Oti Mabuse devastated Strictly Come Dancing fans when she announced she is to quit after seven years.
The much-loved pro dancer is the only one ever to win two years in a row and will be a huge loss to the BBC1 show. Though Oti, 31, says dancing will always be her first love, the Dancing on Ice judge wants to concentrate on her TV career.
So what could her future hold? We look at those who have waltzed off before..
Brendan Cole
Brendan, 45, won it in its first year with newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky - but there was controversy as his then-fiancé, fellow pro Camila Dallerup split with him amid affair rumours.
In 2010, Brendan married British model Zoe Hobbs and has two children with her.
No stranger to reality TV, he appeared on the original Love Island in 2006, finishing as the runner-up, and was on celebrity X Factor in 2019. Currently, Brendan, who has an estimated net worth of £3million, is competing in Dancing on Ice.
Camilla Dallerup
Danish dancer Camilla, 47, said she was leaving Strictly in 2009 and the same year entered the jungle for the ninth series of I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here, but quit due to severe exhaustion. She won BBC One’s Pointless Celebrities, in 2014, and has been head judge on New Zealand’s Dancing with the Stars since 2018.
Camilla also has founded her own life coaching and hypnotherapy business based in LA where she now lives and has written two self-help books. She’s been married to former Hollyoaks actor Kevin Sacre since 2010, after they met on Julian Clary’s reality series The Underdog Show.
Pasha Kovalev
Russian Pasha, 42, won Strictly with the late Caroline Flack in 2014 and four years later announced he was leaving, saying he was looking to “find a new challenge after eight incredible years”.
In June 2019, Pasha married former Strictly partner Rachel Riley in Las Vegas and the couple have two daughters, Maven and Noa.
He recently opened up about his struggles during the coronavirus lockdown, saying he had been unable to work. “Not being able to do it was of course a little bit sad and a little bit tolling on your mind and spirit.”.
Kristina Rihanoff
Kristina quit Strictly in 2015, saying she felt relieved to be leaving the show as she felt “creativity was being taken out of my hands”. A year later, she was on Celebrity Big Brother, announcing on day three she was expecting a child with former rugby player and dance partner Ben Cohen - at the time, Ben was still married to former wife Abby. Kristina was evicted 12 days later.
Now parents to Milena Rihanoff-Cohen, they have since set up their own wellbeing centre, Soo Yoga, in Northampton, where Kristina, 44, teaches. She said: “We invested everything we’ve ever had, we went into business for very serious reasons, we’d never refer to ourselves as celebs.”
Flavia Cacace
Italian Flavia was on Strictly with her real-life - and fellow former pro partner - Vincent Simone before she left in 2013.
That same year, Flavia, 41, married Coronation Street star Jimi Mistry, who she’d been partnered within 2010 and they now live together in Devon. She said in 2019: “People talk about the Strictly curse but I met my husband Jimi on the show and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.”
Flavia had turned her back on dancing to be a professional dog groomer, but she recently returned, appearing on Strictly spin-off It Takes Two last October.
Vincent Simone
Vincent was in a relationship with Flavia for 11 years, but they split during the fifth series of Strictly in 2007 and he left the show five years later. They remained friends and regularly tour together.
In 2013, Vincent also went in the jungle late on day five and finishing in tenth place.
He wed long-term partner Susan Duddy in 2015 in Ireland. The couple have two children Luca, 11, and Mateo, seven together. Last November, it was reported that Vincent and Susan had quietly split three years ago due to Vincent’s demanding touring schedule.
Darren Bennett
Sheffield-born Darren, 45, was last seen on Strictly in 2009, when he was partnered with Lynda Bellingham. He went on to be part of the judging panel of the Lebanese Dancing with the Stars, between 2012 and 2016 and is now a creative producer for the Irish show, working alongside his wife, fellow former Strictly pro Lilia Kopylova.
The pair are heavily involved with a scheme called Essentially Dance, to tackle childhood obesity. Married for 20 years, in 2020 Darren announced Lilia was expecting a sibling to their five-year-old daughter Valentina, saying: “Can’t tell you how proud I am of Lilia, her strength, courage and perseverance to expand our family, love always.”
Daughter Lucia was born in September that year.
Karen Hardy
After joining Strictly in 2005, Karen left in 2008 after being partnered with late celebrity chef Gary Rhodes, claiming his work commitments meant they couldn’t train, leading to frustration and causing Karen to “fall out of love” with the show.
She joined It Takes Two as a commentator and after Len Goodman left the Strictly judging panel in 2016, Karen was tipped as a replacement. At the time, she said: “I just hope a lucky star will shine down on me as I would love to do it.” However, the role went to Shirley Ballas.
