Johnny Ward and former dance partner Emily Barker are officially a couple

Johnny Ward and Emily Barker, his former Dancing with the Stars partner, have confirmed their romance.

His Instagram followers have been speculating about the possibility of a relationship between the pair in recent weeks after Emily started to make frequent appearances on his social media accounts. Now, Johnny and Emily have released a joint statement and those who followed their progress on the series are delighted with the news. Speaking to The Sun, they said:

"We formed a great friendship when coupled up for Dancing With the Stars last year, during what turned out to be an extremely tough time for Johnny with the death of his father as the series was coming to an end. "Towards the end of last year, things developed between us, and we are now very happy together. We are looking forward to seeing what the future holds".

Johnny was previously in a six-year relationship with girlfriend Rachel Tracey but they split up in April last year. Johnny, who came to prominence after his role as Pauley in Love/Hate, later won a recurring role in Fair City, playing villain Ciaran Holloway. He's expected to make a return to Dancing with the Stars this week to see Emily perform with her partner, Kilkenny hurler Aidan Fogarty. In March 2019, he and Emily reached the final of the dance competition and finished as runners-up to winning couple, Mairéad Ronan and John Nolan.