Joey Essex, a Dancing on Ice finalist, has spoken out about the embarrassing kiss he almost had with Vanessa Bauer on the ice.
After the Towie star, 32, attempted to kiss his skating partner, 25, he received scathing comments from the likes of Lorraine Kelly and Phillip Schofield, as well as those watching at home.
Joey had skated to Breaking Free during the competition’s Movie Week, channelling his inner Troy Bolton to Vanessa’s Gabriella Montez, and at the end of their performance, Joey moved in to kiss Vanessa, but she swiftly backed away to escape the move and began giggling.
‘Nearly a little peck at the end there,’ Phil quipped after their skate, while Joey cheekily added: ‘Nearly. Our first kiss on live TV.’
The discussion left viewers perplexed and horrified, especially because the duo has fueled relationship rumours during their tenure on the programme.
When asked about the incident, Joey began, ‘It’s a lengthy story’.
‘Basically, we’d planned to kiss before [we went on the ice],’ he explained to Metro.co.uk and other press.
‘It was overwhelming for me in that moment on the live show,’ Vanessa interrupted, before Joey continued: ‘I had asked Vanessa probably over ten times, “You wouldn’t pull away would you? You want me to kiss you right?”
‘And she goes, “Yeah I want you to kiss me,” and I was like, “Okay, but you wouldn’t pull away though, would you?”‘
He then added that Vanessa ‘still doesn’t think she pulled away’.
‘I was like, “Have you seen the picture?!”‘
‘It’s nice, it’s very fresh, I love to get pied like that,’ he jokingly added.
‘It was good for me, and I’m taking it as a positive.’
‘I think me and Vanessa have a fantastic relationship,’ Joey said elsewhere, as their time as skating partners came to a close. We’ve always gotten along since day one, and it’s quite wonderful.
‘I think it would be nice to see what’s going on on the outside, we’re mainly interested in the ice rink to be honest.’
‘We’re taking it day after day, and we’ve got the final ahead of us so our main focus is on the final,’ Vanessa added.
Dancing on Ice: The Final airs Sunday at 6:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
Source My Celebrity Life.