Anybody in a relationship and heading into a series of Strictly Come Dancing may well be thinking about the 'curse'. It's so named because several stars who've taken part in the show over the years have seen their relationships crumble because they've become so close to their dancing partners.
With this in mind, singer Fleur East has taken precautions before she dances on the upcoming series. She says her marriage to French fashion designer Marcel Badiane-Robin is now stronger than ever.
That's because, she said, they were both "reborn" in Mexico as they marked their third anniversary.
Fleur told the Mirror: “We went to Tabasco where a Hispanic ritual is performed. You go through portals in what looks like a clay igloo.
“It’s a wholly spiritual experience. We both felt really light and we felt new again. It’s like you’re reborn. So you kind of let go of, you know, any grudges, you’re holding… any negativity, any preconceived ideas that kind of hold you back.”
Fleur also believes the ritual helped her deal with her losing her father. Earlier this week, she broke down in tears on ITV show Lorraine after talking about her dad, Malcolm. The Strictly superfan passed away in 2020 after suffering a heart attack.
Fleur said: “Losing my father, that was really heavy. And I think in the pandemic, you couldn’t really deal with that properly because that was the way life was.
“A lot of that had been weighing on me… I felt like I’d let a lot of that go. So it was a really positive experience.”
Strictly has seen a string of couples split after one partner competed on the show. In 2018, Stacey Dooley, 35, dumped personal trainer Sam Tucknott, then went public with dance partner Kevin Clifton, 39.
That same year, comic Seann Walsh, 36, broke up with his actress girlfriend Rebecca Humphries, 34, after he was pictured kissing his dance partner Katya Jones, 33. In 2013, Countdown star Rachel Riley, 36, also split from Jamie Gilbert, her husband of 15 months, during her time on Strictly.
Less than a year later, the Countdown star announced she was dating her Strictly partner Pasha Kovalev, 42. The couple are now married and have daughters Maven, three, and Noa, two.
And former pro-dancer Camilla Dallerup said she suffered a “mini death” after her fiancé Brendan Cole reportedly left her for his celebrity partner, newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky in 2004. But Fleur is sure her marriage to Marcel will survive the Strictly curse – and even hopes to emulate her pal Harry Redknapp, who married wife Sandra 55 years ago. Fleur appeared opposite the footie legend in I’m A Celebrity in 2018.
She said: “I asked him a lot in the jungle, ‘What’s the secret? Tell me, please!’ And he said, ‘Sandra is just my best friend. I can’t imagine doing anything without her. I wouldn’t want to live life without her.’ That is something to emulate.”
On Strictly, Fleur will be going up against stars such as Bros frontman Matt Goss, presenter Helen Skelton and former Corrie stars Will Mellor and Kym Marsh. But Fleur is used to competition. She was runner-up on X Factor in 2014 when her debut single, Sax, got to No3 in the charts.
She is now a hot favourite to win this year’s show – partly because she is one of the fittest contestants to ever feature. Fleur, who is a qualified personal trainer and even boasts a six-pack, said: “My favourite form of training is HIIT because I like to do things in short bursts.”
Her stint on Strictly definitely looks like it could last a lot longer.
