After much speculation, Giovanni Pernice revealed the identity of his new love in a gushing social media message earlier this week.
On Sunday, he publicly shared another loving message for his 'other half' – but he wasn't talking about his girlfriend!
The Italian star was instead addressing his best friend and co-star Anton Du Beke, with whom he also presents the travel docuseries Anton & Giovanni's Adventures in Sicily.
Taking to his Instagram Stories, Giovanni re-posted an image of Anton and other members of the cast of the Strictly judge's new stage show The Showman, which he captioned: "Good luck to my other half and the rest of the cast for the opening night tonight!"
The Strictly Come Dancing star, 33, appears smitten with his new model partner, Molly, with the pair both sharing a photo of themselves spending time together at a restaurant on Tuesday.
© InstagramMolly captioned the photo on her feed: "Amore Mio," which translates into "my love," and Giovanni quickly commented in his native language: "Amore mio," adding a love heart emoji.
Before meeting the blonde beauty, the Strictly viewer favourite was believed to be dating fellow Strictly star Jowita Przystal, who won the 2022 series of the show with wildlife presenter Hamza Yassin.
The couple was said to have developed a romance during their time on the show together and were even captured holding hands in romantic photos at the time. Before his alleged romance with Jowita, Giovanni was in a relationship with Love Island star Maura Higgins.
The couple parted ways in October 2021 after dating for four months. Announcing the news of their split, Giovanni penned on social media: "Firstly, great relationships with great people can come to a natural end. This has been the case for me recently. There was absolutely no wrong-doing and this should be the end of any speculation.
"Whilst I respect and understand interest in my personal life, wouldn't it be fantastic to instead use this space to raise awareness of subjects and issues which need the attention."
© InstagramThe two were first linked back in June when they were spotted watching the Euro 2021 match at Wembley together. Before the couple parted ways, Giovanni gushed about Maura in an interview with HELLO!. "Maura is beautiful, funny, and she's a very loyal person," he gushed.
"We get along very well, we're just enjoying getting to know each other." The star has also paid very sweet tribute to Anton in the past. Last year, Giovanni appeared on the Waitrose Eat podcast, where he told host Nick Grimshaw: "We are very, very good friends.
© Ricky Vigil/GC Images"He was the only one when I joined Strictly, he helped me with everything." Revealing that he needed a translator for his first series in 2015 because he didn't speak English, Giovanni shared that Anton was a wonderful support during that challenging time.
He said: "I couldn't speak any English and he's always been there for me since the beginning. We ended up being like – I don't want to say father and son – but like brothers, big brother."
