The arrival of Strictly Come Dancing 2021 has livened up our Saturday night tellies once again, letting viewers lose themselves in a sea of glitter, sequins and rip-roaring dances.
This year’s series is already shaping up to be one of the best yet, with some highest-ever week one scores, and some equally impressive routines in week two – but away from the dancing there has already been much discussion about a curious phenomenon on the programme – the famous Strictly curse.
Over the past 17 years that Strictly has aired on the BBC, rumours have swirled regarding potential blossoming romances between celebrity contestants and professional dancers.
While some of the rumours have been nothing but talk, others have been grounded in truth, with several couples who met on the show remaining together to do this day.
What is the Strictly Come Dancing curse?
The Strictly Come Dancing curse doesn’t simply refer to couples meeting and falling in love while competing on the show.
The supposed curse, as it is known, refers to individuals taking part in Strictly who are already in relationships, who end up finding romance with fellow participants.
A couple of years ago, Strictly Come Dancing co-presenter Claudia Winkleman shared her views on the curse, telling Digital Spy: ‘I understand, it’s very intense. I don’t believe in the curse, but I think lots of people have come in single and they might have met somebody or had a little romance.’
She continued, stating: ‘It’s intoxicating, Strictly, because you’re all part of this extraordinary juggernaut. So I don’t think people fall in love with people, they might just love the experience.’
Nonetheless, that hasn’t stopped some people from getting together during filming.
Which couples has the Strictly Come Dancing curse affected?
One of the most significant cases of the Strictly curse of recent years occurred in 2018, when comedian Seann Walsh was photographed kissing his professional partner Katya Jones.
Katya was married to fellow dancer Neil Jones at the time, while Seann was in a relationship with actor Rebecca Humphries.
After the pictures emerged, Katya shared a statement on Twitter, writing: ‘I’m so sorry about any offence or hurt I may have caused with my actions.
‘I wasn’t thinking and it was a one-off mistake after some drinks. I love my husband and we are very happy together, this is not a reflection on our relationship.’
In August 2019, she and Neil announced their separation after 11 years together, while Seann and Rebecca split shortly after the incident.
In 2018, television presenter Stacey Dooley won the sixteenth series of Strictly Come Dancing with her partner, Kevin Clifton.
The couple confirmed they were in a relationship by April the next year. But while Stacey was competing in Strictly, she had been in a relationship with personal trainer Sam Tucknott.
Stacey has denied she and Kevin became romantically involved while taking part in the competition, stating: ‘It was much later down the line for us.’
Kevin, on the other hand, was previously married to fellow Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer Karen Hauer, announcing their split in March 2018 after three years of marriage.
After ending Strictly as runners-up in 2018, Joe Sugg and Dianne Buswell got together following much speculation about the state of their relationship.
Dianne split from her boyfriend, Emmerdale actor Anthony Quinlan, while taking part in the competition.
However, the dancer previously said she doesn’t believe in the Strictly curse.
‘Obviously we spend so many hours with our partner but we’re professional dancers we have done this our whole lives,’ she told Heart in October 2019.
‘It’s normal for us it doesn’t mean just because you spend so much time together you’re going to end up together.’
In November 2013, Countdown star Rachel Riley announced that she was separating from her husband Jamie Gilbert, who she met at university.
Later that year, she and her Strictly dance partner Pasha Kovalev started dating, with the couple marrying in June 2019 and welcoming their first child six months later.
Are there any romances on the 2021 Strictly series?
Romance rumours have begun swirling around members of the Strictly 2021 line-up, with presenter AJ Odudu and her partner Kai Widdrington at the centre of them.
Speculation is rife that the dance partners may be more than that after a source claimed AJ was ‘falling’ for professional dancer Kai.
The rumours caught fire when Kai was caught on his microphone telling AJ: ‘I love you,’ during last Saturday’s live show.
To get to the truth, Janette Manrara asked the couple about that moment on the spin-off series It Takes Two.
The pair seemed to set the record straight, putting the line down to simply being caught in the moment and thrill of the performance.
‘I think that was all down to just the tough, tough week that we had and the fact that we got to the end of the performance and it was flawless and you smashed it, and you did all the lifts brilliant, did all the technique perfect’ said Kai.
AJ added: ‘We were both just relieved, you were just gripping onto my neck!’ as she momentarily held onto his hand.
Body language expert Judi James recently told us that AJ is giving off flirty signals in rehearsals with Kai – so who knows, maybe a love connection really is on the cards for the pair.
There had also been rumours around Tilly Ramsay and her dance partner Nikita Kuzmin.
Speculation began around the pair after Nicole Wirt, Nikita’s girlfriend of five years, shared a cryptic post after removing a like she had given a post about Tilly’s training.
The post was a split-screen image of a single person on one side captioned ‘the support’ and a crowd on the other labelled ‘the congratulations’ – and Nicole had written ‘don’t be fooled’ across the image, together with an emoji of a person with a finger over their lips.
Tilly has been quick to address the rumours, saying she is focusing on her dancing during her time on the show.
‘Yes I am single but I’m here to focus on dancing,’ she told new! magazine.
‘I’d have been crazy to say no to Strictly Come Dancing. It really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and most importantly I really want to learn to dance.’
Olympic swimmer Adam Peaty has also been the subject of romance rumours with his dance partner Katya Jones.
Adam and Katya performed a passionate Argentine tango during week four, and fans were left with raised eyebrows after it looked like the pair were going in for a kiss.
Peaty has squashed all speculation and insists that it was just part of the performance, and his girlfriend, Eiri Munro, has also been light-hearted about the rumours, jokingly pretending to cry in a video shared on her TikTok account.
However, fellow contestant Sara Davies has said that the unwanted attention following the performance has started to take its toll on the Olympic gold medalist.
Speaking to MailOnline, Sara said: ‘I feel so bad for him because his personal life has been a nightmare this past week and everyone is talking about it when all he’s tried to do is give his all into dancing with Katya, which I can appreciate because that’s what I’m trying to do as well.’
Judi Love also came to Adam’s defence on Loose Women, saying ‘they’re amazing dancers, amazing performers, and that’s what I saw a performance, that was executed and held in that position for camera and for the audience.’
So it would seem the Strictly curse is never too far away from the competition.
Strictly Come Dancing continues tonight at 7.15pm on BBC One.
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