Karen now reportedly runs her own private members’ ballroom dance club in London.
Brian Fortuna
US-born Brian had appeared as a dancer in Leonardo DiCaprio film The Aviator and his home country’s Dancing with the Stars before he was asked to join Strictly in 2008. After being paired with actress Ali Bastian a year later, the pair earned the highest score for a Viennese Waltz in Strictly history - and found love off-screen.
Brian and Ali split, and he then left Strictly in 2010 due to “format changes”. He went on to work as the lead choreographer on BBC Three series Dancing on Wheels, which paired disabled and able-bodied contestants to learn ballroom dancing.
He’s since gone on to appear in various theatre shows as a dancer.
Artem Chigvintsev
After competing on the 11th series of Strictly in 2014, Artem, 39, joined the US Dancing with the Stars. Artem has since appeared in several series of the show, but recently had a month-long battle with pneumonia. This caused him to pull out of the live tour in January. “My goal is to recover as quickly as possible so I can rejoin my cast and crew on this incredible tour,” he said.
In 2019, Artem, previously married to champion ballroom dancer Giselle Peacock, became engaged to American wrestler Nikki Bella, who he had been partnered with on Dancing with the Stars. Their son Matteo was born in July 2020.
Nicole Cutler
Nicole, 49, joined Strictly for the show’s second series but took a break from the show after partnering with former footballer John Barnes in the 2007 series.
In 2012, she was the leading lady in fellow pro Brendan Cole’s tour Live and Unjudged, performing in theatres around the UK.
Now, she gives dance lessons, adjudicates competitions and gives lectures for dance associations.
Nicole met her husband Jonathan Batty through Strictly, after the professional cricketer came along to watch teammate Mark Ramprakash perform. Mark introduced them in the bar afterwards and they had a daughter Olivia who Nicole says: “loves to dance and she loves Strictly. Every September she can’t wait for it to start.”
Iain Waite
Iain was a pro for seven series of Strictly, with his final appearance in 2010. Now living in Berkshire, Iain, 51, did a dance tour with Oti, presented a documentary about dancing and also created a Ballroom and Latin dance fitness programme with Olympic swimmer Mark Foster and fellow Strictly professional Natalie Lowe called FitSteps.
The dancer, who has been married to Drew Merriman since 2017, recently said he’d love to see Alan Carr on Strictly 2022. “It would be fun - let’s have him in a same-sex partnership next year,” he said.
Katya Virshilas
After leaving Strictly in 2012, Katya worked on BBC reality series So You Think You Can Dance, choreographing routines.
Katya, 39, married husband, dancer Klaus Kongsdal, in 2012 in a French chateau. “It was magical,” Katya said. The couple then moved to Hong Kong, where they started dance classes for children. After suffering a miscarriage in 2014, the pair now have two kids together.
“I find it inspiring to get children to dance and be active,” Katya said.
Joanne Clifton
The sister of former pro Kevin Clifton, Joanne announced she was leaving Strictly in 2017 after three years, to focus on her musical theatre career and had lead roles in Thoroughly Modern Millie and Flashdance the Musical.
Joanne, 38, opened up about her struggles with the bone condition osteoporosis, saying it worsened in lockdown. “The more active I stay, the less pain I have. So in lockdown, obviously sitting on the sofa watching Netflix, it got a bit worse,” she said.
However, she recently played Morticia Addams in musical comedy The Addams Family.
Kevin Clifton
Aside from 2017 and 2019, Kevin, 39, appeared in every Strictly final since joining the show in 2013. In March 2020, he announced he was leaving, saying he wanted to concentrate on “other areas of his career”.
He won the 2018 series with TV presenter Stacey Dooley, his now girlfriend. He split up with wife, Strictly pro Karen Hauer, before announcing his new relationship.
Although it was rumoured that Kevin and Stacey were engaged, the latter recently said: “I’m not desperate to get married.”
Kevin also runs a property investment business with a friend and is currently performing in touring dance show Burn the Floor.
James and Ola Jordan
Couple James, 43, and Ola, 39, have been married since 2003 after starting out as dance partners.
James was a professional on Strictly from 2006 to 2013. He came third in 2014’s Celebrity Big Brother, then returned as an ‘All-star’ for the 2017 edition, but was less successful and evicted in 13th place. In March 2019, he won Dancing on Ice.
Ola’s last Strictly appearance was in 2015. She then followed her husband into reality TV, appearing in I’m a Celebrity... in 2016, leaving the jungle third, and joining James on Celebrity Coach Trip in 2019.
The pair are parents to Ella, one, through IVF and have candidly opened up about their fertility battle. “We would absolutely love to have more children, but honestly? I don’t know if we can at this point,” Ola recently said.
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