Canadian figure skaters Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are totally, definitely, 100 per cent not dating, but Ellen Degeneres isn’t quite buying it.
The gold-medal-winning duo appeared on The Ellen Degeneres Show Tuesday, where they once again insisted that – despite their steamy on-ice chemistry – they aren’t a couple.
But they did discuss an early romance when they were childhood skating partners, and Moir revealed that he was the one who decided to break things off.
“In order to advance our partnership, we had to put the hot and heavy relationship on the side,” Moir joked.
Virtue interjected: “Which meant you had to break up with me.”
“Yeah, I broke up with Tessa and none of my friends have let me live that down since,” he said.
Moir and Virtue were invited on the show after their diehard fans barraged The Ellen Degeneres Show with tweets. Virtue said all the attention since their record-setting performance in Pyeongchang has been surprising, and that they’re both “fiercely private” when it comes to social media.
But Degeneres didn’t let the pair off the hook so easily, and repeatedly questioned them about their relationship status.
“So, I mean, are you a couple?” Degeneres asked.
"We are not (a couple), but we always say 'That's a big compliment,"' Virtue said. "What we portray on the ice is really important to us, and we love getting into character and telling a story.
"A lot of the emotions we portray are universal themes that resonate with everyone, so the fact that people feel invested in our partnership is truly remarkable.
"When the music ended (at the Pyeongchang Olympics) I just looked at Scott and I was so grateful to have lived the last 20 years by his side and to share in that moment together."
"So you're a couple," DeGeneres said, to laughter from the crowd.
”If we were, we would announce it here,” Virtue said.
With five Olympic medals, Virtue and Moir are the most decorated figure skaters in Olympic history. When Ellen asked whether or not they plan to retire from Olympic skating, Virtue was coy.
“If it is, what a way to go out, on such a high,” she said.
“So you’ll settle down and start a family?” Degeneres asked.
Moir deftly dodged the trap. “Families,” he said.
“Oh, you’re going to marry different people and stay together?” Degeneres asked.
Moir and Virtue simply laughed.
Despite their platonic relationship, Moir and Virtue fared well in a round of “The Definitely Not Dating Game,” a riff off the classic gameshow “The Dating Game.”
The pair answered five of eight questions about each other correctly, including Scott’s favourite TV show (“The Office”), Tessa’s guilty pleasure (chocolate) and Scott’s strangely specific celebrity crush (Reese Witherspoon in the 2005 film “Walk the Line.”)
In the final question – “What is Tessa’s go-to coffee order?” – Scott answered a flat white. The answer: an almond milk cappuccino.
“Oh well, it’s good y’all aren’t together,” Degeneres said. “Well that was a fun game, and we learned that you’re fine just the way you are."
