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Mollie King shows off her birthday surprise for AJ Pritchard

Just make it official, guys!

Rumours of a romance between Strictly stars Mollie King and her professional dancing partner AJ Pritchard have had us glued to our screens all autumn – it’s been the will-they-won’t-they romance of the year!

A definite sign of romantic interest is making an effort at a birthday, and that’s exactly what Mollie did yesterday for AJ, who was turning 22.

She took it upon herself to be the organiser of his birthday treat, and documented the whole day’s process via Instagram.

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She’d spent the day rehearsing with AJ, and kept fans updated on their progress through her daily stories – at one point turning the camera on AJ to show how he was tidying up her make-up table behind her. How cute!

And the birthday treat culminated with Mollie leading the assembled dancers and backstage crew in a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday for the young dancer. She urged him to make a speech, which he did – kind of – mumbling with a red face something about everyone liking cake.

Mollie and AJ have been fuel for the rumour-mill’s fires since the minute they were partnered up, with every week seemingly bringing them closer together.

And for our money, it’s only a matter of time before the sweet pair make it official. However, they’re keeping tight-lipped at the moment.

Mollie recently admitted that they are getting closer. She told the Sun: “I am single. There’s always going to be rumours on Strictly, that’s inevitable.”

“The main thing is that people can see how well we get on. We have so much fun doing this.

“We have to be so comfortable with each other because we spend so much time together. AJ and I are physically very close all day and that’s such a huge part of the dancing.”

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Sounds alright to us! The pair have also been doing well in the competition, not quite hitting the heights but not in any real danger of being evicted any time soon.

Last night their “Hollywood” style foxtrot routine scored them 27 points, the same as last week. But Debbie McGee was the star of the show, pulling perfect 10s for her and Giovanni Pernice’s fiery tango – something nobody has ever done at this stage of the competition.

Maybe Mollie had better watch out, the competition is fiercer than any of us had thought!


Nancy Brown
Associate Editor