JoJo Siwa and Chris Hughes made a much-anticipated appearance together as they broke their silence on the Celebrity Big Brother saga they have been at the centre of.
Siwa, 21, and Hughes, 32, were the talk of the series as they shared several close and at times intimate moments in the house, sparking rumours of a romance despite Siwa being in a committed relationship with Kath Ebbs.
The two insisted their relationship was “platonic” as they were interviewed on Monday’s This Morning, but the US dancer also made clear they don’t know what the future could hold.
Host Ben Shephard addressed the swirling rumours and asked Siwa directly: “What’s the truth?”
“Honestly, when I went into the house: day one, fun, day two, fun…”
However, after a pause she addressed the Mickey Rourke controversy as she added: “Or not so fun, with ‘you know who’.
“Day three I was in my own thoughts, away from everyone I knew. I sat with myself and from that point on I realised things I had been OK with things in my life I shouldn’t have been OK with.”
During the show, Siwa confessed to the housemates she had come to the realisation she was “queer” rather than a lesbian.
Shephard probed into what the reality star meant by being unhappy with things in her life, asking if her former relationship had been included in that.
“One of those things,” Siwa admitted, adding she realised she was “not happy”.
She continued: “I knew as soon as I got out I wanted to fix things in my life and make the changes I wanted to make.
“The first thing you want to do when you get out is exactly what you need to do to make it as good as you can.
“I was pretending things were great… It’s been hard but I’m very happy with things now.”
Acknowledging the elephant in the room, Shephard asked the two about their relationship status, probing: “So it’s platonic? Would you like it to be romantic?”
He’s great guy, it’s platonic and we have a lot of fun together,” Siwa confirmed awkwardly.
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However, she went on to add: “But life is life,” before concluding: “I don’t know the future will be.”
Siwa confirmed she was heading back to the US “today,” with Shephard and co-host Cat Deeley describing her UK exit as “heartbreaking,” while Hughes made clear he would be sad to see her go.
Siwa sparked a huge public backlash on Saturday after her partner Ebbs, 27, took to social media to confirm she had broken up with them at the Big Brother wrap party she’d flown across the world to greet her at.
In a video shared online, they explained: “I’m filming this in a complete state of shock, which I know is probably distressing.
“I feel so numbed out right now and so disoriented, I feel like the only thing I can do to place this situation is address it after two weeks of sitting back and watching things unfold without being able to get any clarity from the person it involved.”
Ebbs went on to say they’d experienced a version of “love bombing” by Siwa prior to her Big Brother stint.
Ebbs claimed Siwa had suggested getting married after the show and had “adored” them “behind closed doors”.
Siwa’s ex continued by saying they were “hurt by what I saw”, but they “wanted to work through it and get clarity”.
Ebbs explained: “(I was) met with being further humiliated in the fact that… the story goes right now that in the last eight hours, I flew here and I went to the live show to show up for my partner and support them in their experience and then later on address the feelings of hurt and then work through them like all relationships do.
“But before I could even get back to the hotel – it’s crazy – I went to the after party with my now ex and was dumped in the party.”