Thanks.

Yes references to arguments elsewhere, derogatory mentions of other threads, groups of fans or individual posters.

Looking forward to Laura on Loose Women tomorrow. I hope the subject of any discomfort she's felt regarding media stories about her and Giovanni is off the table. I have felt that Laura's said a little too much to the media on that as it involves his relationship breakup and really isn't her business to discuss in public.

Also looking forward to Loose Women. Laura is, I bet my bottom dollar, going to give the Loose Women the 'move along, nothing to see' reply if they try questions around the 'showmance' stuff.

To be fair Ochre, as far as I can see, Laura gave one interview to the Mail in early October. - its the only one I know of where she talked about the impact of the tabloid speculation on her. She talked about lots of things, and there was a section where she said on the record that i) her relationship with Gio was professional ii) the tabloid speculation was getting to her, and affecting her ability to dance on the show.

I have not seen her give any other interviews that included discussion of the topic of Gio's ex-relationships and she has fairly carefully batted off any questions by saying 'Strictly for me this year is about my own journey' or some phrase like that. Her blog, for example, has totally avoided the topic. If I've missed some stuff though, I might be wrong.

I think, from a media point of view, she had to put something on the record as the tabloids were out of control at that point (early October) on the whole fevered 'possible showmance'. angle.

Re-reading what she said, it still, to me, seems to me to be absolute bare minimum needed to put her side of things out there, but I appreciate there are different points of view. She seemed to be very careful to say nothing about the past relationship or the circumstances of the breakup, only a brief but positive mention of Gio's ex, and a careful reference to Gio trying to give her sensible and totally professional advice.

The main chunk is below:


‘Break-ups are hard. It has happened to me and it’s devastating. When my friends go through a split I feel their pain, too. That is the woman I am.’
Part of the reason behind doing*Strictly*was, she explains, to try to change the perception of her as a*TV sex kitten. ‘I wanted to do*Strictly*because it’s a family audience – there will be a lot of people who don’t know anything about me. It’s the one show where people get a chance to see you for who you are.*
'And then this whole thing with Giovanni blew up in my face. I couldn’t believe it could all go so wrong, so fast. Georgia – who is a good friend of mine – has been lovely but I felt things had been spoilt before*I’d even got a chance to start.
‘I do care what people think about me. My relationship with Giovanni is completely professional. That’s all*I ever want it to be. When all this happened he called me and told me not to let any of it get to me, to ignore it and get on with the show. To be honest he’s far too young for me and even though I’m single I’m still going on a couple of dates when I have the time – but not with Giovanni.’
When we talk again a few weeks later – soon after the first show airs – the pressure on Laura hasn’t let up, with reports that Georgia May Foote ‘unfollowed’ her on Instagram and acres of description of her ‘very steamy’ first dance with the Italian.
‘It has definitely affected my dancing,’ she confesses. ‘I’m so*self-conscious I haven’t allowed*myself to develop a proper partnership with Giovanni.
‘He’s aware of it and so am I but I keep holding back. We were the first out on the floor on the first show and I was so nervous I couldn’t feel my legs. But I was fully aware I wasn’t letting myself go because of all the rumours about us.*

I wouldn't say tabloid discussion of Laura & Giovanni has ever been out of control or fevered and in fact had died down to virtually nothing before that article came out. When I posted it on here at the time I said that some of the content had been taken from earlier interviews and was out of date. In fact I thought it was a shame that article came out when it did because it stirred the story up again.

What you've posted there and also Laura's comments on Georgia unfollowing her and why were too much in my view. Laura is a very private person and turning it round I would imagine her being very cross if Giovanni made similar comments publicly regarding a position he felt he'd been put in due to a breakup of hers. It wouldn't happen of course, it was unprofessional and a little unfair of her. I also think she lost perspective, her feelings of mild discomfort at tabloid and social media comments were nothing compared to the pain those involved in the breakup were likely to be feeling.

The only comment I've seen from Giovanni when asked about the story on Laura dating someone in secret was that he and Laura don't discuss their private lives and that's all that needs to be said in public.

I brought it up because of the nature of Loose Women as a show, they don't take prisoners If tabloid speculation is raised I hope Laura doesn't repeat some of what she said in that DM article.

However I would really like her to open up a bit more about her dance partnership and friendship with Giovanni as the other Strictly couples do. It all helps people to warm to them and for promotion and she really needs to brush off any silly tabloid hints or social media comments from now on.

Ian showed a brief Samba training clip on ITT, early days, routine looks fast! Ian's advice was to get more bend in her knee and finish off her lines, also thinking about arm positioning.

Laura & Gio not on ITT tomorrow so must be Friday

They seemed at a different phase in their training to the others, which I hope is true! It looked like they were just going through the routine to mark it out. Damn those Gypsy Kings, they're quick!!

Looked to me like a very, very early walk through of the routine. I doubt that Gio had even started to work on any details of technique at that stage.

