The amount of romances that result from the competition programme Strictly Come Dancing makes it possible to mistake it for Love Island.
Nadiya Bychkova and Kai Widdrington, who have been dating for more than a year, are one of the happy couples.
The two are happy with how everything turned out and are presently on tour with their dance performance Once Upon a Time.
‘Everything is coming together beautifully for us,’ explains Nadiya. ‘It feels like we’re living a fairytale.’
Despite its popularity, the BBC programme guards its returning cast members’ identities rigorously each year.
Professional dancers have to wait to find out whether they will appear in the upcoming season.
‘We’ll find out very soon,’ Kai tells us. Nadiya adds with a laugh: ‘You’ll all find out very soon.’
We certainly anticipate seeing their dancing feet return to the renowned dance floor.
The duo has a tour and a collaboration with the shoe company Dune London, which keeps them quite busy in the meantime. Recently, Nadiya, 33, and Kai, 27, even gave a dance routine in their new line of shoes in London’s famous St Pancras station.
While some couples may crave time apart, Nadiya explains that they enjoy being constantly together: ‘What we love most is dancing and we get to share that, which is pretty magical. We’re busy but in the best way.’
Kai adds: ‘We love every single second of working together, and spending our time together. We don’t ever take any of it for granted.’
Even though they are allowed to dance on Strictly every week until they are eliminated, the format requires that they dance with a celebrity rather than with one another.
While Nadiya, who has been a part of the programme since 2017, most recently dated Matt Goss, Kai has dated AJ Odudu and Kaye Adams from Loose Women.
‘We don’t get to dance together that often on Strictly, but I think we look pretty good together,’ says Kai.
Kai gets all the boyfriend points when he tells us: ‘In my opinion, Nadiya is the most amazing dancer in the world.’
‘We’re very supportive of each other,’ he points out.
‘Nadiya is always complimentary to me too.’
Although they kept their relationship a secret at first, they are now able to talk openly about it on Strictly backstage. Kai says, “It feels very normal.”
Strictly is through a lot of change.
In 2019, Bruno Tonioli abruptly departed the programme, however he has since joined ITV on Britain’s Got Talent.
‘We don’t really watch TV as we’re so busy. Nadiya spends all her time off with her little girl,’ Kai admits when we ask if they’ve seen his show debut.
Nadiya and Slovenian football player Matija Karabot are parents to Mila, a six-year-old girl.
‘We’re very much just Netflix and chill people when we get the time, but it’s very rare the TV is on.
‘I did see Bruno at an event though and he seemed happy… and very tanned.’
Rylan recently bid Strictly: It Takes Two farewell as well.
‘Rylan is an amazing person on and off the camera,’ says Kai.
‘He’s always been very supportive of us both. He’ll be sorely missed. He’s got an amazing personality, and I’m sure he’s going on to do amazing things. I don’t have a clue who they’ll replace him with, but I’m excited Janette Manrara is returning to host it.’
What are the plans for the rest of the year? ‘We want to relax,’ says Kai who also wants to get some golf days in the diary.
Speaking on their partnership with Dune London Kai tells us: ‘It was a match made in heaven for both of us. When we’re putting an outfit together we’ll always start with the shoes.’
Nadiya adds: ‘The whole campaign is elegant and stylish, then the shoes add an edge. It’s nice to see a company celebrating dance.’
The Dune London ‘Let’s Dance’ occasion collection campaign starring Nadiya and Kai launched today.