Lee Ryan has laughed off the suggestion of a ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ romance in a veiled Instagram post.
Over the weekend, it was suggested that Lee and his professional partner Nadiya Bychkova had been struck down by the so-called “‘Strictly’ curse”, when they were snapped on the front over of The Sun holding hands.
While Lee did not address the pictures head-on, it looked like he was keen to prove that his relationship with Nadiya was strictly professional, with a post on his Instagram account.
Sharing a photo with his ex-girlfriend Samantha Janey - with whom he has a 10-year-old daughter - holding hands on a day out together, he captioned the image: “If you can’t laugh, you’ll cry.”
Later in the weekend, Nadiya posted her own photo, in which she and her footballer fiancé, Matija Skarabot, were seen looking loved up as they posed together in a mirror.
She wrote: “Perfect Sunday… Be happy in the moment.”
Nadiya and Matija announced their engagement in 2017, when the professional dancer was still competing in last year’s series, where she was partnered with ‘EastEnders’ actor Davood Ghadami.
On Saturday night, Lee and Nadiya will make their dance floor debut together, in this year’s first live show.
Lee was arguably one of the more surprising signings of this year’s ‘Strictly’, as it was previously reported that BBC bosses were keen to keep reality stars off the celebrity line-up.
Although best known for his work as a singer in Blue, Lee famously appeared on Channel 5’s ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ back in 2014, where he made headlines for his romances with both Casey Batchelor and Jasmine Waltz.