that those in question choose to share. But at the end of the day it’s important to remember that none of us know these people and they do not owe any of us the contents of their innermost thoughts or feelings...so maybe just give them a break, yeah?