George Clarke exposes famous model girlfriend as he lifts lid on private romance

Strictly Come Dancing favourite George Clarke might be lighting up the dance floor each weekend, but off-screen he's just as happy keeping his love life quietly out of the spotlight. The 25-year-old YouTuber and social media star, who's become one of this year's breakout Strictly contestants alongside professional dancer Alexis Warr, has opened up about his relationship with model Yasmin Bennett - marking his first public romance since rising to fame.

George, who boasts more than two million followers across his social platforms, revealed during a recent livestream that he and Yasmin have been officially together since around July. The pair, however, prefer to keep their relationship largely away from social media. "I've been seeing someone for a little while, it's been official for about a month and a half," he told fans in August. "I've always said I don't want it to be, if I did have a relationship, I wouldn't want it to be a public thing."

He continued: "But I feel like it's just a nicer feeling to have it be known and be private. As opposed to it being a complete secret."

While the couple rarely post photos together, George said he's found comfort in the balance between openness and privacy.

When asked directly if he'd "found love," he smiled: "I have, it's fair to say. It's so cool, what's nice about it is that I can now speak about it freely.

"I've always been a very private person - there's been certain aspects of my life I wanted to be private. Stuff with my family, if I'm dating anyone."

The online star also shared how he and Yasmin first hit it off, recalling their low-key first date: "It's not a really romantic story - our first date was at NQ64, it's like an arcade bar.

"I took her back there and she was like, 'This is really cute, so many old memories'. Then I asked her."

He added that Yasmin is also used to public attention: "She is somewhat in the public eye. I try to make it very apparent that yes, she's my girlfriend, but she's her own person doing her own thing."

Yasmin, who goes by Yasmin Amelia online, is signed to the Manchester-based agency J'adore Models, where she's built a following of more than 42,000 Instagram fans.

The model recently completed her Bachelor's Degree in Fashion Communication at Northumbria University, and has been featured in several emerging fashion campaigns since graduating.

Despite his growing fame on Strictly, George insists that away from the cameras his life remains "pretty peaceful."

For now, he says, his focus is on "having fun, doing what I love and keeping the important things private."