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Strictly winner Stacey Dooley’s boyfriend reveals how he found devastating ‘I love you’ text confirming her romance with Kevin Clifton
STRICTLY winner Stacey Dooley is secretly dating her dance partner Kevin Clifton — after dumping boyfriend of five years Sam Tucknott.
Furious Sam Tucknott discovered the relationship when he saw a giveaway text to 32-year-old Stacey from Kevin, 36, telling her: “I love you.”
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Personal trainer Sam, 30, stormed: “The blame is with Kevin. He’s an absolute rat.’’
Sam says he and the TV star had agreed to split and were clearing their flat when the message flashed up on her mobile.
He revealed: “I was getting my stuff to leave. Stacey was in the loo.
“Her phone went and it was Kevin Clifton — ‘I love you’ with a red love heart.
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“I grabbed the phone and confronted her. She said she’d tell me everything I needed to know.”
Sam says the couple rowed and left their Brighton flat separately.
Stacey, 32, then texted him at 8.33pm that day — April 1 — to explain she’d fallen for Kevin, 36, who she won the last series with.
She wrote: “Sam, I know you hate me at the moment.
What Sam told 'full-on pr**k' Kevin in furious call
Angry Sam Tucknott has said he confronted Kevin Clifton over his relationship with Stacey Dooley on FaceTime - and watched the blood drain from the dancer’s face.
Sam said: “He went white. I just stuck it on him: ‘You’re an absolute rat, how you conducted yourself. Just a slippery, slimy snake.’
"He didn’t say a word, he looked petrified, so shocked.”
He added: "I have no respect for Kevin whatsoever. He comes out and says it’s all ‘strictly business’.
"He’s a full-on pr**k. I’ve tried to meet him since to get closure but he won’t do it.
“Had it been one of the other dancers she got with, fair enough. But it stings that much more because of what he’s been like and how he’s renowned.
“He’s an absolute complete f***ing rat with no b******s or decency to hear me out. The fact he won’t have a man-to-man conversation with me says everything about the guy."
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“But you saw I didn’t start entertaining and texting him (Kevin) until I split up with you. I was not with you when we started it all.
“I did fall for him but when we were done. I will tell you anything you want to know.”
Heartbroken Sam replied: “I don’t hate you Stacey. I hate what you’ve done.”
Stacey insists she and Sam separated following a row on Boxing Day — becoming the 15th couple to fall foul of the show’s curse.
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The revelations about Kevin came to light when the pair met to discuss the end of their five-year relationship.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun on Sunday, Sam said he was already “gutted and disappointed” by the break-up when he saw the text.
But he admitted learning the truth was “a blessing”.
He added: “I needed a sign because I wasn’t going to be told — I’d be left in the dark for the next two or three months.
'SLIPPERY, SLIMY, SNAKE' Stacey's ex confronted 'p***k' Kevin on FaceTime over secret romance
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“I actually felt relief — the shock came later. I got closure from Stacey within a second. For me, the blame is mainly with Kevin.”
Sam and award-winning documentary maker Stacey started dating in 2014 after meeting in a boxing gym.
He encouraged her to take part in Strictly, throwing her an eve-of-show party featuring a salsa teacher and 30 pals.
Sam befriended Kevin early in last autumn’s series — and urged the pair to do everything necessary to boost their chemistry.
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He and Kevin swapped Instagram messages, and the dancer even suggested they go together to watch Sam’s football team Man Utd.
Sam added: “I pushed Stacey to do Strictly because I wanted the nation to see my Stacey, to see her amazing personality.
“I made a space on the mantelpiece for the Strictly ball because I just knew she was going to win.
“We didn’t have a chat about the curse. I mean, I was fully aware of it but I knew we were tight.
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“From the start she made it clear she wanted to be partnered with Kevin.
"He’d been to the final four times and they are similar heights, and he seemed a nice guy. But hand-on-heart there was no thought about it.”
But he said his mates teased him about Stacey being partnered with “Italian Stallion” dancer Graziano Di Prima.
Sam said: “They were like, ‘If she gets partnered with him, you might as well pack your bags’.”
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Stacey and Kevin teaming up held no fears for Sam despite the collapse of the pro’s marriage to fellow Strictly regular Karen.
The show’s love curse also struck two of his previous partners, Susanna Reid and Louise Redknapp.
Sam added: “I first met Kevin in the Strictly green room. I said to him, ‘Look, I don’t want you ever to feel awkward, I’m not that kind of guy. I was giving him my blessing to kick on with Stacey.
“I just wanted her to do so, so well, and as a partner I needed to say I was an easy-going guy, let them do what he needed to do.
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“I told them they needed to build their chemistry — to be like (ex-Man United strikers) Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke.
“Stacey and I had been together from start of her journey.
“She wanted a new challenge, and I was excited to see how it would unfold. I thought nothing would change that girl.”
Sam barely saw Stacey as she trained up to eight hours a day alongside her investigative work.
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On Saturdays, once the competition was finished for the week, they would go to their flat for a few hours before Stacey returned to London to train with Kevin.
Sam became conscious that Kevin and Stacey were training for longer hours than other couples — and his and Kevin’s friendship began to deteriorate.
He says the pro stopped replying after their initial flurry of messages. Sam also felt the dancer started acting “sulkily” around him — and whenever he turned up to support them at filming.
The trainer says when he went to the Blackpool after-show party in November Kevin left early. And he says he behaved moodily after the couple’s triumph on December 15.
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At the same time, Stacey became less affectionate to Sam, which he put down to her tiredness.
He says his first “red flag warning” came in November when the couple were in bed together and Sam read a text from Kevin to Stacey saying he loved spending “every minute of the day” with her.
After the final Sam and Stacey were due at a party on December 23 at Brighton’s Joker pub.
But he says she turned him down, choosing to join Kevin at London’s Theatre Royal to watch his sister Joanne — a former Strictly pro — perform in The Rocky Horror Show.
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A “hollow” Christmas Day at his parents’ followed. Sam said that led to the Boxing Day row when Stacey returned to their flat alone.
On January 20 he found a receipt for a cupcake delivery to Glasgow where Kevin was working.
Speaking at his brother-in-law’s house in Brighton, Sam added: “Stacey’s an attractive girl, and I quickly began to realise that Kevin liked her. But I never thought she would act on it.
“The first flag was when he texted her in November, and I read it when we were in bed together.
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“It said, ‘You did really well. I love dancing with you and spending every minute with you’. As a guy, as a boyfriend, I noted it but I didn’t want to bring it up with her.
“I didn’t want to rock the boat or make her feel awkward, or jeopardise her chances.
“The more the show went on, the more tired and drained she would be. I put her being less tactile with me down to fatigue.
“If I went down to the studio with coffees and teas for them, Kevin would act sulkily around me, a bit babyish.
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“And (in November) he left the Blackpool after-party early.
“He was really miffed and really angry at how the judges had scored Stacey, but when he left she just said it’s because he’s really passionate.
"The first time I questioned her about Kevin was when a receipt for cupcakes came to the flat to be delivered to Glasgow.
“I Googled where his Rock Of Ages show was and it was Glasgow.
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"Stacey’s a lovely girl but that (gesture) is just out of character — to a friend, she’d have just sent a text or put something on Instagram.
“I asked her if there was anything I needed to know.
“But she dismissed it, said they were just close friends. Looking back you think, ‘You thick f***er’ but I just didn’t want to believe it.”
Strictly’s Stacey Dooley splits from boyfriend of three years Sam Tucknott after show’s curse strikes again
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