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LAST DANCE
Inside Strictly stars Kai and Nadiya’s split after ‘exhausting’ off-stage problems and show scandal
The pair will still be required to dance together on the show
THE curse of Strictly Come Dancing has struck again - with Kai Widdrington and Nadiya Bychkova splitting up, The Sun can reveal.
The pair, the poster couple of the under-fire Saturday night show, were on tour together last month - and were battling their off-stage problems whilst living and training 24/7 together.
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No third party is involved and pals say they “grew apart” after two “blissful” years together.
“It’s heartbreaking,” a friend said.
“Kai and Nadiya seemed like the most perfect couple and have been so, so blissfully in love.
“But the pressures of touring - being in each other’s space 24/7, and the stress of performing a sell-out show eventually took its toll.
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"They had been drifting emotionally for a while, and things actually came to a head during the tour - ironically called Behind The Magic - which, obviously, was incredibly problematic.
"They had to dance sexily and romantically together for days and nights on end, whilst trying to work through their off-stage problems. It must have been exhausting on every level.
"But they didn't want to let down their fans, and were consummate professionals: they knew the show, quite literally, must go on.
“After a rough few weeks, they sat down together once the tour was over and decided to call it quits. It was a mutual decision.
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"They remain incredibly close and are determined their split will not have any impact on the next series of Strictly."
The couple, both pin-ups of Strictly, started dating in 2022.
Strictly professionals “terrified”, Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly to stand by show as Kai and Nadiya split
They share an English bulldog, Snoopy, together - it is thought they will share custody of their beloved pooch.
They fell in love while Nadiya, 33, from Ukraine, was partnered with then-BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker, and Southampton-born Kai, 27, was dancing with AJ Odudu.
They gave their first joint interview in January last year.
I think I speak for most of the men in Britain when I say that they would find Nadiya absolutely drop-dead gorgeous
Kai
Kai told us: “I think I speak for most of the men in Britain when I say that they would find Nadiya absolutely drop-dead gorgeous — and I still have to pinch myself sometimes.
“We liked each other, and we were texting and having phone calls and so on, and yeah, it blossomed from there.
“Then one day I was like ‘do you want to go out for dinner?’, and it went from there.”
'Strictly curse'
The so-called “Strictly curse” has been abound for 20 years - since the first series - founded on the idea that participating on the Saturday night series (whether as a celebrity or a professional dancer) threatens the status of the relationship you’re in when you sign up.
Indeed, several couples have got together after being partnered-up, and the show has resulted in marriages, engagements, babies and divorces.
Smitten Kai previously admitted he could see himself proposing to Nadiya.
He added: “We are very happy together and we don’t want this to end. Of course we want to be together for life, so we will see where it goes.”
After they fell in love, Kai and Nadiya chose to keep their relationship low key on the set of Strictly.
Kai explained: “We knew that it would come out and that it would be a big thing, so we kept it private for as long as we could, which was both annoying and exciting at the same time.
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“It was one of those things. We would go somewhere and only we knew we were there.
“Sometimes we would go out in disguise, or baseball caps pulled down low, etc, and we knew this period of time was only going to last a little bit
“We did let our bosses know as a professional courtesy, that was our decision.
“The BBC were totally fine with it, plus our relationship never crosses into work.”
Last week Nadiya, previously engaged to Slovenian footballer Matija Skarabot, attended Wimbledon alone while Kai visited friends and family in the US.
The pair will be dancing together in the show's group performances - but will no longer be asked to dance as a duo.
This is the latest drama to hit the smash BBC1 series - and follows two months of chaos for the programme.
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Two dancers have left - Giovanni Pernice quit in the wake of an internal probe following various claims against him whilst fellow Sicilian Graziano Di Prima was fired after it emerged he had kicked and spat at his partner, Zara McDermott.
The BBC has had to completely overhaul its duty of care protocol in the wake of this newspaper's allegations.
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