Kym Marsh reckons her Strictly Come Dancing partner Graziano Di Prima is becoming like her "little brother".
The pair are preparing to strut their stuff on the dance floor again on Saturday after avoiding the dreaded dance-off following their performance on the weekend.
The couple sailed through to the next round of the competition with fans lapping up the couple's sizzling on-screen chemistry.
However, mum-of-three Kym, 46, says Italian stallion Graziano, 28, is more like one of her siblings.
“He’s very quickly become like a little brother to me," she said.
“Graziano is from a big family himself and is very family-orientated so it was important for us to build a friendship and I wanted to integrate him into the family.
"He’s fit in really well. Everyone loves him," reports Hello magazine.
Graziano added that he too feels like part of Kym's family, revealing the Corrie star invites him home where she prepares Italian food with her brood, making him feel "so welcome".
“At the end of the day, when we’ve finished the rehearsals, I’ll be in my hotel on my own. But Kym knows that, so she invites me back," he explained.
Kym has three kids David, 27, Emilie, 24 and Polly, 11 and is married to Scott Ratcliff.
Graziano, meanwhile, married Gina Lini is Sicily this year after delaying their wedding due to Covid.
Despite a blip where he and Kym ended up in the dance-off, Graziano and the HearSay star are still very much in running for the Glitterball trophy - largely due to their on-screen chemistry.
Former Strictly pro Kristina Rihanoff praised the couple for fooling people into thinking they were in love.
Speaking about their performance, she said: "Kym and Graziano are a wonderful pair to watch - you're drawn to their sizzling chemistry and they make you believe they're totally in love.
"Kym is a seasoned actress and she's playing a role getting into all the emotions.
"I know for a fact that Graziano is completely in love with his stunning wife, so there's definitely nothing else going on there," she told Closer magazine.
Despite their chemistry, Kym and Graziano Di Prima landed at the bottom of the Strictly Come Dancing leader board in week four of the competition.
Kym closed the show last week performing the Quickstep to Sweet's Ballroom Blitz, but received critical comments from the judges as Anton Du Beke said the dance lacked her usual confidence.
Appearing on the show spin-off It Takes Two alongside partner Graziano on Thursday (Oct 27), the star said she had a ‘meltdown’ earlier in the day before the live show last Saturday.
She added: “It was a bit of a scary moment closing the show, but Graziano gave me the biggest squeeze – which I didn’t really appreciate, because I’ve got a rib injury still."
* Strictly returns to BBC One on Saturday at 6.30pm
