Tyler West may not have won Strictly Come Dancing’s glitterball trophy last year, but feels he came away with an even better prize – love.
The KISS DJ, 27, is now happily in a relationship with EastEnders actress Molly Rainford, 22, who he first met when they both competed in the 2022 series of the BBC dance competition.
Although they were not partnered together with him being teamed with professional dancer Dianne Buswell, 34, and Rainford with Carlos Gu, 38, they found themselves growing closer when taking part in the Strictly live tour earlier this year.
Since then, their romance has gone from strength-to-strength and he can’t stop smiling about it.
“Mols is wicked!” he beams while talking to the Standard backstage at KISSTORY On Blackheath. “She’s amazing, man. She’s my world, [and] my best friend. It feels great that I’ve gone through an experience like [Strictly] with her and come out the other side.”
Reflecting on their love story, he admitted: “It’s something that I never once dreamed of”.
Since Strictly, West has found himself a man in-demand with various TV, radio and DJing offers flooding in, plus, he has been busy working on his own music which he calls “very exciting”.
He’s also set to host this year’s KISS Haunted House Party, which is taking place in Liverpool on October 28 and will see the likes of Becky Hill, Flo, Rudimental and Zara Larsson take to the stage.
The South London native will “one hundred percent” be dressing up for the ocassion, but because they want to go for a couple’s look, he’ll be leaving it up to Rainford to decide what that will be, with Barbie and Ken currently a popular contender.
Drawn on what he and the Anna Knight star like to do on the rare ocassions that they get some downtime, he said: “Me and Molly are either the most active couple or the laziest. I’ll either be in bed watching series upon series, or be out and about going on runs or going to the gym. It’s such a like either zero to one hundred, it’s either one or the other.”
Dancing also remains a firm part of both of their lives, adding: “We’re always dancing, we’re always vibing.”
