Strictly Come Dancing fans call Zara McDermott and Graziano Di Prima ‘the hottest pairing ever’ and joke that her boyfriend Sam Thompson must be ‘sweating’
Strictly Come Dancing made a triumphant return to TV screens on Saturday as the latest crop of dazzling celebrities took to the dance floor.
And fans were quick to hail Zara McDermott, 26, and her professional partner Graziano Di Prima, 29, ‘the hottest pairing ever’ as the pair were revealed for the first time.
Viewers joked that the Love Island star’s boyfriend Sam Thompson must be ‘sweating at home’ as they praised the ‘absolute fire’ partnership.
Zara and Graziano will dance the Cha Cha Cha for their first performance, with the TV personality admitting her nerves.
‘I think I’m probably the most nervous in my life. “I’m not a born artist, I’m not an extrovert, so this is the biggest challenge of my life,” she said.
Firework! Strictly Come Dancing made a triumphant return to TV screens on Saturday as the latest crop of dazzling celebrities took to the dance floor
Support them: And fans were quick to hail Zara McDermott, 26, and her professional partner Graziano Di Prima, 29, ‘the hottest pairing ever’ on Saturday
Graziano added, “It’s going to be exotic, Latin and is the Cha Cha Cha treasure.”
One fan shared their thoughts on Twitter: ‘Zara and Graziano look beautiful together. I fully support them.’
‘Zara and Graziano might be the most popular duo ever?! good lord,” another agreed.
A third echoed: “Zara and Graz can be absolute fire!”
Someone else joked: ‘I know Sam Thompson is currently at home crying watching Zara and Graziano.’
While other viewers wrote: ‘I bet Sam Thompson is sweating now that Zara has partnered up with gritz’ and ‘Zara’s boyfriend is crying in the green room right now.’
On Friday, Zara appeared on Lorraine to discuss the show, dropping a small detail about her partner.
The Love Island star chatted to the TV legend, 63, about her training and asked about her partnership on the upcoming show.
Beware: Viewers joked that Love Island star’s boyfriend Sam Thompson must be ‘sweating’ at home as they praised ‘absolute fire’ partnership
On screen: Zara and Graziano dance the Cha Cha Cha for their first performance, with the TV personality admitting her nerves
Support: A fan shared his thoughts on Twitter: ‘Zara and Graziano look beautiful together. I fully support them’
She said: ‘He’s amazing, he’s so nice. Training is harder than I thought it would be. It’s arms, legs and feet, you have to put all these things together in my head at once, but it’s an amazing experience.’
Zara made history by becoming the first former Love Island contestant to win a place on Strictly, but insisted she won’t be drawing inspiration from her former castmates when the show gets underway.
The TV personality rose to fame after appearing on the ITV2 dating show in 2018, in which her romance with villa lothario Adam Collard became one of the more dominant storylines.
She has since re-established herself as a BBC documentary maker, with hard-hitting revelations about revenge porn, rape culture and eating disorders, earning her a new army of fans – and a nomination for Authored Documentary at the National Television Awards.