JoJo Siwa and Chris Hughes’ relationship is more akin to a ‘bromance’ than a romance according to a Celebrity Big Brother insider, who claimed being isolated from the outside world provided the space for JoJo to fully question her sexuality.
The duo baffled viewers as Chris, 32, who is straight, and JoJo, 21, who had a partner, struck up a flirty relationship in the famous house.
Now, Joe Baggs, a roving reporter for the ITV reality show, has exclusively told MailOnline that their connection is an ‘intense friendship.’
‘I think it’s purely friendship and he’s gravitated towards her and like JoJo they’re very high energy,’ he said.
Viewers questioned if the pair were more than friends as they hugged and massaged each other and sent secret messages during their time in the house. At one point, Drag Race UK star Danny Beard warned the pair to ‘f*** or stop.’
Eyebrows were raised further when JoJo later revealed she no longer identifies as a lesbian.
‘I think being here – I’ve realised I am not a lesbian, I’m queer,’ she told Beard. ‘And I think that’s really cool, I’m switching letters! I’ve dropped the L and I’ve gone to the Q baby!’
Joe, 27, believes being isolated from social media, her momager Jessalynn Siwa and the noise of the outside world prompted her to question her sexuality.
‘I think the questions she has internally about her life and her gender etc I think purely comes from the fact that she’s in a house without social media and she’s been managed her whole life by her mum and her family and she’s alone for the first time in so long – no social media,’ he said.
‘I guess she’s questioning things. She’s quite introspective in a way. That’s all I think is going on.’
He added: ‘She’s got 10s of millions of followers on TikTok and she’s so young. I think everyone has seen a different side of her.’
Joe, a former Gogglebox regular, likened their connection to Hughes’ bromance with his former Love Island housemate Kem Cetinay.
The pair met on the third season of the reality show, striking up a close friendship which saw them release a single – Little Bit Leave It – and pair up for TV show You Vs. Chris & Kem on leaving the villa.
‘I think it’s very much like a Chris and Kem, almost bromancy, like just a really intense friendship that they have going on.’
The Dance Moms alum, who finished third behind Beard and winner Jack P Shepherd, dumped her partner Kath Ebbs, 27, at the CBB wrap party on Friday night.
Kath, who uses they/them pronouns, appeared to suggest they believe JoJo and Chris had ‘fallen in love’ after liking a number of TikTok comments from fans suggesting this was the case.
One of the comments they liked read: ‘Imagine watching your partner fall in love with someone else in real time. Cannot even begin to fathom that.’
JoJo addressed her break up on This Morning in a joint interview with Chris on Monday, having spent the weekend together.
‘I sat with myself and really realised things I was okay with in my life I never should have been okay with. So many things,’ she told hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley.
‘I knew as soon as I got out I wanted to fix things and make the changes I needed to make.’
Recounting how her relationship ended at the show’s wrap party, she continued: ‘I’ll be honest, that was not a plan or my intention. It wasn’t supposed to happen like that.
‘They weren’t going to come, then an hour into the party they attended, one thing lead to another, they asked if I was happy and I said no. The conversation took place there.’
She described her bond with Chris as ‘platonic.’
Chris added: ‘Our friendship is, it’s hard to explain. It’s just a really strong bond. A strong friendship. You can have a soul mate friendship. I think that’s a thing.’
Body language expert Judi James poured cold water on any talk of a romance, claiming Chris was ‘feeling awkward’ and trying to ‘pull away’ from a ‘besotted’ JoJo who was looking up at him ‘like a child trying to get attention’ during their first interview since leaving the compound.
Joe, who was speaking as part of his work with end of life charity Marie Curie, said the connection between the two may feel alien to some people who aren’t used to seeing friendships between queer and straight people.
‘There’s not much representation in the media these days anyway for queer women and straight men, even gay men and their friends who are straight,’ he said. ‘It’s a new form of connection that the general public might not have seen very much of…
‘If there is a budding romance obviously that proves me wrong.’
Joe defended JoJo against critics who have accused the American reality star and Chris of being game players in the house.
He shared a throwback video of himself dancing with JoJo and wrote: ‘POV: JoJo Siwa & Chris Hughes whilst the entire CBB House calls them game players.’
He captioned the Instagram post: ‘Let em just have fun & vibe xxx.’
But the post had the opposite effect, with one user writing: ‘I wonder what she’s really like because all we’ve seen is one big act from start to finish.’
Another added: ‘Big act from Jo and Chris playing for camera glad they did not win.’
Joe, who works across Lorraine and also has his own podcast, Not My Bagg, recently teamed up with Marie Curie.
The digital creator, who lost his grandad when he was 13 to Alzheimer’s disease, said he wanted to help young people who may feel ‘isolated’ coping with the death of a loved one.
‘For me, personally, and also for my followers who are a lot younger, I thought it was a really important campaign to be involved with,’ he said. ‘Young people don’t really experience that and if they do it can be really isolating as well… for myself this was a great one to be onboard with.’
Proceeds from selected Superdrug products will go towards Marie Curie’s nursing services until May 20.
