Celebrity Big Brother star Chris Hughes was rendered speechless when asked to define his relationship with JoJo Siwa.
The 32-year-old former Love Island contestant and Dance Moms star, 21, struck up a strong friendship during their time in the Big Brother house earlier this year.
Their tactile dynamic led viewers to question whether they were romantically involved. The rumours gained traction when Siwa broke up with her partner Kath Ebbs, 27, immediately after leaving the programme.
Hughes and Siwa, who have insisted that their relationship is “platonic”, have since been seen on multiple outings together in London, Orlando and Mexico City, where Siwa was performing at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez stadium this week.
While speaking to Access Hollywood presenters Mario Lopez and Kit Hoover, Siwa was asked to define her relationship with Hughes, to which she replied: “You kind of can’t define it, it’s very special.”
Hughes added: “Yeah I would struggle to describe it. If you want adjectives, I’d go for…” at which point he began to stutter and became uncomfortable before laughing it off.
“Oh…why am I speechless? What is going on? God,” he said.
The reality star then told the presenters that Siwa would be flying over to London to spend more time with him next week as she prepares to play two sold out shows at the Colours Hoxton bar in the city.
“That will be fun,” Hughes said. “I’ll be there, bopping and weaving in the crowd. I watched her the other night, it was very decent. Absolutely incredible show.”
Siwa and her ex-girlfriend broke up at the Celebrity Big Brother wrap party, with the dancer telling This Morning that her stint on the show had made her realise that she wasn’t happy in the relationship.
Asked if she thought that her relationship with Hughes might have a romantic element, Siwa said: “Life is life and I don’t know any future of anything, but I’m really grateful for our bond and what we have and life will do what it will do.”
Speaking on their podcast, Ebbs, who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, said that the bond between her ex-partner and Hughes had “cross[ed] so many boundaries for me”.
