Kai Widdrington is raring to go on the Strictly Come Dancing live tour, with the pro sending a defiant message to new partner Helen Skelton as the clock ticks down to opening night.
Former Blue Peter presenter made it all the way to the Strictly final in December, before she and professional dancer Gorka Marquez were beaten to the Glitterball trophy by the show's new champions Hamza Yassin and Jowita Przystal, with Molly Rainford and Carrlos Gu and Fleur East and Vito Coppola also missing out on victory.
All four celebs who made the final are taking part in the Strictly live arena tour, which gets going in Birmingham at the weekend; but the big difference is that while the other three will all have their original partners beside them, Helen won't, as Gorka is playing no part in the tour. It was revealed in the run up to Christmas that Gorka, a three time finalist, wouldn't be doing it and that Helen would instead be paired with Kai, who tasted heartbreak in 2021, when he and celeb partner AJ Odudu made the final,. only to have to pull out when she suffered a leg injury in rehearsals.
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Kai won the recent Strictly Christmas special and, while plenty of fans are upset they won't get to see Helen and Gorka in action again, many are relishing the prospect of her teaming up with Kai. The newly formed couple started rehearsals last week, with them now moving to the Utilita Arena in Birmingham, ahead of curtain up.
And, as rehearsals stepped up a notch, Kai posted a photo of him together on Instagram, with the words: "Let's go @helenskelton."
On The Farm star Helen shared the post on her story, among a number of backstage insights into how things are going, including a photo of her and Molly being lifted up by Hamza and Strictly co-star Tyler West, which Tyler captioned: "Big show pending @utilitaarenabirmingham @strictlycomedancinglive let’s go."
The Strictly live tour which visit venues up and down the country, including dates in Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle, culminating in Glasgow on February 12.
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