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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Jasmine Allday

Strictly's Giovanni to dance to break-up ballad after split from Maura Higgins

Giovanni Pernice will dance to a break-up ballad on Strictly Come Dancing this weekend following his split from Maura Higgins.

The dancer parted ways from his Love Island girlfriend two weeks ago, with the news breaking this week, but will go straight back into work duties this weekend with dance partner Rose Ayling-Ellis.

Awkwardly for Giovanni, the pair have chosen their next dance to be to the Alicia Keys' track, Fallin'.

They will dance a Viennese Waltz to the song, which Alicia wrote when she was going through a difficult patch in her relationship with her first love.

The singer previously said of the hit song: "Your first one affects you even more so because you don't have the experience to know how to play it.

Giovanni Pernice will dance to Alicia Keys' track Fallin' with Rose Ayling-Ellis this weekend on Strictly Come Dancing (PA)

"You're tripping your way through it, and those hardships and good times and just growing is how Fallin' developed."

Elsewhere, Tilly Ramsey and Nikita Kuzmin will dance a Foxtrot to One Direction's love song Little Things, and following their 'almost kiss' drama last week, Adam Peaty and Katya Jones will dance a Samba to Faith by George Michael.

Fan favourites John Whaite and Johannes Radebe will Charleston to Milord by Édith Piaf and Judi Love and Graziano Di Prima will be hoping to bounce back from their dance-off place last week with a Cha Cha to Physical by Olivia Newton-John.

The cast of Strictly Come Dancing 2021 (BBC)

Sources claim Giovanni dumped Maura two weeks ago by telling her he doesn't want to "settle down".

A source told The Sun : "Maura didn’t see this coming and is finding it very difficult to come to terms with.

"She genuinely thought Gio was the one. Their lifestyles just don’t fit with settling down at the moment. That’s why Gio decided to end things.

"He adores Maura and had hoped they could remain friends - but that doesn’t look likely."

Giovanni with his now-ex Maura Higgins (maurahiggins/Instagram)
Giovanni with current Strictly partner Rose Ayling-Ellis (PA)

Maura is said to be devastated by the split, which came four months after they confirmed their romance on social media.

"It's all over for now. Maura's absolutely devastated, it appears the Strictly curse has struck again. Pals are hoping that they can patch things up. But only time will tell whether Giovanni's got the time," a source said.

"He's been working 24/7 on the show practising with celeb partner Rose, and they've become really good friends. He's even been learning sign language, showing it off on social media.

"Maura's decided to take a step back and let him concentrate on the show."

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