EXCLUSIVE: Strictly Come Dancing's AJ Pritchard gushes about 'beautiful' dance partner Mollie King amid romance rumours

It wouldn’t be a series of Strictly Come Dancing without the celebrities being romantically linked to their professional dance partners, with AJ Pritchard and The Saturdays’ singer Mollie King “getting close” during training, according to reports.

Now AJ has gushed about his “very beautiful” partner in an exclusive chat with Yahoo Celeb UK, although he coyly denied that anything was going on between them.

Speaking at the Specsavers’ Spectacle Wearer of the Year Awards, AJ told us: “She is very beautiful… We train 12 hours a day and it is always fun, time flies by.

“She’s a great student, she will try anything. She doesn’t say ‘no’ and for me, as long as she never says ‘I can’t do it’, that’s fantastic.

“Hopefully we can win, we take every week as an extra bonus and we are loving our time on Strictly.”

When quizzed on the romance rumours, AJ coyly replied: “What romance? Whose romance? You just kind of get used to the rumours.”

Cheekily referencing paparazzi photos that showed him and Mollie walking arm in arm with hot drinks last week, he continued: “You go for a coffee break and get a nice warm cup of tea on a cold day.

“We do laugh about it in the studio and we have a great time.”

AJ’s comments come shortly after 30-year-old Mollie addressed the rumours, with the singer previously saying: “I think there’s always some kind of romance rumour so it didn’t surprise me but I hardly even know him well so far, so there’s no truth in that.

“But he’s such a sweet heart and obviously he is a beautiful boy so I’m very lucky.”

As well as Mollie and AJ, actress Gemma Atkinson and Gorka Marquez have also been linked together in this year’s series of the BBC One dance show, with Gorka’s celebrity partner, Alexandra Burke, said to be “furious” that Gemma has developed a relationship with the dancer.

Despite previously denying the rumours, Gemma and Gorka fuelled speculation at the weekend as Gorka admitted to seeing the “beautiful” star outside of work and Gemma coyly refused to address the reports.

Follow Yahoo Celeb UK on Twitter and Instagram for all of the latest celebrity news!

Read more:

[ EXCLUSIVE Rylan Clark-Neal reveals the secret to his post X Factor success ]

[ EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: The moment Rylan Clark-Neal confronted Love Island’s Chris Hughes in furious red carpet row ]

[ EXCLUSIVE Love Island’s Kem Cetinay slams Lethal Bizzle spat: ‘He should have gone through the label’ ]