The EastEnders actor has vastly improved on his ballroom dancing skills throughout the last eight weeks of the BBC competition, and he credits that to Nadiya’s, 28.
But amid the gruelling training schedule and the pair becoming friends, they have been dogged by constant rumours about their “romantic connection” on the show.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com, Davood, 35, who has been married to his wife Isobel for seven years, has spoken out about the constant speculation.
“When you do something like Strictly, you always know there’s going to be a lot of interest in you, or who partners with who,” he explained. “So you allow it to happen, but you can’t let it get in the way.
“I guess people and certain media outlets will have certain opinions, or will have something they want to say about it. That was just before Strictly had really begun, now there’s so many more interesting things to talk about. People want to watch Strictly to see the competition and they want to see how people progress.”
The star went on to confess that he initially struggled with the rumours, saying: “You have to learn to ignore it when people are saying stuff that isn’t true. You move on and keep the focus on trying to get the dances right week by week.”
“Ultimately, it’s always been that thing for me: actors are in an intimate situation very often,” he continued. “I go to work and pretend to be either married to – or sleeping with – another character on the show. And it means my wife and I, obviously, we’re a very, very strong couple; we’ve got two kids; and we’re very happily married.”
Ahead of tonight’s Blackpool special, Davood recently revealed all about his illegal lifts on the show.
As It Takes Two presenter Gethin Jones commented on the newfound trust between the pair in their dance routines this week, Davood admitted: “I’m really worried because this week we can’t do any lifts but I really, really embraced the lifts because we had some illegal ones before.”
Shocked at the star’s revelation, the former Strictly semi-finalist cried: “Ssshhh!”
But the heartthrob brushed it off as he openly revealed that the notoriously hard-to-please Craig had already noticed, saying: “It didn’t matter. No, but Craig definitely realised that. But when you do them you’ve got to do them properly and make the most of not always being able to do lifts.”
Strictly Come Dancing continues tonight at 6.45pm on BBC One.
Daily Express :: TV and Radio Feed