GG's samba last year was possibly my favourite dance of theirs, and Gio clearly absolutely loves the dance since he did somewhat over-dance it (and maybe was too fast even for Georgia who ended up stumbling slightly). So I'm hoping his exuberant and ambitious attitude towards it isn't going to make it too fast for Laura; Claudia only just about coped with her too-fast samba, so I'm hoping Gio's not following AJ's suit here.

But unlike many on the MF, I don't get this idea that "Laura can't do latin" I actually really enjoyed their week 1 CCC -and I never enjoy week 1 CCCs- she came across very natural and lively in it and without signs of obvious nervousness. Lovely arms and facial expressions.

But we're down to that well-worn stage of the show now where the one or two popular duffers start knocking out all the pretty-good-but-not-excellent dancers. I'm a bit nervous for Laura

I agree. Impossible to tell from that clip what the samba will be like. Giovanni is not even dancing. I am sure they are a lot further on with their training than that clip suggested. Ian does that all the time with his training clips. Some are from the beginning of training. Others are more recent.

To be fair to Ian, I think he's sent the clips rather than him choosing from a lot of footage. So it's a flipping producer controlling the perception / tantalising / scaring us etc

Yeah I agree fatskia. I also wondered whether the Physio and Gio might suggest she limits practising the bending of the knees and bounce so as to protect her ankle.

'Let's give the fans Monday's training to put the wind up them' *cackle*

Laura has tweeted 'Attempted to wear Latin shoes for the first time in two weeks. Never thought high heels would become my enemy. We used to be so in love . .'

I noticed she was wearing practise shoes in that clip, I guess she has to wear her heels for the Samba? Hope her ankle isn't too painful.

I thought it was hard to tell from the ITT VT clip. It does look like they are marking out the routine still - I would agree and go for 'too early to tell' at this point.

Ore was looking very good as was Danny. Nice catch by Ian to say that Ore must not let Jo do more of the dance than he does. Even Ed was quite light on his feet

Laura won't want to talk romance tomorrow on Loose Women but will probably face a question or two even if they are angled towards other contestants. So I hope her handbag contains a few polished 100% politician's change-the-subject, look-over-there, waffly bland non-answers.

She should stick with practice shoes for now

If you think about it, Gio is dancing in his probably 1.5" Latin shoes which are a bit similar to a practice shoe.

Absolutely no reason why she can't dance on Saturday in practice shoes and achieve good technique (other than them not being very attractive). I mean to say, the footwear is not limiting at her level of skill.

Hope if she wears Latin shoes they have a 2" heel at most.

I'd rather see her in her practise shoes then like you say LL.

I was just browsing in here and came across this .... one of my favourite pictures of Gio, so thank you

looking forward to their samba on Saturday and I'm sure the traditional music will help

Hello Ruby - Think its probably one of Gio's fave pics of Gio too ... But its a winner.

Fingers crossed for a great Samba - the music is fab which is such a help.

Popping to say that Laura has tweeted 'Straight from physio to ITV studios to see the lovely @loosewomen ladies and then to the training room!'.

She is clearly not 100% recovered .. but that is totally understandable. Glad that she is being sensible and seeing the physio. High heels need to go back in the wardrobe for a bit

OT Lovely to read that Aliona and her husband are expecting.

Aliona's announcement is lovely news

Looking forward to Laura on Loose Women.

Very lovely indeed and I am sure Giovanni and Laura will have sent their congratulations to their biggest fan

Clip of Laura on Loose Women today.

Mick was watching

Forgot to record programme. Will need to catch up later.

Thought the LW interview was fine. Bright and breezy and quite short - only 6 minutes. No 'awkward' questions - phew.

Laura talked about loving the show, being a fan of it, her ankle injury, that Gio was a really great dancer - but he gets a bit sweaty in Quickstep training - not Gio's fault that she was injured as she thought it was a 'normal' ache and pain before it flared up. Gio being very nice now and telling her to take breaks and giving her chocolate (lucky lucky Laura )

She said that she was going to physio daily, being strapped up and had been told that really a month off exercise is what should happen, but that she won't damage herself by continuing, it will just be painful. She confirmed that quickstep training was capped at 12 hours total. Laura emphasised that every celeb had aches and pains and she didn't want to make a fuss or dwell on it too much, which was the right thing to say. She also said that the show is an emotional roller coaster and she finds herself in tears at surprising things, like struggling with a dance step. But she loves the show and the experience.

They moved on to talking about the WhatsApp chat group for the celebs that is very friendly, Laura made a point of saying how close they all were and how supportive. And then a bit of banter about 'object of lust' Ed Balls offering to give Laura a foot massage - which was quite funny.

The only thing that was missing perhaps was an opportunity to talk about THIS WEEK'S DANCE and also to thank the public for voting for them. Bit too much ankle discussion but that was how the questions landed. And I would rather the Loose Women stuck to that topic than digging for dirt