Strictly Come Dancing's James Jordan was taken by surprise when Vanessa Feltz, who is now hosting her own daytime chat show on Channel 5, vividly confessed she had "passionately fallen in love with him" during their time together on the BBC competition show. The unanticipated revelation came while Vanessa reminisced with James and his wife, Ola, about their partnership, leaving James visibly embarrassed as she declared her previous adoration for him during a live broadcast.

Vanessa, a television stalwart, competed in the 2013 series of Strictly and danced alongside James. However, their journey ended promptly, as Vanessa was the second contestant to be voted off, curtailing what she termed her fleeting romantic feelings. Speaking of their Strictly stint, James jokingly said: "It was actually really romantic," to which Vanessa interjected: "It was actually very lovely and I would say for a really heady and insane magical."

Giving James a teasing glance, she added: "You don't know what I am going to say, do you? Look at him he's looking like he doesn't know what I am going to say," and then boldly professed: "For an insane 24 to 48 hours I fell passionately in love with him," reports Edinburgh Live.

Vanessa also disclosed: "I had a partner at the time and I was happy in my relationship, ish. But I fell passionately in love with him." She also recalled the moment she met Ola backstage: "Then I remember you coming in to show me how steps should be done and then I kind of woke up thinking this is ridiculous but there is something intoxicating." James asked: "Did you fall in love with me?" to which the host quickly responded: "'Cause I did, for about 48 hours."

She interjected: "Only 48 hours, but I did though and I remember you came to do my radio show at the BBC and I remember you walked out and my heart was going and I was 50 and I was about to be a grandmother." Confessing her brief infatuation, she added: "I was thinking, I love him, I love him. Then I thought oh come on this is ridiculous, grow up don't be an idiot."

Further into their conversation, they discussed how Vanessa and James were paired on Strictly Come Dancing, speculating about the producers' rationale behind their pairing. Vanessa shared her perspective: "They didn't pair us together because they thought we were the best couple. It is my view and we can't prove it but there are marinations going on." Highlighting possible motivations, she concluded, "They could be looking for friction and fireworks. I think they paired me with James because they thought we'd be at loggerheads."