STRICTLY Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas left TV chef Matt Tebutt blushing as she cheekily flirted with him on today’s Saturday Kitchen.
The former professional dancer, 61, was passionately explaining her favourite dance when married Matt claimed her intense eye contact was “terrifying”.
Handing her a dish of his brioche pain perdu, Matt asked: “What’s your passion in terms of dancing?”
To which the BBC judge enthusiastically responded: “I love a little bit of Paso Doble darling” and playfully gazed at the chef.
Getting flustered as he made his way behind the counter, Matt said: “That eye contact, did you see that? It was terrifying”.
Playing up to the flirtation, Shirley, who is happily dating Daniel Taylor, joked: “I could give you the rumba eye, ‘hello'” and once again delivered strong eye contact.
Now red-faced, Matt declared: “I hope my wife’s not watching this” and later added, “It’s got really hot in here”, as he fanned himself with his cards while discussing Shirley’s food heaven or hell.
The moment didn’t go unnoticed by viewers at home who took to Twitter to joke about the exchange.
One penned: “#SaturdayKitchen Shirley is such a flirt!”
While another shared a gif of a cat furiously typing and quipped: “Matt’s wife voting for hell right now #SaturdayKitchen”.
A third added: “@ShirleyBallas I thought you were brilliant on Saturday kitchen. Best guest they’ve had in ages.”
Shirley’s bubbly appearance on the BBC weekend stalwart comes after she underwent scans on all her organs, with docs concerned by high hormone levels.
Shirley, who’s had previous cancer scares, said yesterday: “My doctor was mortified by my results. I try to take a day at a time.”
The Strictly Come Dancing head judge is determined to keep busy while awaiting answers.
In an exclusive interview, Shirley told The Celeb Report on Sunday: “I try to not to focus on that (health worries) because it’s easy for me to go down a dark route.
“I don’t have enough information yet, so I just keep trundling forward.
“That’s how I coped when I had my last cancer scare — it comes from my mum, who is very stoic about everything.
“I’m so busy with Strictly, my day job as a dance coach, my mum, Audrey. Everything is so busy.”
Shirley was sent for scans of all her organs after she was found to be suffering from abnormal hormone levels.
Doctors had been searching for a suspected lump in her armpit.
But while no lump was discovered, one doctor found Shirley’s testosterone levels — which cause significant medical issues to female organs — to be “the highest she’s seen in a female”.
The worrying findings came after concerned viewers contacted Shirley on Instagram in mid-October to draw her attention to a lump they had spotted in her armpit as she raised her arm while judging.
