Michelle Visage has dismissed reports that she is “unhappy” with her Strictly Come Dancing professional partner Giovanni Pernice.
The RuPaul’s Drag Race judge is currently in rehearsals for Strictly’s annual trip to Blackpool, where she’ll perform a Street/Commercial routine to Madonna’s Vogue (which, let’s be honest, is quite probably going to be the moment of the series).
But while The Sun has claimed that things aren’t going so smoothly behind the scenes, suggesting things are “tense” between Michelle and Giovanni due to their “fiery relationship”, she has insisted they’re still having a good time together.
Posting a statement on Twitter, Michelle admitted she’d found the headlines “upsetting” because of how close she and her partner are.
“Gio is my best friend in this competition, he is my rock and I trust him with everything,” she wrote. “We have the most fun and laughs together and to suggest otherwise is just sad.
“At this very moment, we are focussing on Blackpool and we are SO excited to share our magical dance with all of you!”
Michelle has previously admitted that she and Giovanni can be “at each other’s throats” in the early stages of their rehearsals each week, but insisted that it’s all from a place of “love”.
“We’re both Italian. We’re both intense. We’re both Virgos,” The Sun has quoted her as saying. “So there’s a perfectionist level that’s really ridiculous between us… he wants it quicker than I’m able to provide it.
“So Mondays and Tuesdays is a lot of us at each other’s throats. By the end of the week, we’re totally in love with each other again and it’s fine.”
She added: “I’ve never walked out. We just like to fight. We like to fight it out, but it’s just that’s all in love. Our relationship is very fiery. It is weird, but it’s perfect.”
Michelle was dealt a blow last week, when she and Giovanni ended up in the dance-off for the first time, despite having finished in second place on the leaderboard on Saturday night’s live show.
Eventually, the judges decided to spare Michelle and send home Mike Bushell instead, after four weeks in a row in the bottom two.
Strictly returns on Saturday night at 7.05pm on BBC One.