Peta Murgatroyd, James Maslow Dating Rumors Affected ‘DWTS’ Performance?
Peta Murgatroyd is a Dancing With The Stars veteran assigned the task of spinning around the ABC ballroom with James Maslow of Big Time Rush. Of course, there have been rumors of Peta Murgatroyd and James Maslow dating prior to their appearance on the season premiere of DWTS. As the couple fox-trotted their way to a disappointing score on DWTS‘ episode one of season 18, one has to wonder if maybe the dating rumors affected their performance.
Originally, Peta Murgatroyd was seen out and around town with James Maslow on February 4th. They were meeting for dinner through a mutual friend when the paparazzi bombarded the two. Neither Peta or James knew that they would be competing together at that point. James told RumorFix, “We had met once before. We’ve got a bunch of friends and we had gone out to dinner and we were in West Hollywood and, of course, the paparazzi caught us on the way out. And that’s where the rumors started.”
The rumor mill went wild when Peta Murgatroyd and James were seen practicing together two weeks before the DWTS premiere. Dating rumors began to ramp up, as they often do when younger couples are paired for the dating show. James, 23, is an eligible young bachelor adored by young girls worldwide. Admittedly, the audience for Big Time Rush is younger than that of himself or his partner, Peta.
Peta Murgatroyd, 28, is an Australian professional dancer who won season 14 of DWTS with Donald Driver. Throughout the current season, Peta is blogging for People magazine and spoke highly of James in her first blog, “It’s super fun being paired with James. He’s a great-looking guy, and I think he’s really going to show America that he can dance.” Although some fans of the show and gossipers will likely seek to twist those words out of context, Peta assures her readers that she was so busy in the offseason, she had little time to herself, let alone dating.
James Maslow also sought to put aside the dating rumors concerning himself and Peta Murgatroyd. In his interview he said, “We’re competitive — we want to compete and do well and hopefully win the show. We don’t want to complicate that at this moment and add dating to the long list of work to do.”
Unfortunately, the duo seemed distracted last night, even though they had clearly worked hard. The fox trot is intended to be a gliding dance and all three judges thought it felt forced and that the foot work was off. However, they did praise Peta and James for their hard work and believe they can do well. Peta and James finished with a score of 21, sevens across the board.
While Peta Murgatroyd and James Maslow dating rumors may be premature during the current season of DWTS, it is not impossible to think the two may be a couple in the future.
[Image via ABC]
