Strictly Come Dancing host Tess Daly slammed for ‘awkward’ Mollie King and AJ Pritchard dating remark

'Awkward': Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman
BBC/Guy Levy
Emma Powell9 December 2017

Tess Daly did nothing to dispel rumours of a romance between Mollie King and AJ Pritchard on Strictly Come Dancing, days after it was reported they were seen 'kissing' backstage.

The BBC ballroom host, 48, referred to the rumours as the “elephant in the room” on Saturday night’s show.

Speaking ahead of the second round of routines, Daly mentioned King and Pritchard’s “romantic waltz”.

Co-host Claudia Winkleman said: “Now I think we’re all agreed it’s time to talk about the elephant in the room.”

Romantic: Mollie King and AJ Pritchard
BBC / Guy Levy

Daly replied: “What, you mean are Mollie and AJ a couple or not?”

The remarks didn’t go unnoticed by viewers, with some scolding Daly for making comments.

Strictly Come Dancing 2017 - In pictures

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One viewer tweeted: “What the f*** was that Tess Daley? Talk about making it awkward for poor Mollie & AJ such s*** hosting! #Strictly.”

Another wrote: “Why is Tess so insistent on pushing this Mollie and AJ rumour? So awkward #Strictly.”

King was heavily criticised for her first dance after taking on the Samba, which the judges ruled was out of time and awarded her 24 points.

Craig Revel Horwood said: “The rolls looked really awkward you were having difficulty going from one move to the next and you weren’t actually dancing on time to the music. That wasn’t great darling, I’m sorry.”

Bruno Tonioli added: “Tonight you missed the flight to Brazil. He was in Rio and you were stuck at the airport.”

Her Waltz was later deemed “much, much better” with Revel Horwood declaring she had “redeemed herself”. The judges gave her 32 points, marking her highest score on the series so far.

Strictly Come Dancing is on BBC One, Sunday at 7:15pm

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